Archives for October 2013

FX: Buying & selling even

October 28, 2013 by

Monday, 28th October 2013 | Buying and selling of foreign currencies was even on the first trading day of the week as dealers bought the equivalent of US$33,264,845 and sold US$32,464,095.

Buying of the US dollar amounted to US$29,604,479 as the rate fell 23 cents to $104.38 and they sold US$29,537,504 as the rate declined 3 cents to $105.04. Dealers bought C$1,535,427 as the rate was down 60 cents to $98.83 and sold C$1,184,509 at $100.80 down 2 cents. Buying of the Pound sterling amounted to £1,179,724 at $167.38, down 30 cents and the amount sold was £994,357 at $170.66 up 47 cents

FX_TRADE+Currency+Oct28Buying rates went as high $106.30 up 30 cents and as low as $85.17 unchanged for the US dollar, with no change for the highest and lowest selling rates of $109.14 and $85.17 respectively. The Canadian dollar was bought for 50 cents less than on Friday at $102.00 and the lowest at $79.93, down 25 cents as the highest selling rate fell 60 cents to close at $103.50 and the lowest fell by 30 cents to end at $96.30.

FX_TRADE+HighLow+Oct28The British Pound was 50 cents cheaper at the high end of buying at $171.00 and 24 cents higher for the low of $135.95 while selling resulting in a $2.43 jump to $175.27 but the low fell by $27.55 to $135.95.

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

JSE: Index up but . . .

October 28, 2013 by

Monday, 28th October 2013 | The main indices climbed today on the Jamaica Stock Exchange but there was a big negative signal with the number of stocks advancing versus those that declined by 5 to 15.

The main indices climbed with the main market index closing up 508.35 to 82,663.07 and the all Jamaica index closed at 81,139.07 up by 894.43, the junior market index, also reflecting low investors interest, sat at 753.03, a decline of 6.75. The amount invested in the market remained low with trading of 3.92 million shares valued at $28.17 million.

Main Market | The level of trading was low in both the junior and main markets with only the preference share segment showing any serious volumes as Carreras had 125,650 units changing hands to close firm at $40; Ciboney traded 1,480,598 units at 5 cents, up 2 cents at the end of trading. Desnoes & Geddes had 135,885 shares changing hands at $4.50 down 2 cents; Jamaica Broilers had 12,704 units traded to close firm at $4.22; Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 13,095 units firm at $8.12; National Commercial Bank traded just 3,600 shares at $18, down 45 cents; Proven Investments US dollar based ordinary shares traded 299,471 units and the price was unchanged at just under 12 US cents; Sagicor Investments had just 11,371 units trading at $15.66; Scotia Group exchanged 704,433 units to close at $19.90 for a 10 cents fall.

JSEIndicesOct28In the preference segment. Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% traded 42,000 units at $3 followed by Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.5% which traded 460,000 units at $2 and Proven Investments 8%, 243,460 units at $5.09.

Junior Market | Trading in the juniors was low as General Accident traded a volume of 20,000 units at $1.61, down by 9 cents. Caribbean Flavours had a volume of 21,355 units as it closed down 5 cents at $2.65; Lasco Distributors put in a volume of 88,910 units to close at $1.49 down by a cent and Lasco Manufacturing 154,369 units cost 4 cents less at $1.46 at the end of trading.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator is showing a market that is moving sideways for a while, with bids for 5 stocks being higher and 6 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: A moderate day

October 28, 2013 by

Monday, 28th October 2013 | Trading was very moderate even as 13 securities traded of which 2 advanced, 4 declined and 7 traded firm, however, just 118,270 shares changed hands valued at $1,296,414.

In trading, Jamaica Money Market Brokers exchanged 49,600 shares changing hands for a value of $32,740 as the price fell 5 cents to close at $0.66; Trinidad Cement chipped in with 15,000 shares valued at $33,000 as the price remained unchanged at $2.20; National Flour Mills traded firm at 95 cents while contributing 6,000 shares with a value of $5,700, while National Commercial Bank added 5,333 shares valued at $5,920, traded down 3 cents to end at $1.11. Neal & Massy traded 3,951 units 2 cents higher at $57.52. Republic Bank gained 14 cents to end the day at $112.32 while trading just 100 shares while Sagicor Financial traded 3,479 units unchanged at $7.25.

TTSEOct28Clico Investment Fund remained at $21.50 while trading 26,256 shares valued at $564,504.

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

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

Profit up 92% for Eppley

October 28, 2013 by
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Recently listed Eppley Limited released results for the quarter ending September with profit almost doubling from $12 million to $23 million for the nine months and with profit of $9.8 million in the 2013 September quarter compared to $6.3 million in 2012. These figures contrast with the full year’s earnings for 2012 of $15 million.

The improvement in the latest quarter came primarily from tax reduction due to the tax free status junior market companies enjoy for 5 years. It was also helped by a $3 million increase in other income which had grown to $5.9 million. Interest income declined in the quarter from $20.5 million in the 2012 quarter to $14.9 million in the latest quarter but a reduction in interest expense to $1.3 million versus $7.2 million took effect as a result of conversion of some debt to equity and some that was paid off resulted in a slight improvement in net interest income. Income from interest in the nine months amounted to $45 million which is down from $59 million in the similar period of 2012.

Loans due from customers shrunk from $509 million last year September to $308 million in 2013. Post September, loans would have increased as the company reported having $33 million in uncommitted cash on hand compared with $121 million in actual cash on the books at September. Loans payable amounted to $109 million at the end of September and is down from $361 million at the end of September last year.

PreferenceStock280x150Earnings per share for the September quarter is $13.43 and for the nine months period $48.19. The company reports that yield on the total assets is 14 percent per annum, if this is maintained then the company which has 796,000 issued shares should end up in a full year with approximately $40 per share in profits. But then the company is seeking to raise added capital from a preference share issue, which if successful, will provide increased profits as the funds will allow them to provide loans at higher rates than the capital cost of the funds to be raised.

The company will hold an extraordinary general meeting this coming Thursday to seek approval of a resolution to create and offer up to 100 million preference shares to raise added capital.

The IPO prospectus stated that the board expects to distribute not less than 50% of its after-tax earnings to shareholders in the form of cash dividends, with the projected earnings that would translate to about 5 percent return.

Related posts | IPO: What or who is Eppley? | Epply fast listing

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

FX: Rates topped out on Friday

October 25, 2013 by

Friday, 25th October 2013 | There were signs of softening of rates for the purchase of foreign currency as evidenced in an across the board reduction in the maximum and minimum buying and selling rates except for the US dollar that had virtually no movement.

The move suggests that traders are somewhat cautious in buying at high rates, which should dampen the average selling rate going forward. Additionally, trading on Friday resulted in more buying than selling of foreign currencies by nearly US$11 million. Total forex purchased by dealers amounted to the equivalent of US$40,941,378 while US$30,097,925 was sold to the public.

The highest and lowest buying rate as well as the highest selling for the US dollar remained unchanged at $106.00, $85.17 and $109.14 respectively, but the lowest selling rate dropped $2.02 to end at $85.17.

FX_TRADE+Currency+Oct25The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar remained the same as on Thursday at $102.50 but the lowest went down by 45 cents to $80.18. At the same time, the highest selling rate slipped 65 cents to $104.10 and the lowest was down $1.75 to $96.60.

The British Pound was bought as high as $171.50 a $1 reduction and was as low as $135.71, just 8 cents down, while selling was as high as $172.84, down $2.43 and as low as $163.50, off by just 10 cents.

FX_TRADE+HighLow+Oct25There was purchasing by dealers of US$37,825,365 with the rate moving up 10 cents to $104.61 and the amount sold was US$28,190,795 at 7 cents up at $105.07. There was buying of C$1,153,658 for 42 cents less at $99.43 than on Thursday and selling of C$647,353 at a rate of 70 cents lower at $100.82. Pound purchases amounted to £1,170,706 at 24 cents down at $167.68, selling £644,752 was for $170.186, for 27 cents increase.

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

TTSE PE: Republic fails to hold on

October 25, 2013 by

Friday, 25th October 2013 | The were marginal changes to prices of stocks on the Trinidad Stock Exchange with Trinidad Cement and Republic Bank being the notable exceptions.

Trinidad Cement fell back on Friday to $2.10, thus raising the potential gains back to 500 percent. The stock sits at the top of the PE Ratio list followed by Berger at 206%, Guardian Holdings and National Flour almost dead even at 177% and 178% respectfully, Point Lisa 112% and Neal & Massy 88%.

Republic Bank traded as high as $117.17 early in the week but failed to hold on as the price moved well ahead of where the market would be normally trading at. As of the close of this week, Republic Bank has potential gains of 50% based on IC Insiders PE Ratio chart.

TTSE_PEOct35Related posts | TTSE: Republic Bank drops | TTSE PE ratio: Angostura off potential buy list

TTSE_PETopstocksOct25

TTSE_PENextstocksOct25

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

JSE: Eppley, at last!

October 25, 2013 by

Friday, 25th October 2013 | Eppley traded for the first time in Friday’s trading with 5,300 units at $380 each as it traded up $3 from the IPO price of $377. The stock was listed on July 29, 2013 on the junior market and failed to trade before today even though there was a bid at $400 that lasted a few days.

Even as the JSE Market Index and the all Jamaica index climbed at the end of trading there was no excitement on the last day for the week as the trading level was well down to just 1,287,639 shares valued at a mere $8.4 million as only 17 companies participated in trading.

The JSE Market Index climbed 175.04 to close at 82,154.72 and the all Jamaica index climbed 307.99 to close at 80,244.64 and the junior market index was up 11.13 to 759.78.

There were 8 stocks advancing in price to 4 that declined, but this does not tell the full story. At the end of trading, there were 5 junior market stocks that were offered below their last traded price and only 1 that had a bid above the last sale, a negative indicator for this market. The main market was more positive with 5 stocks with bids higher than the last traded price and only 1 with an offer below. The latter was Mayberry, which has not had a strong bid in recent months with the offer price now at $2.15 versus a last sale of $2.50.

JSEIndicesOct25Main Market | In main market activity, Caribbean Cement saw trading in just 7,000 but the price moved up 33 cents to $2.40 while Carreras traded 26,958 units to close at $40 up 50 cents; Grace Kennedy traded 13,930 units at $55; Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 21,475 shares to close at $8.12, up 2 cents; Scotia Group traded 18,047 shares, down 50 cents in closing at $20; Supreme Ventures 516,479 units resulted in a final price of $2.55 down by 5 cents and Proven Investments 8% saw trading in 465,000 units and closed firm at $5.09.

Junior Market | In another day of low trading in the junior market, only shares of 6 companies traded but General Accident Insurance, which had a small volume of 7,400 units closed at $1.70 up 10 cents; Lasco Distributors exchanged 31,618 units to close firm at $1.50; Lasco Financial Services traded 140,600 units firm at $1.17 and Lasco Manufacturing 15,000 at $1.50 up 10 cents.

The three Lasco companies are expected to release results by early next week. Also due out by next week are Mayberry, Grace and Hardware & Lumber.

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

TTSE: Strong buying for Republic Bank

October 25, 2013 by

Friday, 25th October 2013 | In Friday’s trading two new 52 weeks highs were recorded as there was activity in 18 securities of which 5 advanced, 3 declined and 10 traded firm. Trading resulted in 642,436 shares changing hands at a value of $24,953,649.

Agostini’s traded 5,960 units to close at a new 52 weeks high of $18 for an increase of 27 cents for the day; Angostura Holdings exchanged 107,132 shares for $1,446,282 firm at $13.50; ANSA Mcal contributed 84,465 shares with a value of $5,599,930 as the price closed firm at $66.30, while recently listed First Citizens Bank added 76,892 shares valued at $2,691,682 to close at $35.10 up 10 cents. Strong buying took place for our Buy Rated Republic Bank with a volume of 101,511 shares being traded for $11,387,162 as the price increased 16 cents to $112.28; Guardian Holdings 1,600 units saw resulted in it closing firm at $15.25; Jamaica Money Market Brokers had just 1,835 units and was down 2 cents to 71 cents; National Flour traded 13,400 units to close down 2 cents at 95 cents; National Commercial Bank 40,000 units resulted in the price closing firm at $1.14; National Enterprises traded 24,380 units firm at $17.98; Sagicor Financial 34,606 closing firm at $7.25; Scotiabank gained 42 cents to end at $71.50 while trading 2,682 shares; Trinidad Cement traded 20,000 to close down 13 cents at $2.21.

TTSEOct25Clico Investment Fund had a volume of 118,748 shares valued at $2,553,161 as the price closed firm at $21.50.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed  bids for 5 stocks being higher and 5 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price, a big improvement over Thursday’s 1 to 6 and an indication of demand for a number of stocks at least in the short term.

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

FX: US$ inches up, Canadian drops

October 24, 2013 by

Thursday, 24th October 2013 | The forex market settled on Thursday with purchasing of US$29,652,775 by dealers and selling of US$28,150,839 on a day when the US dollar moved up slightly on both the selling and buying end while the rates for the Canadian fell by more than $1 for buying and selling but the Pound had mixed fortunes.

A total of US$24,976,554 traded at $104.51, up 3 cents while the US dollar selling amounted to US$26,184,112 as it traded at $104.996 up 6 cents. Purchases of C$1,372,188 traded at $99.85 down $1.02 and selling amounted to C$923,239 as the rate closed at $101.52 down $1.22. Buying for the British Pound amounted to £2,026,134 trading at an average of $167.92 up 54 cents and the amount sold was £467,762 at $169.91, down 41 cents.

FX_TRADE+Currency+Oct24Highs & Lows | The highest buying rate for the US dollar was at $106.00 down 50 cents while the lowest was unchanged at $85.17 the same applied to the highest selling rate of $109.14 but the lowest selling rate went up $2.02 to $87.19. The Canadian was sold as high as $102.50, down 50 cents and the low was at $80.63, down by 63 cents. The high rate for selling was $104.75, a decline of 25 cents and the low was at $98.35, up by 45 cents.

FX_TRADE+HighLow+Oct24The Pound went as high as $172.50 an increase of 90 cents, while the low was $135.79 down 16 cents, but selling took place as high as $175.27 up 92 cents and the low was at $163.60, a decline of 20 cents.

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

JSE: Sentiments may be improving

October 24, 2013 by

Thursday, 24th October 2013 | After nearly three weeks of stock prices taking a beating, there are some embryonic signs that sentiments may be on the mend, but even this may not be a certainty with an across the board low level of trading with few exceptions. Company results will be released in earnest in the upcoming weeks and will help to signal the direction of the market for the remainder of the year, with good results helping and bad ones pressuring it.

Trading volume on Thursday picked up with 18 million shares valued at $82,975,931 with Jamaica Broilers, Jamaica Producer, Radio Jamaica Scotia Group and Proven 8% traded relatively large volumes. There was trading in stocks of 24 companies with 6 declining and 4 advancing, pulling the indices down, with the main market index falling 324.67 to 81,979.68, the all Jamaica down by 571.26 to 79,936.65 and the junior market by 2.67 to close at 748.65.

Main Market | Trading in this market resulted in Carreras seeing 43,621 units changing hands as the price dropped by 50 cents to close at $39.50; Grace Kennedy 1,570 units helped pulled the price down to $55.01, a fall of 50 cents; Jamaica Broilers found buyers for 3,003,729 shares with a value of $12.6 million as the price closed at $4.18 for a one cent gain; Jamaica Producers put in 789,256 units valued at $14.4 million and closed firm at $18.25; National Commercial Bank 46,778 units helped the price down by 4 cents to end at $18.45. Pan Jamaican Investment exchanged 10,000 units firm at $48.01; Radio Jamaica had a big day with 7,978,985 units valued at $10.5 million as the price closed at unchanged at $1.30; Sagicor Life had a small volume of 16,135 units as it closed unchanged at $8.10; Scotia Group had a nice volume of 999,919 units valued at $20 million as it closed firm at $20.50 and Scotia Investments exchanged 88,955 units mostly at $26.50 but closed at $28, up $1.99.

JSEIndicesOct24Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% exchanged 1,100,000 units unchanged at $2, and the 8.75% preference shares enjoyed a day with trading of 667,000 units at $2.99. Proven Investments 8% traded 2,792,919 unit firm at $5.09.

Junior Market | Trading in the junior market was low with Caribbean Flavours changing 18,000 units to close firm at $2.70; General Accident Insurance 374,329 units to end at $1.60; Lasco Distributors only 6,700 units at $1.50; Lasco Financial Services a mere 8,800 units at $1.17 and Lasco Manufacturing with 406,212 units down by 5 cents to $1.40.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed some improvement with 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: , ,