Canadian stocks now available locally as JSE launches DMA platform

Local investors can now trade shares issued on the Canadian market using select local brokers under the Direct Market Access portal newly introduced by the Jamaica Stock Exchange.

The next phase will expand access to additional exchanges around the globe.

Trading in Canadian stocks will be available through brokers Cumax Wealth Management and Barita Investments, obviating the need to set up an account at a Canadian brokerage house. Investors who already have a Canadian broker can opt to transfer shares held in the Canadian depository to the Jamaica Central Securities Depository, JCSD, a subsidiary of the JSE.

The Jamaican brokers will execute the orders of their clients through the DMA.

The JSE plans to expand the platform to other exchanges abroad and will eventually allow overseas investors in those territories to buy shares listed on the Jamaica market through the DMA.

“We are looking at other markets such as the United States, Ghana, the United Kingdom, and the Caribbean. We are also going to be allowing the return leg, [giving] investors in other jurisdictions access to our stock market,” said Althea Daley, consultant for depositary services at the JCSD, at the launch of the platform on Thursday night. “That’s going to bring more vibrancy to our market and more foreign exchange into the country. This platform is going to be a game changer in the economy,” she asserted.

Currently, DMA transactions require a broker to execute and match the order of an investor, but eventually, the system will move towards direct trading whereby investors will be able to match the order themselves, similar to what obtains on the JSE’s online portal Jtrader.

But to get to that stage, the JSE needs a partner to facilitate the transactions.

“We are also looking to integrate with Nasdaq and Depend. Then after that we will be allowing you to do your own trades,” said Daley.

The DMA is one of several new initiatives the stock exchange is rolling out to deepen market activity. It is again pushing to implement short-selling before December, which will allow investors the opportunity to profit when stock prices fall; while the green bond market for sustainable projects backed by donors is scheduled to launch in the first quarter of 2024.

The Jamaican stock market is down nearly nine per cent year to date.

“When the market is down, that’s the right time to invest because you do not want the herd mentality,” JSE Group Managing Director Marlene Street Forrest said at the launch of the DMA platform.

steven.jackson@gleanerjm.com