The Jamaican dollar lost further grounds against the US dollar at the end of trading on Thursday, with the local currency ending at $119.15 to buy the green back. Trading ended in the foreign exchange market with the equivalent of US$27,465,721 bought by dealers, compared with US$28,756,679 on Wednesday, while they sold the equivalent of US$29,489,151 versus US$32,772,881 previously.
In US dollar trading , dealers bought US$24,803,259 compared to US$25,863,046 on Wednesday. The buying rate for the US dollar rose 10 cents to $118.45 and US$27,712,745 was sold versus US$31,422,964 on Wednesday, the selling rate gained 9 cents to end at $119.15.
The Canadian dollar buying rate jumped $2.33 to end at $88.43, with dealers buying C$1,927,180 and selling C$1,617,812, at an average rate that rose 89 cents to $89.51. The rate for buying the British Pound fell 83 cents to $177.03 for the purchase of £758,888, while £295,490 was sold, at an average rate that declined 59 cents to $179.56. At the end of trading, it took J$132.90 to purchase the Euro, with a fall of 69 cents from Wednesday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$130.12, for a loss of 65 cents from Wednesday’s rate. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded, amounts to US$89,512 being bought, while US$115,794 was sold. Highs & Lows| The highest buying rate for the US dollar dropped $2 on Thursday to $117.35, the lowest buying rate lost $1.71 to end at $95.82, the highest selling rate was up 14 cents to $122.78 while the lowest selling rate climbed $17.17 to $114.70. 
The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar gained $4 to $93, the lowest buying rate rose $3.65 to $73.99, the highest selling rate rose $5.15 to end at $96.40 and the lowest selling rate jumped $4.65 to $89.15. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, increased $3.50 to end at $184. The lowest buying rate climbed $2.16 to $147.12, the highest selling rate gained $2.61 to $187.38 and the lowest selling rate jumped $2.75 to close at $177.25.
Archives for October 2015
More Jamaican dollar losses on Thursday
Strong jump in JSE on Thursday
The Jamaica Stock Exchange saw continued low trading activity on Thursday. At the close, there were 14 stocks rising, 9 declining with 29 securities totalling 4,929,890 units, valued at $167,356,630 changing hands, in all market segments.
The main market indices suffered declines with the JSE Market Index rose 1,645.04 points to 97,969.63, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index jumped 1,838.44 points to 108,442.87 and the JSE combined index gained 1,604.63 to end at 101,303.35 points.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had a reading of 13 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 with offers that were lower.
In trading, Berger Paints had 49,048 units changing hands at $2.30, Cable and Wireless gained 2 cents with 609,674 shares changing hands, to close at 52 cents. Carreras traded 11,356 shares with a gain of 10 cents to land at $49, traded 2,039,931 shares at $64, for a fall of 66 cents, Jamaica Broilers traded at $5.80 with 36,585 shares changing ownership and dropping 20 cents. Jamaica Stock Exchange lost 20 cents with 40,000 
shares trading to end at $7.30, JMMB Group traded 50,233 units at $7.64 and gained a cent, National Commercial Bank had 1,078,244 trading between $27.72 and $30 but ended at $28.20, for a gain of 68 cents, Pan Jamaican traded 1,820 shares to close with a gain of 28 cents to $62. with 3,000 shares trading, closed with a loss of 20 cents, to end at $13, Scotia Group lost 5 cents in ending at $23.70 while 13,580 shares traded and Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share close at $2.56 with a gain of 16 cents with 41,500 units changing hands.
Juniors gained slightly on Thursday
The junior market closed on Thursday with the index gaining 5.77 points to 986.09 and a total of 4 stocks advancing, 2 declining as 10 securities traded. The market ended with 991,037 units, valued at $2,047,066 changing hands.
At the close 3 securities ended with no bids to buy, while 8 had no stocks being offered for sale. A total of 6 stocks closed with bids higher than the last traded prices and 1 closed with a lower offer.
In trading, AMG Packaging closed at $3.65 with 2,114 units changing hands, Caribbean Producers traded just 111,550 units with a loss of 5 cents at $2.30, Dolphin Cove closed with 4,144 units at $11.50, General Accident Insurance ended with 21,000 units changing hands at $1.51, in the process added 1 cent. Honey Bun with 6,383 shares changing hands, closed unchanged at $4.28, Jamaican Teas traded 5,211 units to end at $3.14 but after adding 4 cents, Lasco Distributors with 47,960 units trading, ended unchanged at $2. Lasco Financial had 221,300 shares changing hands to end at $1.79, for a gain of 18 cents, 
Lasco Manufacturing with 569,558 shares trading, closed at $2.03, with a gain of 2 cents and Paramount Trading ended with 1,817 shares changing hands to end at $6 with a gain of 10 cents.
Strong buying has come in for Lasco Manufacturing with at least 1.8 million units on the bid at $2 to $2.17 and at $1.90 are 536,000 units with only two offers on the board presently for $2.40 and at $2.80. Caribbean Cream has also seen increased buying interest with more than 1.6 million units on the bid to buy at $1.80 to $1.86, supply so far is at $2.05.
Republic biggest trade again on TTSE
Trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Thursday with Republic Bank trading more than $2 million worth of shares to be the dominant trade for the day. Elsewhere, market activity concluded with 9 securities trading, no stock traded higher, 1 declined and 8 remained unchanged as a total of 246,043 units traded, valued at $5,061,328.
At the close the Composite Index ending with a modest loss of 0.33 at 1,147.24, the All T&T Index lost 0.01 to 1,950.11 and the Cross Listed Index fell 0.09 to 45.18.
Losses| FirstCaribbean International Bank traded 85,000 shares with a value of $425,195 and closed at $5 after losing of 1 cent.
Firm Trades| with 53,946 shares valued at $755,244 changing hands, closed at $14, Clico Investment Fund with 42,080 shares changing hands valued at $947,217, to closed at $22.50. First Citizens Bank traded 3,801 shares to close at $35, 
JMMB Group with 2,164 shares changing hands closed at 43 cents, Prestige Holdings with 35,360 units valued at $ 350,221 changing hands ended at $9.91, Republic Bank had 19,350 shares with a value of $2,168,320, changing hands at $112. Scotiabank traded 4,168 shares, valued at $ 260,500 to end at $62.50 and West Indian Tobacco closed trading with 164 shares changing hands to end with at $126.01.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 4 stocks with the bid higher than their last selling prices and 8 stocks with offers that were lower.
Jump in main indices on Thursday morning
Activity picked up on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Thursday morning, with big trades in Grace Kennedy and National Commercial Bank and resulted in 17 securities trading changing hands at 10.45 am with a volume of 3,524,264 units, with 6 stocks declining and 6 rising.
Trading activity resulted in the JSE Market Index gained 1,591.46 points to 97,916.05. The JSE All Jamaican Composite index jumped 1,778.56 points to 108,382.99, the JSE combined index climbed 1,521.83 points to be at 101,223.14 and the junior market is up 2.45 points to 982.77.
Grace Kennedy traded 2,000,000 shares at $64, National Commercial Bank had 1,073,614 trading between $27.72 to $30, where the price sits now, other useful trades are, Cable & Wireless with 227,689 up to 52 cents, Jamaica Stock Exchange with 40,000 shares at $7.30 and JMMB Group 40,889 at $7.63.
Interest saved cuts Phillips’ cost by $10B
Peter Phillips’ assertion that there will be a near $9 billion cut in the 2015/16 budget might have come as a shock to the country already reeling from the pains of severe economic adjustments but much of the work has already be done with a sharp $4.7 billion cut in interest payments to August.
The savings works out at more than $10 billion for the full year and might be even more with Treasury bill rate continuing to fall as such the Minister’s work seems a mere formality of recognizing that interest cost was over estimated in the first place and not for the first time.
Up to August, apart from the big drop in interest cost capital expenditure was underspent buy $4 billion with just spent out of the $16.3 billion budgeted for the 5 months period. The wages bill was underspent by $3.4 billion with just $$67.9 billion spent out of $71.3 planned. Other areas of recurrent expenditure saw arise of $1.4 billion above budget.
Collector of Taxes office, Constant Spring, Kingston.
Government borrowed $14 billion less in the local market than budgeted taking only $5.8 billion in new funds as opposed to almost $20 billion planned. But they borrowed $255 billion on the foreign side versus $59 billion planned but paid out $180 billion more than budgeted.
Imports & exports down to June
Petroleum imports help cut trade deficit to June
Traditional domestic exports during the 2015 review period grew 3.6 percent over 2014 to US$407 million, while Non-Traditional exports earned declined by a large 29.4 percent or US$92 million to US$220 million in 2015.
Import of buses for JUTC added to the Jamaica’s imports to June.
Excluding motor cars there was an increase in Consumer Goods of 8.7 percent or US$67 million to US$839 million during January to June 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. Expenditure on Capital Goods accounted for US$273 million of imports, up from US$256 million in 2014.
Jamaica ekes out 0.6% growth in Q2
The Mining sector grew the most in Q2
This growth in the June quarter was attributed to improved performance in both the Goods Producing industries and Services industries of 0.8 percent and 0.5 percent respectively, the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) said in its report on the economy release at the end of September.
“During the first quarter this year, the Jamaican economy grew by 0.4 percent when compared to the similar quarter of 2014. This growth was due mainly to a 0.6 percent increase in the Services industries” Statin said when they released the first quarter numbers in July. The reports are preliminary as Statin will revise them when more data becomes available.
According to Statin “all industries within the Goods Producing industries recorded higher levels of output: Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (0.3 percent), Mining and Quarrying (4.1 percent) Manufacturing (0.2 percent) and Construction (0.9 percent).
Agriculture was negatively affected by drought conditions
“The Services industries recorded higher levels of output with the exception of the Producers of Government Services industry which declined by 0.2 percent. Increased output was recorded for: Electricity & Water Supply (0.7 percent), Hotels and Restaurants (1.4 percent), Transport, Storage and Communication (1.4 percent), Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repairs; Installation of Machinery and Equipment (0.3 percent), Finance and Insurance Services (0.4 percent), Real Estate, Renting and Business Activities (0.5 percent) and Other Services (0.5 percent).The Hotels & Restaurants industry was positively impacted by higher tourist arrivals from two of the main markets; the United States of America (USA) and Europe. Growth in Electricity & Water Supply was tempered by drought conditions which affected water production during the review period. Compared with the first quarter of 2015, the economy grew by 1.5 percent. This was largely attributed to an increase in the Goods Producing industries (2.8 percent) and the Services industries (1.1 percent)” the report stated.
Real estate to get a boost
The real estate industry is set to get a boost as Jamaica National Building Society is set to announce a lowering mortgage rates, IC Insider.com has been reliably informed. The announcement could come as early as next week IC Insider.com has learnt.
Details were not available, but from indications it could result in the current flagship rate of 9.5 percent dropping to 8.5 percent. The move will be a welcomed for the society’s borrowers and will act as a stimulus to the housing market that has seen increased building cost as a result of the falling value of the Jamaican dollar pushing the cost of housing upwards. The decline will come against the background of lowering of repo rates by the country’s central bank and a continuous lowering of Treasury bill rates since early 2014.
The move by Jamaica National is expected to see other long term lenders following the JN lead and should result in an all round fall in borrowing cost for mortgages.
