THE?BARBADOS?STOCK?EXCHANGE (BSE) says the island’s economic climate was a contributing factor to the less than flattering performance of the local stock market.
According to the BSE annual end-of-year report, there were 1 799 trades in 2010 compared to 1 839 in 2009 – a 2.18 per cent decrease.
There were 216 trades in April last year, the busiest month of the year, while January saw the least trading with only 101.
The second quarter saw the most trading with 513, and the third quarter recorded the lowest number of trades with a total of 368.
“The magnitude of the decline can be attributed to the delisting of GraceKennedy Limited’s 331 710 547 shares at the end of June last year,” the report pointed out.
It further suggested that some economic factors including “the poor performance of sectors such as tourism and international business and financial services, the decline in the non-traded sectors and construction sector and the fact that the distribution and other service industries remained stagnant” impacted the market.
Despite the fall-off in trading in the third quarter, a drop in the value of shares traded in the first and third quarters of 2010, and a 2.18 per cent decrease in overall trading last year, some 13.78 million shares changed hands. This was 3.3 million more than in 2009.
Total market value in 2010 was $71.26 million, compared to $49.46 million the year before.
