Dec 2006 Financial News

Jamaica-Stock market climbs again... Analysts predict three-month bull run

Dec 06, 2006

The Jamaican stock market has entered a period of bouyancy and bullish-ness, according to analysts who project that the run will be sustained for at least the next three months.

The number of transactions in volume and value of shares traded on average on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) had been tracking behind the comparative periods last year, until November when they surpassed that of the same month in 2005.

Already, the first three trading days of December - amounting to 850 trades of 37.6 million shares valued at $284 million - have surpassed the comparative period last year, when there were 403 trades involving just under 11 million shares valued at $77 million.

The main JSE index is now flirting with the psychological 100,000 mark.

Highest number

This November, the 135.2 million shares valued at $1.56 billion was higher than the 84.8 million shares that were traded for $852 million during the corresponding month last year.

The 3,954 transactions during the month was the highest since March when the number of trades for any one month topped out at 4,657, and when 172.7 million shares valued at $2.1 billion changed ownership.

Financial analyst and publisher of the Investors' Choice magazine, John Jackson, believes that the "technical indicators suggest that the market had taken a turn in September" and sees sustained market growth in the near term based on economic indicators.

"The economy has been recording growth, inflation is at its lowest in decades - it could possibly come in at six per cent - interest rates are coming down," Jackson noted in an interview with Wednesday Business yesterday.

Camilo Thame, Business Reporter
The Jamaica Gleaner
Wednesday, December 6, 2006.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20061206/business/business1.html