CMMB Market WRAP

EASTERN CARIBBEAN
On the ECSE, 51,000 S L Horsford and Company Limited shares traded at a high of $1.75 and at a low of $1.65. Also, shares of ECFH, St Kitts Nevis Anguilla National Bank and Trinidad Cement Limited traded, all unchanged from their previous market close.

TRINIDAD
There were only two days of trading on the TTSE, however that did not prevent the total volume traded from increasing by 51% and value of shares traded to increase by over TT$23 Million. Sagicor emerged volume leader accounting for 54% of the week’s activity closing down 1 cent to end the week at $15.28.
Local conglomerate CL Financial continues with its mission of global expansion as discussions are underway to build a methanol plant in Saudi Arabia and establish a presence in East Africa. This comes on the heels of the successful start-up of a methanol plant in Oman and the group’s expansion in India, Taiwan and Hong Kong in both the energy and manufacturing sectors.

JAMAICA
All three Jamaica Stock Exchange Indices were down after a short trading week. Cable & Wireless Jamaica Limited was the volume leader holding firm on its last traded price. Other popular stocks were Grace Kennedy Limited advancing by $4.00 and Jamaica Broilers also advancing by 4 cents.
Jamaica has reported a 2.2 per cent movement in the consumer price index in January, making it the worst January on record in 12 years. The hike is linked to higher domestic food prices as well as commodities imports, including oil and grains. This places fiscal year-to-date inflation at 16.4 per cent.

BARBADOS
Barbadian indices were also down last week as the Regular Market traded a total volume topping 3.6 Million shares. The top three traded companies were led by BS&T accounting for the bulk of the activity, representing almost 96% of the week’s volume, followed by Cable & Wireless and Sagicor.
Caricom heads of government have not been able to choose between competing platforms for the development of the long-awaited Regional Stock Exchange. Progress was held up by competing claims from the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange (ECSE) and the Caribbean Exchange Network (CXN) which is an alliance of the Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica and Barbados stock exchanges. It was resolved that for the time being the CXN and the ECSE will continue development of their respective equity trading platforms.

INTERNATIONAL
Internationally, a cut in the Fed’s key interest rate by 75 basis points bringing the target rate down to 2.25 percent had ripple effects for all other international markets.
U.S. stocks posted their biggest gain in 7 weeks as investors who had poured money into gold, oil and corn, seeking a hedge against inflation and a weak dollar, sold commodities to raise cash or buy stocks.
The U.S. dollar posted its first weekly advances against the Euro and the Yen in a month; while gold, oil and platinum were among the commodities which took a hit last week as the biggest commodity collapse in at least five decades may signal the Federal Reserve Chairman has revived confidence in U.S. financial firms.