Archives for June 2015
Scotia Group tops trading on Thursday
The JSE Market Index lost 264.93 points to 97,050.42, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index declining by 296.12 points to close at 107,415.22 but the JSE combined index declined 377.15 points to end at 99,605.19.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator was showing a better reading than Wednesday’s close of 9 to 8, with Thursday’s reading of 12 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 with offers that were lower.
In trading, Caribbean Cement closed with 48,780 shares changing hands at $5.45 after slipping 5 cents, Carreras put on 2 cents while trading 26,534 shares at $48.37, Gleaner ended with 30,000 shares changing hands but lost 1 cent to close at $1.07, Grace Kennedy gained 45 cents with only 2,040 units changing hands at $63.95. Hardware and Lumber fell 50 cents to $17.50 with 1,500 shares changing hands, Jamaica Broilers lost 50 cents in trading 1,497 units to end at $5.50, Jamaica Stock Exchange dropped 46 cents in trading 5,400 shares and ended at $6.35. At the close Stocks and Securities offered 982,465 units for sale at $6.80, Kingston Properties climbed $1 to $8 with 2,705 shares, National Commercial Bank rose 10 cents in trading 25,224 shares to close at $29.10, Sagicor Group fell 24 cents with 28,533 units trading to end at $12.61, Scotia Group had 1,419,099 units trading at $23.50, Scotia Investments fell by $2.35 to $27.50 with only 4,217 units. Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share traded 56,983 units at a loss of 1 cent at $2.98 and Proven Investments 8% preference share ended with 42,500 units trading unchanged at $5.
Juniors below 900 points
Activity on the Junior Market closed with 8 securities trading and ended with 294,026 units changing hands valued at $954,783. The JSE Junior Market Index declined 14.05 on top of a fall of 15.87 points on Wednesday to close at 894.34, the first time it closed below 900 points since crossing over this level on June 3.
At the close of the market, the prices of 2 stocks advanced, 3 declined with 2 closing at 52 weeks’ high and there were 4 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices, 4 with lower offers and 4 securities closing with no bids to buy and 5 that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, Access Financial ending with 17,562 units changing hands to close with a loss of $1.50 at $12 Cargo Handlers finished with 10,000 units to close at $26,Caribbean Cream with 3,357 shares traded higher by 1 cent to $1.60, Caribbean Producers traded 6,000 shares and lost 8 cents to $2.80, Dolphin Cove trading 200 shares to close at $12.78 but ended with an offer to sell just 200 shares at $12.60. Honey Bun ended at $2.88 with 20,038 shares changing hands, Lasco Financial traded 152,759 shares but fell 5 cents in closing at $1.90 and Lasco Manufacturing traded 84,000 shares but gained 1 cent to end at $1.31.
J$ just 11 cents away from $117 to US
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$27,666,499 compared to US$26,945,527 on Wednesday. The buying rate for the US dollar increased 11 cents to $116.22 and US$26,103,111 was sold versus US$33,784,230 on Wednesday, the selling rate rose 9 cents to $116.89. The Canadian dollar buying rate fell 36 cents to $92.31 with dealers buying C$870,248 and selling C$445,174, at an average rate that fell 28 cents to $94.42. The rate for buying the British Pound gained 49 cents to $181.36 for the purchase of £955,239, while £755,546 was sold, at an average rate that declined 46 cents to $183.37. At the end of trading, it took J$130.63 to purchase the Euro, 12 cents more than on Wednesday, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$127.92 for 4 cents more than Wednesday’s rate. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$98,887, while the equivalent of US$374,801 was sold.
Highs & Lows| The highest buying rate for the US dollar rose 12 cents to $117.22, the lowest buying rate dropped $4.91 to $90.70. The highest and lowest selling rates remained at $122.52 and $95.61 respectively. The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar moved up $1.40 to $96, the lowest buying rate remained at $74.95. The highest selling rate added 60 cents to $98 and the lowest selling rate dipped $1.50 to $90.30. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, rose 15 cents to $184.15, the lowest buying rate remained at $147.74, with the highest selling rate falling $3.54 to $186.92 and the lowest selling rate dipped $2 to $178.
Republic’s huge trade on TTSE
The big trades on Thursday on the Trinidad Stock Exchange were Republic Bank with $30.56 million and Clico with $11 million as trading ended with 13 securities changing hands. The market closed with 7 stocks advancing, 1 declined and 6 trading firm, with a total of 798,710 units, valued at $42,543,547.
At the close of the market, the Composite Index gained 1.17 points to close at 1,161.95, the All T&T Index advanced by 2.25 points to 1,970.39 and the Cross Listed Index rose by a mere 0.01 points to end at 46.39.
Gains| ANSA Mcal with 7,330 shares with a value of $494,775 changing hands and gained 25 cents to end at $67.50, CLICO Investment Fund traded 488,200 units valued at $11,028,620 in closing 3 cents higher at $22.60, First Citizens Bank with 950 shares trading, closed with a gain of 1 cent at $35.76. Republic Bank ended trading with 265,805 shares valued at $30,564,889, to gain 10 cents, at $115, Sagicor Financial Corporation traded 15,237 shares, to close 1 cent higher, at $6.25, Scotiabank traded 4,505 shares with a value of $280,436 to close 5 cents higher, at $62.25 and West Indian Tobacco closed with just 200 shares trading, to gain 50 cents to $126.
Declines| Prestige Holdings is the only stock declining at the close with a 1 cent loss to $9.85 with 1,000 shares trading.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of trading are, National Flour had 3,728 shares to end at $2.05, Massy Holdings traded 100 shares to close at $64.34, National Enterprises traded 500 units at $17.10, Praetorian Property Mutual Fund traded 8,000 units at $3.10 and Trinidad Cement with 16,889 shares at $2.90.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 3 stocks with the bid higher than their last selling prices and 3 stocks with offers that were lower.
595 phone numbers switched
Cable & Wireless (C&W) is the clear winner in the number portability so far a 91 percent switching to Cable & Wireless according to data provided by C&W CEO Gary Sinclair on Thursday afternoon.
With only a few days since the sector started to allow the swapping of numbers in response to an IC Insider query Sinclair said “the numbers are overwhelmingly in our favour. Latest count 543 ported to us from Digicel and 52 ported out to Digicel from us”. Up to press time, Digicel representative who was contacted has not yet submitted their numbers.
The changes although more than the 200 the Minister responsible for telecommunication disclosed earlier this week, represent only a small fraction of the total number of more than 2 million phone customers in the island. Number portability has been long in coming and was promised to be in effect from last year but was put back based on request from Cable & Wireless.
While the change will provide telecom users with more flexibility it could be problems for some users in determining which numbers belong to which carrier with different pricing structure in place by the two dominant carriers.
JSE main market up slightly
With the delay in commencement of trading until minutes before noon, 22 stocks have traded up to 1 pm with 7 rising and 10 declining comprising a total volume of 585,588 shares changing hands.The all Jamaican composite index gained 171.63 to 107,882.97 points, JSE Combined Index put on just 17.37 to 99,999.71, JSE Index is now at 97,478.74 points after adding 163.39 points and Junior Market Index fell to 894.34, down by 14.05 points.
The most noticeable trade so far is Access Financial with 17,562 units trading down by $1.50 to $12 and Kingston Properties rising $1 to $8. Trading is expected to end today at 3 PM due late start to the day’s activities.
JSE trading opens
After nearly two and a half hours of normal trading time, trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange commenced after the system that was down was restored. The system returned at minutes before mid day with 6 stocks trading. The JSE informed IC Insider that trading will end at 3 PM today. Information on trading up to 12:06 today is attached showing most trades taking place in the junior market.
JSE trading system was down now up
After more than two than hours of normal trading time, trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange is yet to commence. The exchange advised that technicians are working on the system and no time was given as to the time frame to have the system back up.
In Wednesday’s trading all the main indices fell as 12 stocks rose and 12 declined out of a total of 31 securities that traded. At the close the indicators were not very promising that todays activity would reflect a much different picture of sideward movement in the markets.
The system returned at minutes before mid day with 5 stocks trading. The JSE informed IC Insider that trading will end at 3 PM today.