MUTUAL FUND ASSOCIATION OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
"STRENGTHENING THE ENVIRONMENT FOR INVESTOR CONFIDENCE"

Impact of COVID-19 on T&T’s Equity and Mutual Fund Markets

Impact of COVID-19 on T&T’s Equity and Mutual Fund Markets

We have reached the end of a particularly challenging year. Most countries continue to grapple with the consequences of COVID-19 which crippled many industries, particularly in Travel and Tourism. Since the imposition of public health regulations and restrictions on movement (otherwise referred to as ‘lock down’ measures) to contain the spread of the virus, the Trinidad and Tobago Securities and Exchange Commission (TTSEC) began enhanced monitoring of the impacts of COVID-19 on Trinidad and Tobago’s Equity and Collective Investment Schemes (generally known as Mutual Funds) markets. This article seeks to highlight some of the markets’ performances observed for the year 2020. 

 

Equity Markets 

Although the major indices suffered losses due to the pandemic, the markets, through their resilience, stymied further losses and remained stable for the latter half of 2020. Figure 1 shows that both the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange (Stock Exchange) Composite1 and All T&T Indices2 suffered significant losses during the peak of the lock-down period (March 2020 – May 2020) with the Composite Index declining by 224.28 index points (15%) and the All T&T Index by 200.27 index points (10%). Figure 2 shows that during this same period, the Cross-Listed Index3 suffered losses of 33.87 index points (23%). However, the Stock Exchange’s Small Medium Enterprises (SME) Index4 suffered minimal losses during the period with an average loss of 3.43 index points (5%) throughout 2020. Table 1 outlines the performances of the four market indices from January to December 11th, 2020.

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