The Jamaican foreign exchange market started trading in October on a positive note, with more inflows than out flows of all currencies traded after the market closed on Monday due to the threat of hurricane Mathew.
Trading closed with a surplus of US$14.5 million on Tuesday as the value of the United States dollar and the British Pound lost value against the Jamaican dollar and the euro and the Canadian dollar strengthened versus the local dollar.
At the end of trading, the equivalent of all currencies bought by dealers amount US$51,024,854, while US $36,510,572 was sold compared to US$36,697,304 purchased and US$26,244,697 sold on Friday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$47,917,627 compared to US$33,292,037 on Friday. The buying rate for the US dollar rose 6 cents to close at $127.65. A total of US$34,533,467 was sold versus US$25,030,676 on Friday, with the selling rate falling 4 cents to end at $128.23. The Canadian dollar buying rate rose 32 cents to $95.40, with dealers buying C$1,661,331 and selling C$1,154,174 at an average rate that rose 56 cents to $97.87. The average rate for buying the British Pound dropped $1.20 to $161.95 for the purchase of £1,275,723 while £256,608 was sold at a rate that dipped $2.27 to end at $164.51.
At the end of trading, dealers sold €624,799 as the selling rate for the Euro, closed at $145.67 for rise of 71 cents from Friday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica. Dealers purchased €213,770 of the European common currency at $138.55 after falling $3.64 from the rate on Friday. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded, amounts to US$15,073 being bought and the selling of US$57,257.
Highs & Lows| Changes to the highest and lowest traded rates for the US Dollar remain moderate on Tuesday. Notable changes to rates for the other regularly traded currencies in the foreign exchange market on Tuesday, include a jump of $4.46 in the highest buying rate of the Canadian dollar to $102.16, the lowest selling rate dropped $4.30 to $88. The highest buying rate of the British Pound dropped $1.38 to $166.80 and the lowest selling rate dipped $1 in to $157. Trading in the Euro resulted in a drop of $3.56 in the highest buying rate to $141.44 while there was a jump in the lowest selling rate by $20.27 to $134.80.
Archives for October 2016
US$14.5M net inflows on Tuesday
Juniors’ advancers beat decliners – Tuesday
The junior market within touch of record territory
Trading volume rose strongly from Friday’s levels, ending with 397,764 units changing hands, 88 percent lower than on Friday, while the value traded dropped 89 percent to $1,373,477 from $12,272,247, on Friday.
Market activities ended with 8 securities closing with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 ending with a lower offer.
In market activity Cargo Handlers stock has not traded since it closed at $86.10 on September 12, the market closed today with the bid at $88 to buy 3,000 units, with no units offered for sale, the will be split 10 for 1 stock, effective from the close of business on October 21.In trading activity, AMG Packaging closed with a gain of 50 cents at $18 with 920 units changing hands, Caribbean Cream gained 1 cent with just 500 shares changing hands to close at $9.30, Caribbean Producers traded 200,000 units to end at $3.30, Consolidated Bakeries dropped 5 cents to end at $2.40 after trading 50,000 shares. C2W Music closed with 21,500 units changing hands to close at 24 cents, Derrimon Trading rose 10 cents and closed with 5,000 shares at $3.60, General Accident Insurance rose by 24 cents with 3,620 units changing hands at $2.64,
Honey Bun traded 3,800 shares at $6.10 after falling 9 cents. Jamaican Teas rose 14 cents in trading 4,400 shares to close at $4.04, Key Insurance that was under selling pressure for weeks finally traded down to end at a 52 weeks’ low of $2.29 with 2,500 units for a loss of 10 cents, but the stock was on offer at $2.25. There were no bids to buy the stock at the close. KLE Group ended at $2.05 with 9,500 shares changing hands after falling by 5 cents, Lasco Distributors closed with a loss of 5 cents as only 499 units traded at $7.05, Lasco Financial ended with 9,703 shares changing hands at $3.35, after rising 5 cents and Lasco Manufacturing closed at $5.05 with 85,822 shares trading.
AJ Index surges 2,888 points to record close – Tuesday
The Jamaica Stock Exchange all Jamaica composite Index and the JSE index surged to close at record levels, erasing the record of 183,366.39 reached in February 4, for the former, this year and beating the previous high of 165,011.89 on the same day, for the JSE Market Index. The JSE Combined index also hit a new closing record, bettering the level of 177,090.44 it closed at last week Friday.
Trading ended with the prices of 14 securities gaining out of a total of 35 trading, while 7 declined in the overall market, including 6 stocks rising and 4 falling, in the junior market.
At the close 1,458,426 units valued at just $21,510,810, changed hands, compared to 43,448,695 units 
valued at $912,734,040 changing hands on Friday. The junior market accounted for 397,764 units valued at $1,373,477 of the stocks traded.
At the close, the JSE Market Index jumped 2,582.50 points to end at 167,064.75. The all Jamaica Composite Index surged 2,888.12 points to close at 185,671.09 and the JSE combined index climbed 2,286.40 points, to end at 179,376.84 for a new record high.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 16 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with lower offers.
In market activity, Barita Investments traded 30,000 shares to close at $4.20, Carreras gained 15 cents with 4,783 shares changing hands at $66, trading in 1834 Investments ended with 9,600 shares changing hands and gained of 2 cents to close at $1.24, 
Grace Kennedy closed with 116,206 shares changing hands at $42.50. Jamaica Producers traded 9,200 shares and ended with a loss of 30 cents at $8.10, Jamaica Stock Exchange ended with a gain of 40 cents at $27.40 with 1,108 units trading, JMMB Group traded 180,232 units to close at $13 after trading earlier at $13.95, Kingston Wharves lost 10 cents in trading 561,770 shares to close at $17.50. National Commercial Bank traded just 9,986 shares and gained 60 cents to end at $42.10. Pan Jamaican Investments added 45 cents and closed at $23.95 after trading 4,462 shares. Sagicor Group traded 3,700 shares to close at $23.81, Scotia Group closed at $31.50 with 34,840 shares changing hands, but closed with an offer at $30.50 to sell 74,380 units and JMMB Group 7.50% preference share traded 63,000 units at $1.10.
5 TTSE stocks rise 2 fell – Tuesday
JMMB Group traded at a new high of TT$0.70 on the TTSE on Tuesday.
The market closed with modest movements in the indices and ended with 5 stocks gaining, 2 declining and 6 remaining unchanged as 13 securities traded.
The Composite Index climbed 7.73 points to close at 1,163.74, the All T&T Index rose 1.19 points to close at 1,816.04 and the Cross Listed Index gained 1.95 to 68.15 points as JMMB Group and Firstcaribbean International Bank recorded gains.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 9 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Angostura Holdings ended with 40,000 shares changing hands to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $14.55 after rising 5 cents, Firstcaribbean International Bank ended trading 2,000 shares and closed with a rise of 39 cents at a 52 weeks’ high of $7.34. JMMB Group gained 5 cents to end with 183,910 shares changing hands to close at a 52 weeks’ high of 70 cents, National Flour ended with 11,450 shares changing hands to close 2 cents higher at $2.58 and Trinidad Cement had 2,546 shares changing hands and rose 15 cents to close at $3.25
Losses| First Citizens Bank traded just 10 shares and lost 1 cent to end at $34.98 and
One Caribbean Media traded 10,000 shares and fell 14 cents to end at a 52 weeks’ low of $20.55.Firm Trades| Agostini’s traded just 111 shares to end at $17.30, Asna McAl traded 200 shares to end at $62.70, Clico Investment Fund closed with 9,800 shares changing hands to end at $22.60, Republic Financial Holdings traded 9,280 units to end at $109.99. Trinidad and Tobago NGL closed at $23.65 with 19,104 units valued at $451,898 changing hands, Unilever traded just 10 shares at $60 and West Indian Tobacco traded 45,921 shares carrying a value of $5,835,163 to close at $127.07.
Stocks up in early trading
Uncertainty regarding working activity in Jamaica seems to be affecting trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Tuesday after the market reopened with from the 
closure on Monday due to the threat of hurricane. With more than an hour’s trading only 14 securities changed hands.
Up to 10:45 am, just 5 stocks traded in the junior market with Caribbean Producers trading 87,573 units at $3.30 and Lasco Manufacturing with 80,027 units at $5.05. In the main market Barita Investments had 30,000 units changing hands at $4.20 and JMMB Group traded 26,184 shares at $13.95, up 95 cents from Friday’s close.
Just 14 securities traded, resulting in a volume of 251,399 shares changing hands carrying a value of $1.3 million, compared to 1,383,211 shares changing hands carrying a value of $7,292,776. The average number of shares traded amounts to 17,957 units compared to 53,200 on Friday. Market activity resulted in 1 stock falling while the prices of 6 securities rose.
The all Jamaica Composite Index jumped 759.52 points to 183,542.49 and if it closes close to this level would represent a new all-time closing high, the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market Index climbed 679.15 points to 165,161.40, the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index surged 669.73 points to close at 177,760.17 and the junior market index fell 3.88 points to 2,393.78.
Subsequent to 11Am the all Jamaica Composite Index jumped to 184,046.87 points.
BUY RATED Jetcon & Paramount jump 52%
Paramount Trading gained 52% in September and is up 622% since BUY RATED.
Jetcon Corporation and Paramount Trading were the top performing BUY RATED stocks in September, jumping 52% in the month, followed by Medical Disposables up by 39 percent. In the main market, Barita Investments with a gain of 35 percent leads the majors.
JMMB Group is the second best main market performer with a rise of 31 percent, following IC Insider listing the stock as one of the Top 5 selection on September 9 and recent announcement of it getting a commercial banking license.
Berger Paints is now IC Insider’s BUY RATED listed, with the company benefiting from an improving environment that will keep cost down and encourage increased revenues and profit. IC Insider’s forecast is for earnings of $1 per share for the current year ending March 2017. For the full year to March 2016, revenues grew by 11 percent and material cost input fell as a percentage of sales to 46 percent versus 48 percent in 2015 while profit climbed 82 percent from 31 cents per share to 57 cents.
Performance to date. Jamaica Stock Exchange with gains of 1,250 percent since entering the BUY RATED list, is the top performing stock, followed by Caribbean Cement with gains of 1,067 percent. JSE will be splitting the stock into 5 shares and that could move the price up a bit in the short term, buying at these levels could be risky in the short term, not so for Caribbean Cement, that could easily double in a few months. The next highest main market selection is Jamaica Broilers Group with 186 percent gain and is now expected to market perform. Sagicor Group gained 163 percent and seems heading higher with no supply to sell now visible in the market that now has just one offer to sell.
For top all round gains, the junior market that is up 33.4 percent in 2016 to date is the place to have been, with 15 of the 18 selections gaining over 100 percent and one with 77 percent.
The top performer is Caribbean Cream with gains of 793 percent overall and 28 percent in September and seems heading higher with $15 seems a likely target over the next few months. Paramount Trading gained 622 percent, with expansion taking place and a stock split to be approved at the October AGM, there is much more room for growth. AMG Packaging is up 472 percent and will head higher with expansion into tissue paper production. The company is adding more brands to its tissue operations and plans on adding more tissue production machines as well upgrading carton box machines, to improve efficiency. In the junior market, recent additions ISP Finance and Jetcon have gained 166 percent and 100 percent respectively, both have room for more growth. Knutsford Express Hold rating, has been lifted with prospects of long-term growth baked into its profit performance.Prices are consolidating on the Trinidad & Tobago Market with few compelling buys currently.
4 TTSE stocks fall 3 rose Monday
Trading activity remained extremely low on the Trinidad and Tobago stock market on Monday compared with the levels of trading on Friday. Only 45,867 shares valued at $599,742 changed hands, compared to 122,386 shares valued at $1,499,056 on Friday.
The market closed with modest movements in the indices and ended with 3 stocks gaining, 4 declining and 6 remaining unchanged as 13 securities traded.
The Composite Index declined 0.82 points to close at 1,156.01, the All T&T Index fell 2.28 points to close at 1,814.85 and the Cross Listed Index inched up 0.09 to 66.20 points.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 9 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with offers that were lower.
Gains| JMMB Group gained 1 cent to end with 17,208 shares changing hands to close at 65 cents, National Flour ended with 533 shares changing hands to close 1 cents higher at $2.56 and Scotia Investments had 4,639 shares changing hands and rose 5 cents to close at $1.80
Losses| First Citizens Bank traded 500 shares and lost 1 cent to end at $34.99, Guardian Holdings ended with a loss of 1 cent while trading 500 shares to close at $12.74,
Massy Holdings lost $1 cent in trading 17 units to end at $53 and Trinidad and Tobago NGL declined by 1 cent and closed at $23.65 with 20,768 units changing hands.
Firm Trades| Agostini’s traded just 12 shares to end at $17.30, Asna McAl traded 200 shares to end at $62.70, Clico Investment Fund closed with 875 shares changing hands to end at $22.60, Prestige Holdings with 150 units changing hands ended at $11. Scotiabank closed with 440 shares being traded at $57.99 and West Indian Tobacco traded 25 shares to close at $127.05.
Shaw’s tax-take jumps sharply
Minister of Finance Audley Shaw is raking in a big up tick in revenues to August ahead of forecast.
The big increase over 2015, includes very little new taxes imposed in the budget presentation in May, this year. The increase over 2016 fiscal year annualises out at $48 billion and $60 billion when the new taxes are included. Compared to budget, revenues are running at $31 billion ahead of forecast on an annualised basis.
It means that Minister Shaw has fully funded the revenues given up by increasing the PAYE tax threshold, well ahead of the year-end and just around the time the reduced PAYE taxation takes effect to affect tax revenues with August being the first month that the reduced payment would be effected. PAYE enjoyed inflows of $1.9 billion more than planned, bringing in $29 billion to August. In 2015 for the same period, a total of $28.45 was generated from this item.
Collector of Taxes office, Constant Spring, Kingston.
Devaluation pushed by NIR build out
Net inflows into Jamaica’s foreign exchange market amounted to US$167.5 million in September, in a month that usually results net outflows with the ending of the peak tourism summer months.
The heavy net inflows did not prevent the value of the Jamaican dollar from slipping during the month from a selling rate of J$127.57 to the US dollar to J$128.27 at the end of September.
For the entire month, there was only one trading day when there was less foreign exchange bought by dealers than the amount they sold with net sales of US$5 million. In contrast, for September 2015, net inflows amounted to just $6.5 million with 11 trading days of negative flows.
The net purchases for September bring the surplus from July to date to US$436 million.
In July and August, the NIR grew by $250 million to US$2.5 billion, well ahead of the target agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but the IMF is saying the central bank must continue to build up the NIR which is well off the target of the IMF.
The IMF states “Net international reserves (NIR) stood at US$2.4 billion at end-July, nearly US$500 million above the program target, while gross reserves stood at nearly 80 percent of the IMF’s reserve adequacy metric at end-2015. The BoJ’s FX market sales have declined in recent months, and the net FX purchases including the surrender requirement has been about US$388 million in 2016 (up to end-July).”
BOJ reserves climbs by US$250M in early August.
In October 2014 and January 2015 Bank of Jamaica required commercial banks to surrender, in total between thirty percent (30%) to thirty-five percent (35%) up from 25% to £0 percent of foreign currency purchases daily. The surrender requirement to the BOJ for cambios was increased by 5 percentage points to twenty-five percent (25%) of their daily gross foreign exchange purchases from commercial
