OECS Market
Activity in the Regional Government Securities Market will pick up pace over the weeks ahead as the Government of St Vincent auctions a 90 day T-Bill and the Government of St Lucia comes to the market for EC$100 Million in a series of bonds issues.

ECSE Report
Following on a week which saw price increases for Bank of Nevis (BON) and The Eastern Caribbean Financial Holding Company (ECFH), we see continued trading in ECFH with no change in price. Similarly Bank of Nevis traded with price remaining firm. Significant price increases were noted for Dominica Electricity Services Limited (DES) which recorded a twenty five cents gain to EC$3.00 by mid week.

The ECSE All-Share index was 107.07 by mid week boosted by recent increases in BON and DES.

Regional Markets
Mediocre performance continued to resonate on the regional stock markets for the week ending Tuesday 20th September. The T&T Composite Index recorded a marginal increase of 7.59 points while the All T&T Composite grew by 10.73 points respectively. The top three advancing stocks were National Enterprises which appreciated by TT$2.23 or 29.4%, NCBJ which inched up by 5% to TT$$1.95 and RBTT which appreciated by 3%. The stocks showing the largest declines were Angostura Holdings, Dehring Bunting and Golding and Caribbean Communications Network.

In Jamaica, the equity market continued to trend downwards with all three indices declining as the news of mild inflation rates of .06% for August failed to improve investor confidence. Of the 40 stocks listed, 16 declined, 14 advanced while 10 traded firm. The top three advancing stocks were Mayberry Investments, Montego Freeport and Cable and Wireless Jamaica, while Pan Caribbean, Dehring Bunting and Golding and Pan Jamaica had the biggest declines.

The local index in Barbados moved down by 3.01 points to close at 3945.91 on Tuesday 20th September. Market activity in terms of the number of shares reporting movement was substantially increased with seven stocks reporting movement. Neal and Massy, First Caribbean and Grace Kennedy led the advances, while Barbados Shipping and Trading, Sagicor and Goddard Enterprises led the declines.

International Market Performance
All three U.S. Indices underperformed in the review period led by NASDAQ which lost 40.42 points. This may be attributable to the after-effects of Hurricane Katrina which continued to cause energy prices to surge and impair consumer confidence. All three European indices, the German Dax, FTSE and Euro Stoxx had marginal increases as the anticipation of healthy financial results from commodity producers helped to boost consumer confidence. In Asia, markets activity was positive with the Nikkei crossing the 13,000 threshold to close at 13,148.57 up 246.62 points. Following this trend was the Hang Seng which also inched up 171.30 points to close at 15,241.86 points.

Other News
The Jamaica Stock Exchange is investing an estimated US$2 million in the development of a fixed income depository that will eliminate the need for paper movements within the Repurchase Agreement (repo) industry, along lines similar to the creation of the central depository for equities. The basic idea is that institutions that trade repos will maintain accounts and electronic certificates at the depository that would allow them to buy and sell repos with the automatic and simultaneous transfer of the certificates to the buyer.

Disclaimer: All information contained in this article has been obtained from sources that CMMB believes to be accurate and reliable. All opinions and estimates constitute the Author’s judgment as of the date of the article; however neither its accuracy and completeness nor the opinions based thereon are guaranteed. As such, no warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of this article is given or made by CMMB in any form whatsoever. CMMB and/or it employees or directors may, where applicable, make markets and effect transactions, or have positions in securities or companies mentioned herein. Neither the information nor any opinion expressed shall be construed to be, or constitute an offer or a solicitation to buy or sell.

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