Archives for September 2013

General Accident dividend

September 26, 2013 by

General Accident Insurance has declared an interim dividend of 0.08728 cents per share payable on October 14, 2013 to shareholders on record as at October 9, 2013. The stock will trade ex-dividend on October 7, 2013. This means that investors who hold the stock prior to the and up to the start of the  ex-dividend date will be entitled to the pay-out.

The company last paid an interim dividend of 4.85 cents per share payable on March 28, 2012 to shareholders on record as at March 15, 2013. This added dividend payment brings the total for the year to 13.578 or a yield of nearly 8 percent based on the current stock price.

GeneralAccident_logo150x150In 2012, they made two payments of 4.85 cents each. The 2013 payment represents a 40 percent increase over the 2012 payment and is likely a signal of continuation of improved profits for this year.

General Accident performed well in both the first and second quarters of this year with profit increasing 48 percent to $80 million in the second quarter bringing the six month results to $177.7 million, an increase of 57 percent over the same period in 2012.

Related posts | General Accident undervalued, but . . . | Buy Rated stock list grows | General Accident’s profit up 65 percent

Filed Under: Company News, Dividends Tagged With: , ,

JSE: Stand off

September 26, 2013 by

Thursday, 26th September 2013 | Jamaica’s stock market may have improved measured by gains in today’s trading but there seems a standoff between buyers and sellers as sellers are asking prices that are generally higher than the current selling prices that buyers have been pulling in the past week or two.

Trading was slow with stocks of only 18 companies trading and just 2,444,915 units valued at $11,342,355 changing hands. The advanced decline ratio was positive at 7 to 3 as the main indices rose. The main index climbed by 292.73 to close at 84,415.54; the all Jamaica index, the best indication of the local market activity, rose 515.05 to 84,222.54 and the junior market index rose 3.56 to close at 762.70. Daily trading suggests a weak market but there are undercurrents that suggest otherwise. Watch the technical indicators, therein lies the true story and critical one is flashing bull signal.

Main Market | In today’s trading Carreras exchanged 10,870 units at $47.20 up 20 cents; Caribbean Cement 16,829 units cost $2.10 each a reduction of 10 cents; Gleaner Company’s 100,000 units resulted in a closing price of $1.18, down by a cents; Kingston Properties changed 30,000 units as the stock closed firm at $4.50; while Scotia Group chipped in with 140,959 units as the price closed firm at $21 and its subsidiary Scotia Investments added 62,192 units to the total at $26.50 each for an increase of 24 cents. National Commercial Bank lost 40 cents as the price closed at 18.60 after trading earlier at $9 but only 3,279 units changed hands.

JSEIndicesSept26Junior market | Access Financial Services 26,000 $8.50, up 22; Caribbean Producers traded 30,000 units firm at $2.10; Lasco Distributors 76,365 changed hands to close at $1.50 up by 2 cents and Lasco Financial Services participated with 1,137,554 and closed firm at $1.20.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed that there were bids for 7 stocks being higher and 3 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , ,

TTSE: Is Trini Market ready to party?

September 26, 2013 by

Thursday, 26th September 2013 | A number of stocks moved up quite a bit in today’s trading on the Trinidad stock market as the market enjoyed one of the more buoyant days, both in terms of the value of trading and the number of participating companies.

A look at the closing prices suggest that the market could be picking up with demand for a number of stocks and no supply being there to match the bids. It could be that with funds tied up for a nearly two months in the First Citizens Bank IPO, investors are coming back into the market to buy stocks.

Trading took place in 19 securities of which 7 advanced, 3 declined and 9 traded firm as 2,218,098 units valued at $25,102,105 crossed the floor of the Exchange.

Foremost amongst today’s trades is newly listed First Citizens Bank that climbed $1 to close at $36 with 55,270 units trading valued at $1,982,927; Clico Investment Fund jumped to $22, a gain of 45 cents as 594,899 shares valued at $12,967,359 traded; National Flour traded up on a volume of 8,856 to close at 79 cents, an increase of 2 cents; Agostini’s exchanged 10,000 shares to close at a 52 weeks high of $17.60 for a gain of 35 cents; First Caribbean International Bank put in a volume of 12,274 units to close firm at $6.75; National Enterprises put in a small volume of 1,000, enough to lift the price to a new 52 weeks high of $16.11.

TTSESept26Sagicor Financial had 1,116,665 shares changing hands for a value of $7,738,155 as the price closed at $7.30 up 30 cents for the day; Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded firm at 50 cents with 377,781 shares being traded for $188,891; while Unilever Caribbean traded 31,208 shares valued at $1,732,356 to close at $55.51, a new 52 weeks high as the price gained 9 cents in trading.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed that there were bids for 3 stocks being higher and 3 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

Filed Under: Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: , ,

FX: J$ slips all round

September 25, 2013 by
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Wednesday, 25 September 2013 | The Jamaican dollar lost value against the three main traded currencies on Wednesday as authorized dealers bought the equivalent of US$36.3 million and sold US$40.7 million.

But it was the disparity in the buying and selling of United States currency that made the greatest difference in the market, with a US$4.4 million shortfall between buying and selling, as dealers pulled in US$30.7 million at an increased rate of $102.64, up by 44 cents while they sold US$35.1 million, 31 cents more than on Tuesday at $103.34. Dealers paid as much as $104 in buying the US dollar at 25 cents more than the day before, but bought as low as $84.50, the same as the prior day. There was no change to the highest selling rate of $108.28 and it was 10 cents more on the lowest sell rate of $100.10.

FX_TRADE+Currency+Sep25The highest rate paid by dealers for the Canadian dollar was 40 cents less than the day before to end at $100.60 and 25 cents less for the low rate of $80.51, but dealers cut $2.05 off the highest rate sold at $102.11 and $1.60 off the lowest at $95. C$723,000 was sold to dealers at $98.42 up 44 cents for the day, and dealers sold C$2.25 million for a $1.13 increase to $100.98.

It cost dealers $2.20 more to purchase the British Pound at the new rate of $168 at the high end and bought the currency as low as 58 cents lower than on Tuesday at $133.22.  The Pound sold as high as $171.73, an increase of $4.03 and as low as $158.55, a reduction of $1.45.

FX_TRADE+HighLow+Sep25Dealers bought £2.57 million at a new rate of $164.88 that was $2.93 higher than the previous rate and sold £1.5 million at 167.10 up by $1.65

Filed Under: FX Market, Stock Market Tagged With: ,

JSE: Trading picked up but …

September 25, 2013 by

Wednesday, 25 September 2013 | Trading picked up on Wednesday, but not if market activity is measured by the amount of money passing through the market. There were however, trading in stocks of 31 companies compared to just 27 on Tuesday as 3,193,450 shares valued at only $13,415,065 traded. 7 of the stocks trading increased in price to 8 that fell and the indices also reflected the narrowness by just moving very moderately by less than 40 points for each.

Main Market | On a slow day of trading Berger Paints put through 78,470 at a $2.26, unchanged for the day; Caribbean Cement had 26,125 units trading firm at $2.20; Gleaner Company had 35,416 units trading at 3 cents more at the end of the day at $1.20; Grace Kennedy had only 2,270 and closed at $54, off $2.50; Jamaica Broilers contributed just 35,000 and closed firm at $4.80. Jamaica Stock Exchange ordinary traded 7,000 units to give back the 15 cents which it gained on Tuesday to close at $2.85, the IPO price. National Commercial Bank chipped in with 99,456  shares to close up 47 cents to end at $19. Pan Jamaican Investment posted 6,354 and lost 52 cents to close at $50; Sagicor Life Jamaica contributed 17,687 units and closed firm at $8.50; Scotia Group Jamaica 37,918 shares moved the price by 44 cents to close at $21 and Seprod lost 50 cents when it traded 1,237 units at $13.50. Proven Investments 8% put in a volume of 1,478,040 at a firm $5.07 for a value of $7,523,097.

JSEIndicesSept25Junior market | Jamaican Teas traded 27,897 units firm at $4; Lasco Distributors chipped in with 13,770 units at $1.48 and Lasco Financial Services had a good day with 1,268,569 units as it closed firm at $1.20.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator was not strong as it showed bids for 4 stocks being higher and 3 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

 

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , ,

TTSE: Citizens dominance continues

September 25, 2013 by

Wednesday, 25 September 2013 | First Citizens Bank traded 277,643 shares with a value of $9,717,696, accounting for more than half of funds invested in stocks in trading on Wednesday, one day after the market closed for Republic Day holiday in Trinidad & Tobago. The stock closed trading at $35 up by 3 cents. Market activity resulted in trading in 14 securities of which 5 advanced, 3 declined and 6 traded firm as 1,338,458 units traded at a value of $18.7 million.

Ansa Merchant Bank pulled back by $1.20 to close at $37.80, only 40 shares were traded for the company; Ansa McAL traded 50,000 units firm at $66.28 valued at $3.3 million; Guardian Holdings chipped in with 5,118 units trading firm at $15.50; Jamaica Money Market Brokers had 300,000 shares changing hands for a value of $150,000, unchanged at 50 cents; Neal & Massy contributed 27,122 units to trading as the price gained 7 cents to close at $56.11; Sagicor Financial traded 5,000 units at $7 off a cent. Trinidad Cement traded 279,935 shares for $619,705, the price closed at $2.20 off 3 cents, while National Commercial Bank added 261,000 shares valued at $305,370 as the stock gained 4 cents to end at $1.17. Angostura Holdings traded 3,212 shares to close at $10.05 a new 52 weeks high.

TTSESept25Clico Investment Fund had a volume of 126,957 shares valued at $2,735,871 as the price advanced by a cent to end at $21.55.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed that there were bids for 4 stocks being higher and 2 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

Filed Under: Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: , ,

JSE: Advancers dominant but

September 24, 2013 by

Tuesday, 24th September 2013 | In a day which saw 11 st0cks advancing in price to 5 declining, the indices hardly moved unlike Monday when they fell sharply. Trading activity continues to be low with 6,371,632 shares trading at a value of $19.6 million.

Berger Paints activity accounted for 135,514 shares trading and closing  firm at $2.26; Cable & Wireless had 1,022,030 units changing hands firm at 18 cents; Caribbean Cement put in 66,493 units $2.20, losing 20 cents in the process; Gleaner Company had 70,000 shares trading firm at $1.17;  Jamaica Stock Exchange ordinary shares traded 333,300 units to close at $3 up 15 cents; National Commercial Bank only had 16,771 units changing hands as the price closed at $18.53, up a cent; Sagicor Life put in 33,000 units and closed at $8.50; Scotia Group had 72,325 units at $20.56 and gained a cent; Supreme Ventures had a good volume of 2,094,840 which closed at $2.60, up 4 cents; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% which has been trading more frequently in the past few weeks, put in 341,000 units today to close firm at $3 and Proven Investments 8% had a volume of 1,487,710 units valued at $7.4 million , closed firm at $5.07.

JSEIndicesSept24The junior market trading was sparse and only 4 stocks posted any volume to write about. General Accident Insurance traded 82,446 shares firm at $1.65; Honey Bun 39,000 shares traded firm at $3.41; Lasco Financial Services traded 496,643 units to close at $1.20 up 2 cents and Lasco Manufacturing 24,250 to close at $1.59.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed that there were bids for 8 stocks being higher and 4 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

Image courtesy of Photokanok/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , ,

TTSE: Public holiday, no trading

September 24, 2013 by

Tuesday, 24th September 2013 | The Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange is closed today due to a Public Holiday.

Filed Under: Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: , ,

FX: Trading week off to good start

September 23, 2013 by

Monday, 23rd September 2013 | The Jamaican dollar started the week selling at $102.86 up just a cent to one United States dollar while buying took place at JS$102.30 down 4 cents from Friday as dealers bought US$39.94 million and sold just $33.5 million.

The Canadian, which was sold for $99.75 at the end of last week, was selling for an average of JS$99.86 today up by 11 cents as C$693,259 was sold and C$1.2 million was purchased at 28 cents less and closing at $97.94. The Pound moved up to $165.65 up by 31 cents as £905,885 was sold and £2.37 million was bought at an average of $162.65 an increase of 21 cents for the day.

A total of US$45.15 million was purchased and $36 million sold of all currencies that traded. This was actually a better day of inflows and less outflows than last week Monday.

FX_TRADE+Currency+Sep23Dealers purchased the US dollar for 5 cents more than on Friday for the highest rate which moved to $103.80. The lowest buying rate moved up to $84.50 an increase of 16 cents. Selling took place unchanged at $108.28 at the high and as low as $84.34, a decrease of $15.66 at the low end.

At the end of the day, the highest rate dealers bought the Canadian dollar was 55 cents less at $100.45 but they paid just 29 cents more as the lowest rate moved to $80.80. Selling took place at $104.16 or 43 cents off for the highest selling rate and sold as low as $97.05 and decrease of 35 cents.

FX_TRADE+HighLow+Sep23The British Pound highest buying rate increased $1.20 over Friday to reach $166.70 but they paid as low as $133.46, which was 46 cents down at the end of the day; selling took place at 58 cents less for the high of $172.06 and sold as low as $133.46 a fall of $24.34.

Filed Under: FX Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , ,

JSE: JMMB dominant

September 23, 2013 by

Monday, 23rd September 2013 | At 12:57pm, just 3 minutes before Monday’s trading ended, Jamaica Money Market Brokers sold 8,000,000 of JMMB stock at $8 each valued at $64,000,000 to NCB Capital Markets on behalf of clients. In addition, another 200,000 units were sold bringing the total value traded for the stock to $65.6 million. The trade helped to push the trading level up and saved the day from otherwise very low trading activity in which 9,951,701 shares traded at a value of $78,173,197. Eight (8) stocks declined on the day to just 2 that inched up slightly as stocks of 21 companies traded.

Main market | A 27 cents drop in Desnoes & Geddes brought the stock back to $4.50; there was a 48 cents fall in National Commercial Bank price to $18.52; a 50 cents drop for Sagicor Life; 24 cents off in Supreme Ventures to $2.56 and 8 cents off in Scotia Group to $20.55 were the main contributors to the 1,165.45 drop in the all Jamaica Index to 83,768.42 and a 662.38 decline in the main market index to 84,157.44.

Berger Paints traded 17,721 units firm at $2.26; Carreras saw 16,000 units trading to close firm at $47.50; Desnoes & Geddes lost 27 cents in trading 21,400 with the price ending at $4.50; Mayberry Investments exchanged 44,231 units at $2.60 with no price change from Friday.

JSEIndicesSept23National Commercial Bank Jamaica traded 34,272 units at $18.52; Sagicor Life Jamaica chip in with 23,200 at $8.50; Scotia Group Jamaica had a decent volume of 238,545 units and closed at $20.50; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% 102,000 units firm at $3; Proven Investments 8% traded 640,000 units firm at $5.09. Proven Investments had trading in 100,000 ordinary shares at US11.51 cents.

Junior market | The junior market index slipped 4.23 off the index to close at 753.60. Caribbean Producers 213,848 shares firm at $2.10; Dolphin Cove 12,000 shares traded firm at $8; Jamaican Teas traded 64,497 units at $4, down 20 cents; Lasco Distributors exchanged 17,023 at the start of the company’s 25 anniversary celebration at $1.45 but was off by 5 cents at the close and Lasco Financial Services traded 186,536 to close at $1.18 down 3 cents.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed that there were bids for 4 stocks being higher and 4 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , ,