Ashford W. Meikle, Business Reporter

A branch of JMMB located on Knutsford Boulevard in New Kingston, St. Andrew. - Norman Grindley/Staff Photographer

Jamaica Money Market Brokers has launched its Trinidad Select Index Fund (TSIF), to take advantage, the brokerage said, of the uptick in the twin island's equities market.

"The market in Trinidad appears to be on the upturn again. There are opportunities - both in Trinidad for Trinidadian investors and in Jamaica - for people who want investment other than Jamaican dollar currency but which are still regional," executive director of JMMB Securities, Leo Williams told Wednesday Business in a telephone interview. "These are the premium stocks of the Trinidad market and those stocks are doing quite well."

The TSIF, like the local JMMB Select Index Fund, which was launched three years ago, will track the 15 most liquid and blue chip stocks on the Trinidad Stock Exchange, in diverse industries such as banking and non-banking finance, manufacturing, property, and trading.

Some of the better-known companies are Angostura Holdings, Guardian Holdings, Scotiabank T&T, Trinidad Cement Limited, Unilever Caribbean, and Neal and Massy Holdings.

The minimum opening balance for the mutual fund is TT$1,000 or J$10,000 and, similar to the JMMB Select Index Fund, four classes of shares - Series A through to Series D - will be offered in the TSIF. The net asset value (NAV) of the fund is J$10 (about TT$1).

Pointing to the strong performance of the T&T blue chip stocks, Williams noted that they had outperformed the main Trinidad Index by an average of five per cent over the past three years.

"Up to December 10, [the blue chip] stocks were averaging 14.7 per cent per year for the last year. Outside of that it has outperformed the broad Trinidad and Tobago Index, which was around 9.7 per cent," said Williams.

Lost traction

A number of the stocks in the fund's portfolio, however, lost traction in the period January 3 - December 31, 2006. For example, Guardian Holdings - which is also listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange - lost six per cent during that period. The stock, which opened 2006 at TT$32, closed the year at $TT$30.11.

Another cross-listed, company, RBTT Financial Holdings Limited, experienced a six per cent decline during the year, closing at $TT$38.00, down from the TT$40.50, which it opened the year. Scotiabank T&T, lost almost two per cent during the same period; the stock opened trading at TT$40.50 and closed at $39.80.

In fact, last year the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange experienced an 8.86 per cent decline.

"There are two reasons which contributed to the decline in the T&T Stock Exchange: the increase in interest rates and the restrictions on the amount pension funds can invest in the equities," a senior manager told Wednesday Business.

But analysts are optimistic about the equities market next year in the twin-island republic, pointing to consoli-dation in the banking sector and as well as economic stability under-pinned by the robust demand for oil.

Locally, the JMMB Select Index Fund has had mixed results over the past year, its performance affected by the lacklustre equities market.

For example, the fund's net asset value increased by just under two per cent last year, compared to the four per cent decline of the Jamaica Stock Exchange and based on its unaudited results for the year ending September 30, 2006, the Select Index Fund's experienced a 25 per cent decline in its assets, to $273 million and posted a loss of almost $2 million on its investments.

ashford.meikle@gleanerjm.com.