Durrant Pate/Contributor

The Jamaican stock market is exhibiting weaker market breadth, as the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) Combined Market Index declined 0.2% last week, partially reversing the prior week’s 1.2% gain.

This has come as decliners outnumbered advancers 64 to 51 among the 125 securities that traded. Trading activity increased sharply with volume rising 161.4% week-over-week to 459.82 million units and value traded climbing 192.6% to J$3.94 billion. 

Despite the increase in activity, trading was heavily concentrated in a few securities, with West Indies Petroleum Terminal (WIPT) dominating the market with 320.06 million units traded, accounting for 68.9% of total volume. This was followed by TransJamaican Highway (TJH) with 31.23 million units (6.7%) and Woodcats International with 12.77 million units (2.8%). 

Together, the three accounted for 78.4% of market volume, up sharply from 41.6% accounted for by the top three traded stocks in the prior week, indicating that the surge in overall activity was not broad-based. 

This relatively weak market breadth was also reflected across the other indices, with eight of the nine closing the week lower. 

The JSE Manufacturing & Distribution Index (+1.0%) was the sole advancer, supported by WIPT (+13.7%), Seprod (+1.6%) and Caribbean Cement (+1.1%). Carib Cement’s advance came ahead of its August 28 ex-dividend date for the J$2.0854 per share final dividend, which is payable on October 15. 

The upcoming dividend may have provided some near-term support for the stock. Meanwhile, WIPT’s sharp gain coincided with exceptionally heavy trading volume, pointing to stock-specific flows rather than broader sector momentum. 

Conversely, the JSE Junior Market Index (-1.8%) and JSE USD Equities Index (-1.7%) recorded the steepest declines. Junior Market weakness was led by FosRich (-17.3%) and Cargo Handlers (-14.9%), as investors responded to softer earnings. Cargo Handlers’ 3rd quarter revenue increased 20.0% to $140.76 million, but the improvement failed to translate into substantially stronger earnings for the quarter. 

For the nine-month period, net profit declined 15.4% to $186.20 million. FosRich faced greater pressure, as second-quarter revenue nearly halved to $397.00 million and its six-month earnings loss widened to $442.58 million from J$189.56 million. Meanwhile, the decline in the USD Equities Index was driven primarily by TJH USD (-2.2%).