The Jamaica dollar had one of the best period against the United States dollar this week, with the selling rate hardly moving from the close of Friday, June 23 of $126.35 and only moving by 3 cents at the close on Thursday to end the month at $126.38. The near stability comes against the back ground of instability in world currency markets since last week, following the vote in Britain to leave EEC.
The local currency ended May with the selling rate ending at $125.41 to the US dollar and ended June, taking almost J$1 more to buy the US dollar. By Monday June 13, the rate moved to $125.99 and on Friday the 17th to $126.07, before easing slowly, in the last week of the month.
On Thursday, the Jamaican dollar lost ground slightly against the US dollar but suffered greater losses against the Canadian dollar and the severely battered Pound.
The foreign exchange market closed with dealers buying the equivalent of US$1 million more than the amount sold in all currencies, bringing the surplus purchased in the last four days to $13 million, with the amount bought by dealers being US$37,497,494 while they sold US$36,347,234, compared to US$53,634,075 purchased and US$55,336,297 sold on Wednesday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$34,965,091 compared to US$50,461,084 on Wednesday as the buying rate for the US dollar fell 26 cents to $125.78. A total of US$35,041,039 was sold versus US$53,396,084 on Wednesday with the selling rate rising 1 cent to $126.38. The Canadian dollar buying rate rose by 58 cents to end at $93.71 with dealers buying C$755,321 and selling C$419,675, at an average rate that climbed $1.20 to $97.88. The average rate for buying the British Pound climbed 41 cents to $166.26 for the purchase of £1,427,616, while £571,210 was sold, with the rate gaining 26 cents to $169.85.
At the end of trading, the selling rate for Euro, rose 65 cents to close at J$140.31 from Wednesday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$137.84, for a gain of 70 cents from Wednesday’s rate. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded amounts to US$82,580 being bought, while US$213,501 was sold.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest traded rates for the Jamaican dollar in the foreign exchange market on Thursday include, a fall of $2.56 in the highest buying rate of the Canadian Dollar to $96, a rise of 83 cents in the lowest buying rate to close at $77.19. The British Pound had a mixed day of trading, with the highest buying rate jumping $11 to $182.50, but the lowest buying rate remained unchanged at $120, the highest selling rate rose by $3 to close at $187 and the lowest selling rate dropped by $6 to end at $153. The highest and lowest rates for the Pound are close to the rates that the currencies traded at before the sharp fall last week.
Archives for June 2016
Juniors end June up – Thursday
Blue Power hit a new high of $15 on Thursday.
At the end of trading 9 stocks closed with the bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 ended with lower offers. The market has been trading at the upper end a channel, ranging from 1,900 points to 2,300 points at the top, which is constraining movement in either direction as investors await new sets of company results or some other market moving activity.
With the market trading closer to the top than the bottom suggest it is waiting for a break out which the June quarter results could fuel. At the end of trading, Access Financial traded 8,055 shares at $17.40, Blue Power closed at a new high of $15 with 8,000 units trading to gain $1.30, CAC 2000 traded 600 shares but declined 40 cents to end at $6.55, Caribbean Cream gained 14 cents with 9,057 shares changing hands, to close at $5. The out of favour, Caribbean Flavours, lost 44 cents in landing 25,000 shares for buyers at $6.56, Caribbean Producers gained 24 cents with just 5,000 units changing hands, to close at $4.30, C2W Music traded 96,545 shares, to end with a rise of 1 cent at 29 cents, General Accident Insurance closed at $2.05 with 6,045 units trading. Honey Bun gained 10 cents to close at $5.60 with 9,066 units changing hands. 
Jamaican Teas had only 130 shares changing hands with a gain of 40 cents to end at $3.80, Jetcon Corporation gained 30 cents in trading a mere 100 shares to end at $2.95, Lasco Distributors traded 85,577 units to end at $7.50, Lasco Financial ended with 33,527 shares changing hands at $3.45, for a fall of 4 cents. Lasco Manufacturing closed at $5 with 70,325 shares trading, Medical Disposables traded 26,362 shares to close with a gain of 10 cents, at $3.40 and tTech traded 112 units at $4.
TTSE falters with low activity – Thursday
Trading on the Trinidad and Tobago stock market ended June on a low note with just 6 securities trading and the market slipped on the final day. Trading accounted for 51,825 shares valued at $1,313,880 changing hands. The market closed with 4 declining and 2 remaining unchanged.
The Composite Index lost 1.54 points or to close at 1,135.61, the All T&T Index declined by 3.07 points to close at 1,787.98 and the Cross Listed Index remained unchanged at 64.32 points.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 6 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 8 with offers that were lower.
Losses|First Citizens dropped $1.10 in trading 350 shares to close at $33.40, the stock was offered at $34 at the close to sell only 150 units, the bid is at $33.40 to buy 247 shares. Massy Holdings lost 5 cents and closed at $55.25 with 2,892 shares changing hands, 
National Enterprises closed with 24,244 shares changing hands at $10.75 after slipping 23 cents, Scotiabank lost 7 cents to close at $53.73 with 11,345 shares traded with a value of $609,740.
Firm Trades| National Flour Mills had 857 shares changing hands at $2.30 and Trinidad and Tobago NGL traded 12,137 units and ended at $22.25.
Huge increase in Government revenues
Government revenues jumped by nearly 6 percent over budget for the first two months of the fiscal year to May, while payments dropped sharply resulting in the fiscal deficit of just $4 billion for the two months, down by $11 billion projected.
Revenue in take for the two month period is just over $9.2 billion or 15 percent ahead of the similar period for 2015.
Tax revenues jumped 6 percent or $3.8 billion over forecast, flowing mainly as a result of an increase of, $530 million in withholding tax on interest, local GCT amounting $1.26 billion, stamp duty of nearly $500 million and GCT and special consumption tax on imports of $1.1 billion.
Interestingly, the increase is taking place with little input from the new taxes government implemented in May this year.
On the expenditure side, interest cost fell by $1.5 billion and normal housekeeping expenses is down by $3.4 billion while the wage bill moved up by $966 million. Capital spending was under, by $3.2 billion, with only $1.6 billion spent by May. Information, gleaned indicates that much of the under spending is due to a slow start to the fiscal year, with June spending expected to catch up.
The increase in revenues is in keeping with a trend seen in the first 9 months of 2015, when revenues were growing well ahead of forecast. Total revenues are up 21 percent or $5.9 billion ahead of the amount generated in April 2015 and 10 percent or $3.37 billion more in May this year, than for May 2015.
It early days yet, but if the trend on the revenue collection continues close to what is now being experienced, it would make it much easier for the government to meet some of the commitments they have, for 2017 onward.
JSE ends June negatively – Thursday
The JSE stock closed at a new high of $25 on Thursday.
Two stocks closed at new highs. The junior market accounted for 383,501 shares valued at $1,786,848 of all trades.
The JSE Market Index fell 480.10 points to end at 159,717.44. The all Jamaica Composite Index lost 536.94 points to close at 177,454.23 and the JSE combined index slip 261.15 points, to end at 170,807.02.
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 6 with lower offers.At the end of market activities, Berger Paints lost 15 cents and ended at $4.30 while 11,081 units were traded, Cable & Wireless dropped 6 cents with 23,024 units traded to close at $1.18, Caribbean Cement jumped $2.40 to close at $24 after trading 407,370 units. Carreras traded 14,142 shares but slipped $1.10 to $65.40. Ciboney gained 1 cent while trading at 21 cents with 140,000 shares changing hands, 1834 Investments traded 221,434 shares to close at $1, Grace Kennedy closed at $123 with 62,637 units changing hands, Jamaica Broilers ended with 233,400 units changing hands and gained 53 cents to close at $14.75. Jamaica Producers traded 63,690 units after losing $1.10 to end at $47.99, Jamaica Stock Exchange jumped $3 to end at 52 weeks’ high of $25 while trading 3,000 shares, JMMB Group dropped 11 cents in trading 14,600 units to close at $9.72. Kingston Wharves traded 501,315 units and declined by $2.10 to close at $13.90, Mayberry Investments closed with 449,880 shares changing hands at $3.52, National Commercial Bank ended with 12,280 units changing hands with a rise of 98 cents to $43, Pan Jamaican Investment Trust gained 50 cents and traded 20,920 shares to close at $26.
Pulse Investments lost 1 cent to close at $2.54 with 14,985 shares changing hands, Radio Jamaica rose 23 cents to close with 5,899 shares changing hands at $1.63, Sagicor Group ended with 17,464 shares changing hands at $23.03, Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 780,642 shares but fell by 3 cents to close at $10.12. Scotia Investments dropped $1.40 with 3,000 shares trading to close at $26, Supreme Ventures ended trading, with 28,302 units trading with a loss of 1 cent at $4.53. Proven Investments traded 25,174 units at 17 US cents, Proven Investments 8% preference share traded 11,300 shares at $5.
Blue Power at new high
Blue Power traded at a new 52 weeks’ high of $15 with 8,000 units, to gain $1.30 cents, in early Thursday morning on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. Activity picked up on the last trading day for June, with three stocks trading over 100,000 units and two over 90,000 shares. The majors suffered losses but the juniors recorded gains in the session.
After 75 minutes of trading in the early morning session, on Thursday, Caribbean Cement traded 94,370 units at $23.85, Jamaica Broilers Group 159,141 shares at $14.25, Kingston Wharves 500,000 at $14, Sagicor Real Estate X Fund with 765,293 shares at $10.12 and from the junior markets, C2W Music traded 96,545 units at 29 cents.
Trading resulted in activity in 27 securities, accounting for a volume of 1,925,070 shares compared to as 9 stocks gained and 9 declined. The average number of shares traded amounts to 71,299 units compared to an average of 52,897 units on Wednesday.
The all Jamaica Composite Index fell 621.95 points to 177,369.22, the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market Index dipped 556.11 points to 159,641.43 the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index declined 419.13 to close at 170,649.04 points andthe junior market index rose 9.34 points to 2,199.67.
JSE rises with moderate trades – Wednesday
Kingston Wharves traded at a new high of $16 on Wednesday.
Two stocks closed at new highs and one in the junior market hitting a new intraday high. The junior market accounted for 1,318,717 shares valued at $3,968,524 of all trades.
The JSE Market Index climbed 632.43 points to end at 160,197.54. The all Jamaica Composite Index gained 707.31 points to close at 177,991.17 and the JSE combined index jumped 820.66 points, to end at 171,068.17.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 14 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 6 with lower offers.At the end of market activities, Berger Paints lost 5 cents and ended at $4.45 while 3,000 units were traded, Cable & Wireless dropped 1 cent with 320,996 units traded to close at $1.24, Caribbean Cement declined by 90 cents to close at $21.60 after trading 11,092 units. 1834 Investments traded 59,839 shares but lost 2 cents to close at $1, Grace Kennedy shed $1.25 to close at $123 with 11,639 units changing hands, Jamaica Broilers ended with 5,007 units changing hands, lost 28 cents to close at $14.22, JMMB Group gained 11 cents in trading 24,219 units to close at $9.83. Kingston Wharves traded 1,300 units and gained $2 to close at a 52 weeks’ closing high of $16, Montego Bay Ice jumped $1.37 to a new 52 weeks’ high of $20 with 195,400 shares were traded. National Commercial Bank ended with 17,150 units changing hands with a 1 cent gain to $42.02 at the close, 138 Student Living traded 500,000 shares with a loss of 1 cent at $4.50,
Pan Jamaican Investment Trust fell 50 cents and closed with 321,590 shares trading at $25.50. Radio Jamaica lost 28 cents and closed with 73,338 shares changing hands at $1.40, Sagicor Group ended with 42,432 shares changing hands at $23.03 after adding 2 cents, Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 71,501 shares to close at $10.15. Scotia Group had 116,189 shares changing hands to close with a slip of 2 cents to $30.78, Scotia Investments jumped $1.40 with 16,459 shares trading to close at $27.40, Supreme Ventures ended trading, with 51,736 units at $4.54. JMMB Group 7.5% preference share traded 2,134,200 units with a rise of 2 cents at $1.05 and JMMB Group 7.25% preference share traded 17,800 shares at $2.45.
Jamaican$ falls vs Pound
The Jamaica dollar was fairly stable against the US dollar but lost value against the Canadian dollar and the severely battered Pound, at the close of forex trading on Wednesday.
The foreign exchange market closed with dealers buying the equivalent of US$1.7 million less than the amount sold in all currencies, bringing the surplus purchased in three days down to $12 million, with the total bought by dealers amounting to US$53,634,075 while they sold US$55,336,297, in contrast to US$56,629,059 purchased and US$53,695,732 sold on Tuesday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$50,461,084 compared to US$53,017,555 on Tuesday as the buying rate for the US dollar rose 5 cents to $126.04. A total of US$53,396,084 was sold versus US$52,006,860 on Tuesday with the selling rate falling 1 cent to $126.37.
The Canadian dollar buying rate fell by 63 cents to end at $93.13 with dealers buying C$694,722 and selling C$644,792, at an average rate that climbed 45 cents to $96.68. The average rate for buying the British Pound dived 96 cents to $165.85 for the purchase of £1,322,771, while £989,527 was sold, with the rate climbing $2.37 to $169.59.
At the end of trading, the selling rate for Euro, rose 95 cents to close at J$139.66 from Tuesday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$137.14, for a gain of $1.17 from Tuesday’s rate. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded amounts to US$919,037 being bought, while US$118,966 was sold.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest traded rates for the Jamaican dollar in the foreign exchange market on Wednesday,
a gain of $1.66 in the highest buying rate of the Canadian Dollar to $98.56, a rise of $2 in the lowest selling rate to close at $92. The British Pound suffered sharp declines again, following sharp fall in the UK currency on the world market since last week, except for a rise in the lowest selling rate. The highest buying rate of the pound, dived $8.50 to $171.50, the lowest buying rate dropped $11.31 to $120, the highest selling rate fell $5.71 to close at $184 and the lowest selling rate rose by $3.80 to end at $159.
TTSE inches up – Wednesday
Trading on the Trinidad and Tobago stock market accounted for 639,447 shares valued at $3,501,364 changing hands. At the close, 13 securities traded with 4 gaining, 3 declining, while 6 remained unchanged.
The Composite Index advanced by 1.08 points or to close at 1,137.15, the All T&T Index rose 2.33 points to close at 1,791.05 and the Cross Listed Index fell by 0.03 points to 64.32.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 6 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 8 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Angostura Holdings contributed 31,835 shares valued at $413,855 to end at $13 after rising by 10 cents, First Citizens jumped 75 cents to close at $34.50 while trading 3,899 shares, the stock was offered at $34 at the close. Massy Holdings rose 5 cents and closed at $55.30 with 15,000 shares changing hands valued at $829,500 and National Commercial Bank traded 214,186 shares valued at $557,234 to close 1 cent higher at $2.61.
Losses| Republic Financial Holdings declined by 1 cent to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $107.18 with just 20 shares changing hands, Scotiabank lost 2 cents to close at $53.80 with 1,810 shares traded and Unilever Caribbean fell 3 cents with only 30 shares trading at a 52 weeks’ low of $64.77.
Firm Trades| Clico Investments ended with 22,693 shares changing hands, valued at $514,223 at $22.66, JMMB Group traded 237,519 shares at 60 cents, National Flour Mills had 217 shares changing hands at $2.30. Prestige Holdings had just 50 units changing hands at $10.90, Sagicor Financial traded 112,177 units value of $809,917 and ended at $7.25 and West Indian Tobacco closed trading with 11 shares at $126.28.
Partial recovery for juniors – Wednesday
The junior market closed trading on Wednesday with the market index climbed by 22.74 points, recovering a large part of the big loss on Tuesday, to close at 2,190.33 as Lasco Distributors recovered some of yesterday’s loss. Only 11 active securities with the volume 
at 1,318,717 shares valued at $3,968,524 changed hands. At the close, 5 stocks advanced and 3 declined.
At the end of trading 8 stocks closed with the bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 ended with lower offers.
At the end of trading, Caribbean Cream fell 24 cents with 58,663 shares changing hands, to close at $4.86 after trading at an all-time high of $5.50, Consolidated Bakeries traded 859,272 shares, lost 5 cents to end at $1.80, Dolphin Cove traded 14,300 units and rose 5 cents higher at $11.65. General Accident Insurance fell 1 cent to close at $2.05 with 112,200 units trading, 
Honey Bun gained 30 cents to close at $5.50 with 14,517 units changing hands, Iron Rock Insurance had 16,900 shares changing hands with a gain of 4 cents to end at $3.30, Knutsford Express Services traded 28,182 shares at $17.50. Lasco Distributors gained 50 cents in trading 12,110 units to end at $7.50, Lasco Manufacturing closed at $5 with 199,373 shares trading, Medical Disposables traded 1,100 shares to close with a gain of 30 cents at $3.30 and tTech traded 2,100 units at $4.
