Dealers in the forex market who bought over US$24 million more than they sold last week sold US$5 million more than they bought on Tuesday in all currencies as the local currency selling rate for the US dollar increased for the sixth consecutive day.
The foreign exchange market closed on Tuesday, with dealers buying the equivalent of US$47,052,554 and selling US$42,436,572, in contrast to US$35,822,833 purchased and US$40,716,594 sold on Monday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$44,115,520 compared to US$32,644,468 on Monday, as the buying rate for the US dollar rose by 24 cents to $124.72. 
A total of US$40,688,761 was sold versus US$39,134,277 on Monday with the selling rate falling 5 cents to $125.41. The Canadian dollar buying rate rose 71 cents to end at $93.17 with dealers buying C$1,154,316 and selling C$860,008, at an average rate that fell $1.87 to $94.87. The rate for buying the British Pound dropped 51 cents to $179.11 for the purchase of £1,352,910, while £494,893 was sold, with the rate falling $1.49 to $180.36.
At the end of trading, the selling rate for Euro, rose 10 cents to close at J$139.74 from Monday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$136.56, for a fall of 43 cents from Monday’s rate. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded amounts to US$131,893 being bought, while US$385,512 was sold.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest rates, the Jamaican dollar traded at, in the foreign exchange market on Tuesday, include, a rise of $1.70 in the lowest buying rate of the Canadian Dollar to $74.70 and a gain of $2.30 to $89.50 in the lowest selling rate. The lowest buying rate for the British Pound fell by $1 to $145.08 and a $2.08 fall in the highest selling rate, pushed it to $188.
Archives for May 2016
US$ selling rate falls – Tuesday
Signs of strength for juniors – Tuesday
Consolidated Bakeries closed at a 52 weeks’ high on Tuesday.
The junior market ended with bids for 14 stocks closing higher than their last selling prices and 3 ending with lower offers.
At the end of trading, Caribbean Cream closed with a gain of 8 cents at $4.78, after trading 6,200 shares, Caribbean Flavours traded 10,000 units to end at $8, Caribbean Producers traded 108,630 units with a gain of 5 cents, to end at $3.95. Consolidated Bakeries traded 1,838,962 units and gained 20 cents to end at a 52 weeks high of $2, Derrimon Trading ended with 74,00 shares changing hands,
with a loss of 65 cents at $3.85, Iron Rock traded 1,048 shares with a rise of 20 cents to end at $3.40. Jamaican Teas traded 3,000 units to close with a loss of 5 cents at $3.85, KLE Group traded 10,000 shares and closed with a loss of 1 cent at $1.60. Lasco Distributors closed with 349,561 units trading at $7.50, Lasco Manufacturing traded 128,665 shares and rose 30 cents to close at $4.70, Medical Disposables gained 25 cents in trading 74,458 shares at $3.25and tTech ended with 15,988 units changing hands but lost 20 cents to close at $4.30.
JSE ends May with mild losses
Grace Kennedy traded at a new closing high of $115 on Tuesday.
Investors pushed the price of 15 stocks in the overall market up, 13 down, including 5 stocks rising and 5 declining, from the junior market. One stock in the junior closed at a 52 weeks’ high and two in the main market hit new 52 weeks’ highs at the close of trading.
The JSE Market Index fell 171.16 points to end at 156,561.77. The all Jamaica Composite Index lost 191.42 points to close at 173,925.02 and the JSE combined index declined 80.66 points, to close at 167,135.71.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 19 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 9 with lower offers.At the end of market activities, Barita Investments lost 39 cents and ended with 11,500 units trading at $3.10, Cable & Wireless rose 10 cents and closed at $1.48 after trading 731,284 units, Caribbean Cement traded 11,678 shares, fell $3 and closed at $23. Carreras had just 391 units trading, to close with a loss of 99 cents at $64.01, Ciboney Group rose 2 cents with 22,000 units trading to end at 23 cents. The price of 1834 Investments rose 3 cents to end at $1.14, as 5,000 units changed hands. Grace Kennedy climbed $4 in trading 2,710 units, to end at a 52 weeks’ closing high of $115, Jamaica Producers traded 1,425 shares and added 10 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $40.10, JMMB Group traded 4,057,219 units after losing 39 cents, to close at $9.60. National Commercial Bank traded 55,076 shares, to close at $40.25 after gaining by 25 cents,
Pulse Investments traded at $3.10 having slipped 10 cents with 5,836 units changing hands, Radio Jamaica rose 10 cents and closed trading 203,603 shares at $1.45, Sagicor Group lost 10 cents with 3,106,094 shares changing hands at $22.80. Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 32,891 shares at $10.12, Scotia Group fell $1.55 to close at $31, as 12,804 units changed hands. Seprod gained 45 cents to close at $16.95 as 53,450 shares changed hands. Sterling Investments traded 39,150 units with a loss of 45 cents at $11.50, Supreme Ventures rose 5 cents in trading 33,532 units to close at $4.70 and Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference share traded 137,702 units at $2.10.
More TTSE’s stocks fall – Tuesday
Trading on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange resumed on Tuesday after the Monday holiday break and resulted in slightly more stocks declining than advancing. The market closed with 10 active securities changing hands, with 4 stocks rising, 5 declining while 1 remained unchanged, as 366,280 shares valued at $3,266,700 changed hands. The market ended with 1 stock closing at 52 weeks’ high.
The Composite Index lost 0.05 points to close at 1,109.62, the All T&T Index fell 1.37 points to close at 1,761.23 and the Cross Listed Index gained 0.17 points to 60.90.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 6 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 6 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Clico Investment Fund rose 4 cents in trading 7,965 shares, to close at $22.65, Firstcaribbean International Bank gained 1 cent in trading 715 shares at 52 weeks’ high of $6.57. Massy Holdings gained 1 cent in trading 41,299 shares valued at $1,988,876, to close at $48.16 and National Commercial Bank rose by 2 cents in trading 300,030 shares for a value of $726,072 and closed at $2.42.
Losses| Guardian Holdings ended with a loss of 14 cents while trading 5,200 shares at $12.85, National Enterprises fell 5 cents to close at $11.15 while trading 845 units, Republic Financial Holdings declined by 1 cent to close at $107.89 with 1,606 shares changing hands. Sagicor Financial Corporation closed with 50 shares changing hands with a fall of 1 cent at $7.14 and Trinidad and Tobago NGL fell 6 cents in trading 4,975 units to close at $20.94.
Firm Trades| Trinidad Cement traded 3,595 units at $3.50.
JMMB Group reports increased profit
JMMB Group reports 12.3% increased 2016 profits
The improvement flowed from increased net operating revenue net of interest expense of $11.42 billion from $10.32 billion in 2015 but increased cost helped keep the net position down as cost rose sharply by 12.8 percent to $8.78 billion from $7.79 billion in 2015.
Helping in the growth is an improvement in net interest income of $5.5 billion versus $5.26 billion in 2015 and a big jump in net gains on securities trading of $4 billion up from $3.4 billion in 2015.
The company’s stock trades at $9.50, down from $9.99 from Monday’s closing price, in the morning session on the Jamaica Stock Exchange today. The stock now trades at a PE of 6.8 times the 2016 earnings.
The company recently, declared a dividend of 18 cents per ordinary share, to be paid on June 30, 2016 to shareholders, on record as at June 10.
Cable & Wireless reports profit
Cable & Wireless reports profit for the year ending March of $1. 2 billion, up from a loss of $8.9 billion in 2015. The company got help from net exceptional credit of $1.2 billion, even without this credit, the company made a small profit after finance cost but before taxation.
Importantly, C&W made an operating profit in the second half of the year of as Mobile revenues climbed by 22 percent.
The exceptional income stems from a reversal of $3.4 billion of restructuring cost written off in the 2015 fiscal year offset by employment restructuring cost in 2016. The company reports profit of $178 million in the March quarter compared with $486 million in the December quarter.
Revenues for the group rose moderately to $23 billion from $21.9 billion in the 2015 period while operating expenses fell to $15.8 billion from $17.4 billion but depreciation rose to $2.3 billion from $1.7 billion. Amortisation cost climbed to $1.1 billion from $848 million while finance cost remained fairly steady at $3.9 billion.
The company’s stock trades at $1.48 up 10 cents in the morning session from Monday’s closing price, on the Jamaica Stock Exchange today.
Grace trades at $115 on JSE – Tuesday
Grace Kennedy hit $115 with a rise of $4 in trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange in the early morning session on Tuesday with 1,150 shares changing hands, while Pan Jamaican Investment Trust bid is at $27 to buy 526 units with the stock on offer at $30. Honey Bun that trades ex split today has not yet trade with orders to buy still in at $19 and below with the ex split price being $3.80 and the highest price it can trade ta being $4.94 today.
Lasco Distributors had the largest volume traded for the morning of 260,000 units at $7.47 followed by Cable & Wireless with 199,074 shares at $1.38 and Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference share with 137,702 units at $2.10.
Trading resulted in activity in 25 securities, accounting for a volume of 939,280 units as 6 stocks gained and 11 declined. The average number of shares traded amounts to 37,571 units compared to an average of 67,133 units on Monday.
After 75 minutes of trading in the early morning session, on Tuesday, the all Jamaica Composite Index fell 331.36 points to 173,785.08, the JSE Market Index lost 296.29 points to 156,436.64, the JSE combined index drifted down by 94.44 points, to 167,121.93 and the junior market index rose 17.59 points to 2,145.73.
More US$ sold than bought – Monday
Dealers in the forex market who bought over US$24 million more than they sold last week sold US$5 million more than they bought on Monday in all currencies as the local currency selling rate for the US dollar increased for the sixth consecutive day.
The foreign exchange market closed on Monday, with dealers buying the equivalent of US$35,822,833 and selling US$40,716,594, in contrast to US$52,840,212 purchased and US$46,464,311 sold on Friday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$32,644,468 compared to US$49,322,500 on Friday, as the buying rate for the US dollar declined by 46 cents to $124.48.
A total of US$39,134,277 was sold versus US$43,765,413 on Friday with the selling rate rising 2 cents to $125.46. The Canadian dollar buying rate fell $1.52 to end at $92.46 with dealers buying C$1,221,873 and selling C$1,050,885, at an average rate that rose 29 cents to $96.74. The rate for buying the British Pound dropped 81 cents to $179.62 for the purchase of £1,480,634, while £460,528 was sold, with the rate falling $1.90 to $181.85.
At the end of trading, the selling rate for Euro, dropped 64 cents to close at J$139.64 from Friday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$136.99, for a fall of 68 cents from Friday’s rate. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded amounts to US$134,284 being bought, while US$104,463 was sold.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest rates, the Jamaican dollar traded at, in the foreign exchange market on Monday, include, a fall of $2.27 in the lowest selling rate of the US dollar to $101.87, a decline of $1.12 in the highest buying rate of the Canadian Dollar to $97.28, a fall of $3.36 to $73 in the lowest buying rate, while the lowest selling rate dropped $3.80 to $87.20. The highest buying rate for the British Pound fell by $1.24 to $185.15 and a $3 fall in the lowest selling rate, pushed it to $172.
JSE starts week with gains
Grace Kennedy closed at a new 1 year high
A total of 32 securities changed hands, accounting for 3,191,366 units valued at just $23,420,615, in all market segments. The junior market accounted for 829,940 shares valued at $2,963,453 of the overall trades.
Investors pushed the price of 13 stocks in the overall market up, 7 down, including 3 stocks rising and only 2 declining, from the junior market as two stocks in the main market hit new highs.
The JSE Market Index gained 861.29 points to end at 156,732.93. The all Jamaica Composite Index rose 963.24 points to close at 174,116.44 and the JSE combined index climbed 805.29 points, to close at 167,216.37.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 13 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.At the end of market activities, Barita Investments gained 43 cents and ended with 16,800 units traded at $3.49, Berger Paints rose 5 cents in trading 95,000 shares at $4.45, Cable & Wireless rose 3 cents and closed at $1.38 after trading 236,243 units, Caribbean Cement traded 35,680 shares, gained $1 and closed at $26. Carreras had 10,090 units trading, to close at $65, Ciboney Group had 305,937 units trading at 21 cents, the price of 1834 Investments rose 1 cent to end at $1.11, as 12,161 units changed hands. Grace Kennedy climbed $1 in trading 24,384 units, to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $111, after trading at an intraday 52 weeks’ high of $120. Jamaica Broilers lost 40 cents in trading 19,082 units to end at $14.10. Jamaica Producers traded 2,460 shares at $40, Mayberry Investments rose by 50 cents with just 1,020 shares changing hands at $4, National Commercial Bank traded 22,803 shares, to close at $40.
Pan Jamaican Investment Trust went ex-split today with the bid at $24.24 at the close, to buy 18,000 units, but there was no stock on offer, Radio Jamaica closed trading with 86,158 shares at $1.35, Sagicor Group ended with 75,180 shares changing hands at $22.90. Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 158,156 shares at $10.12, Scotia Group fell 15 cents to close at $32.55, as 27,141 units changed hands. Supreme Ventures lost 22 cents in trading 359,687 units to close at $4.65, Proven Investments added 3 cents in trading 286,857 shares at 19.99 US cents, JMMB Group 7.50% preference share had 92,900 units changing hands at $1.04 and Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference share traded 490,000 units at $2.10 but of these stocks losing 1 cent.
Bank of Jamaica cuts interest rate
BOJ sold US dollars into the system on Monday
The rate was last reduced from 5.50 percent to 5.25 on August 18, 2015.
According to the central bank “the adjustment to the signal rate reflects the Bank’s assessment that the inflation outlook for the fiscal year 2016/17 will continue to be favourable and is expected to be within the lower half of the 4.5 percent to 6.5 percent target range for the fiscal period. Although growth has been weaker than expected, macroeconomic indicators have been reflecting generally positive trends. Inflation expectations remain firmly anchored in single digits, international reserves are above adequacy levels, the current account of the balance of payments is projected to be at a sustainable level, private sector credit is expanding, market interest rates have been trending downwards and the fiscal accounts continue to be strong.”
The reduction follows falls in Treasury bill rates that are now just ahead of the pre adjusted CD rate.
