INVESTORs traded more frequently on the Jamaica Stock Exchange during the first half of 2026, but in smaller parcels and with fewer large-value deals, leaving the headline transaction count to tell only part of the story.

The Main Market recorded 158,017 ordinary transactions between January and June, up 27.8 per cent from 123,633 in the same period of 2025. Yet the volume of shares traded fell 46.5 per cent to 2.17 billion, while the value of trading dropped 52.3 per cent to $19.86 billion.

The size of the average trade tells the story.

The average value of a Main Market trade fell to about $126,000, from roughly $337,000 a year earlier. The average number of shares changing hands in each transaction also declined sharply, to about 13,700 from nearly 32,900.

There were, in other words, more trades, but the typical deal was much smaller.

Part of the decline reflects an unusually active comparison period in 2025. Main Market trading reached $24.5 billion in March last year and another $7.03 billion in April. Together, those two months accounted for more than three-quarters of the market’s trading value during the first six months of 2025.

There was no similar burst of large transactions this year. March was the strongest month by value in the first half of 2026 at $4.11 billion, followed by June at $4.04 billion. Neither came close to the exceptional level recorded in March 2025.

Even with less money and fewer shares moving through the market, the Main Market index ended June at 353,858.83 points, 11.5 per cent above the 317,312.98 points recorded a year earlier. It was also 11.3 per cent higher than at the end of December 2025.

But the rise in the index was not widely shared across the market.

Twenty securities advanced during the six-month period, while 33 declined. That means the market’s overall gain came despite more stocks losing ground than rising.

West Indies Petroleum Terminal was the clear outlier, climbing 591.6 per cent to $9.06. TransJamaican Highway gained 73.3 per cent, NCB Financial Group rose 57.7 per cent, Carreras advanced 52.3 per cent and General Accident increased 43.6 per cent.

The steepest declines were also substantial. MPC Caribbean Clean Energy fell 59.5 per cent, Palace Amusement declined 43.9 per cent, Portland JSX lost 42.2 per cent, Sygnus Real Estate Finance dropped 33 per cent and Proven Group fell 30 per cent.

That left a Main Market in which the index moved higher, but the improvement was uneven and trading remained well below the unusually heavy levels seen a year earlier.

The Junior Market told almost the opposite story.

Transactions rose 17.6 per cent to 62,474 during the first half of 2026. Trading volume more than doubled to 3.56 billion shares from 1.54 billion, while the value of trades increased 34.5 per cent to $3.89 billion.

Unlike the Main Market, the Junior Market recorded increases in the number of trades, the number of shares exchanged and the amount of money changing hands.

Much of that increase, however, was concentrated in June. Some 1.5 billion shares valued at $1.61 billion traded during the month, accounting for about 42 per cent of first-half volume and 41 per cent of first-half value.

The stronger activity did not translate into firmer prices.

The Junior Market index closed June at 3,088.64 points, down 11.2 per cent from 3,476.21 a year earlier and 9.2 per cent below its level at the end of December.

Its wider performance was also weak. Only 12 securities advanced during the first half, while 35 declined and one was unchanged.

The numbers show why trading activity and market performance cannot be read as the same thing. On the Main Market, the index rose even though fewer shares and less money changed hands, and most stocks declined. On the Junior Market, trading expanded sharply, but prices continued to retreat.

For investors, the first half of 2026 was not simply a story of a busier market. It was a story of where that activity occurred, how large the trades were, and whether the movement in the indices was being matched by gains across the wider market.