Dr. Marlene Street Forrest, Managing Director of the Jamaica Stock Exchange
Dr. Marlene Street Forrest, Managing Director of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, says the high interest rate regime and the loss of confidence due to the scandal at investment firm Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL) affected the performance of the Main Market and Junior Market.
She says this contributed to a 1.19 per cent dip in the JSE's Main Index and a 1.3 per cent dip in the Junior Market Index at the end of October this year compared with October last year.
Dr. Street Forrest also stressed that the JSE Cross listed Index which includes stocks listed in Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad tumbled by 25 per cent during the period.
The JSE All Jamaican Composite Index rose by 3.49 per cent and the JSE Index by 4.49 per cent.
Meanwhile, Dr. Street Forrest says she will again be meeting with President of the Jamaica Bankers Association and Scotia Group Jamaica Limited, Audrey Tugwell Henry, to find out why commercial banks are taking so long to reduce their lending rates in line with the Bank of Jamaica's 50 basis points cut in the policy interest rate.
The BOJ, on August 20, reduced the policy rate from 7% to 6.75%.
On October 1, it announced a further reduction to 6.25%.
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