Weekly Financial Market Summary - Dec 31

Results in the Forex market showed that the Jamaican Dollar (JMD) performed similar to the previous week. The JMD strengthen against its North American counterparts i.e. the USD and CAD, however, further weaken against the Euro and British Pound.  As the year comes to a close, it is notable that the JMD has strengthen against the CAD and British Pound than when it opened the year.

Results in the Forex market showed that the Jamaican Dollar (JMD) performed similar to the previous week. The JMD strengthen against its North American counterparts i.e. the USD and CAD, however, further weaken against the Euro and British Pound.  As the year comes to a close, it is notable that the JMD has strengthen against the CAD and British Pound than when it opened the year.

The Jamaica Stock Exchange saw a decline in both the Main and Junior markets. The top three performing Main market stocks this week were Sagicor X Fund, Barita Investment and Salada Foods Ja. X Funds moved by 25% to be named this week’s top performer, however, the stock continues to trade below its opening 2018 price. Barita Investments and Salada Food had a good year, as both stocks surged in value, appreciating by 566% and 202.22% respectively. Financial groups JMMB and the Scotia Group were two of the main worst performing stock this week, despite the decline in share price, both stocks are trading above their 2018 opening price. The Wisynco Group rounded off the top three worst performing stock, declining by 7.68% this week.

For the Junior market, Paramount Trading, Honey Bun and Jetcon all registered as the top three performing Junior market stock this week. Despite the positive movement this week, each stock’s year to date performance is negative.

In the international financial markets, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones saw a slight rebound to register a positive movement this week, however, year to date both major indices have performed poorly, resulting in negative returns for investors. The Nikkei failed to mount any positive result this week, as the indices continues to it week over week poor performance. Yields on all tenor of US Treasury declined this week, falling as much as 12 basis points.

Check out full report here.