The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) is slowly recovering following the ‘Great Lockdown’ of 2020 which severely impacted the market’s performance.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer, JSE Group Business Development Manager Andre Gooden indicated that as at August 2021 market capitalisation was $1.9 trillion after falling to $1.5 trillion during the pandemic.

Between 2020 and 2021, the market has raised over $45 billion, resulting in an annualised increased in value of nine per cent, Gooden said.

As at August 2021, the JSE Index grew by 12.85 per cent to 417,864.90, up from the 370,282.72 recorded in August 2020.

The Junior Market Index grew roughly 33 per cent between August 2020 and August 2021 to 3,308.60, while the JSE Combined Index grew about 14 per cent to 420,081.86.

The JSE, which was ranked as one of the best-performing stock exchanges in 2019, was impacted as the Government took bold steps to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The temporary closure of the country’s air and sea borders as well as the entertainment and tourism sectors affected many companies, including those that were listed on the market and the ones that considered listing.

At the start of 2020, the JSE had forecasted at least 20 new companies to be listed, so far only nine did.

“As we always say, the stock market is really a parameter for the economy, whatever is happening in the economy is reflected in the stock market whether real-time or with a delayed effect. It is unmistakably that we had some amount of pullback as a result of COVID-19 as companies made other decisions on how to deploy their capital,” Gooden told the Sunday Finance.

But as it relates to the outlook, he pointed out that the JSE has an active pipeline of companies looking to come to the market.

”They’re at various stages of readiness and they’re working with their brokers to finalise the required documentation to fulfil all the requirements for listing,” he said.

“I can’t say exactly how many more we expect this year to be listed but we know that there are additional public offerings (APOs) in the market now, as well as initial public offerings (IPOs). Using that as our benchmark, we do expect to see some more listings this year,” he continued.

Additionally, Gooden said that the JSE is still committed to executing the initiatives it had planned for this year.

He said the JSE’s fund management project, which offers back-office services to fund managers, is doing well and have even taken on more businesses.

The stock exchange will also be upgrading its website and mobile app to facilitate more features, such as online trading.

Furthermore, Gooden told the Sunday Finance that the exchange is currently in discussions with a major telecommunications network to house JSE’s 24/7 business channel so it can be broadcasted across the Caribbean.

The channel, which is expected to rollout in the last quarter, will provide entertainment features and also business intelligence that will assist viewers in becoming more informed of the market.

Gooden said, “We have not been daunted at all by the slowdown in the market because of COVID, in fact, we have added resources and energy to get these projects done.”