The Jamaica Stock Exchange all Jamaica Composite Index jumped nearly 2,500 points in early trading on Thursday to sit less than 840 points from the 210,000 points level while the junior market rose above Wednesday’s record close as the market enjoy a strong finish to 2016.
Market activity resulted in 28 securities traded at 10:45 am, compared to 26 on Wednesday at 10:45 am. A total of 10 securities advanced and 6 declined, resulting in a volume of just 463,915 shares changing hands, carrying a value of $3,009,378, compared 721,003 shares changing hands, carrying a value of $1,962,803 on Wednesday. The average number of shares traded, amount to 16,568 units versus 27,731 units on Wednesday. The leading trades include Lasco Manufacturing with 200,000 units changing hands at $5 and Cable & Wireless has so far traded 150,000 units at 71 cents.
The all Jamaica Composite Index surged 2,311.10 points to a record 209,062.06, the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market Index jumped 2,066.54 points to an all-time high of 191,313.23, the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index 1,983.88 points to a record high of 203,927.04 and the junior market index rose 6.57 to 2,580.12.
Archives for December 2016
Another record close for juniors – Wednesday
The junior market index closed at a new all-time high on Wednesday, as advancing stocks were edged out by declining ones pushing the market index up by 20.38 points to end at 2,573.55 points with a 44 percent increase for the year to date.
At the close, the prices of 7 stocks rose, 3 declined with 14 securities trading, compared to 14 trading on Friday. Volume of stocks traded surged on Wednesday by 334 percent, from Friday’s level, ending with 2,545,501 units changing hands, valued at $16,691,479, up by 559 percent from $2,533,304 on Friday.
Market activities ended with 3 securities closing with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 ending with a lower offer.
An average of 181,822 units with an average value of $1,192,249 traded, compared to 41,940 units with an average value of $180,950 on the preceding trading day. The average for December to date is 136,554 units, at an average of $696,188. The average for December to Friday is 133,892 units, at an average of $667,008. November ended with an average of 109,679 units with an average value of $607,092.
In trading Blue Power rose $2 in trading 10,000 shares at $27, Cargo Handlers dropped $1.10 to close at $17.50, with 41,172 units changing hands, Caribbean Flavours had 20,000 units being exchanged at $12, C2W Music traded 11,939 units at 35 cents, General Accident had 7,976 units changing hands to close at $3. Honey Bun had 544 shares changing hands to close at $5.95 after shedding 5 cents. 
Jetcon Corporation rose 2 cents to close at $5.90 with 1,094,291 shares trading, KLE Group closed with 1,504 shares trading at $1.95, Knutsford Express traded 6,700 shares at $19.55, Lasco Distributors ended with 1,117,322 units trading with a gain of 25 cents at $7. Lasco Financial lost 5 cents with 21,345 shares changing hands, to end at $3.20, Lasco Manufacturing ended at $4.98, after 147,247 units switched hands, Paramount Trading exchanged 64,362 units at $3 and tTech traded 1,079 units with a rise of 5 cents to close at $5.30.
December’s FX surplus builds to $162M
In foreign exchange trading on Wednesday after the market closed for the long holiday period, net inflow was again positive with US$18 million, bringing the net inflows for December to $162 million with the Jamaican dollar gaining in value against the Canadian dollar and the pound, slipping slightly versus the US and down against the euro.
At the close of the market, dealers bought the equivalent of US$65,090,524 of all currencies and sold US $47,042,348, compared to US$46,079,393 purchased and US$34,359,179 sold on Friday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$55,315,886 compared to US$39,993,301 on Friday. The buying rate for the US dollar fell 27 cents to close at $127.31. A total of US$38,694,334 was sold versus US$29,111,300 on Friday, with the selling rate inching up 1 cent to $128.34. 
The Canadian dollar buying rate fell 49 cents to $94, with dealers buying C$9,075,794 and selling C$8,755,639 at an average rate that fell 11 cents to finish at $95.25. The average rate for buying the British Pound dropped 33 cents to $154.76 for the purchase of £1,903,806 while £934,004 was sold with a fall of $1.06 to end at $156.56.
At the end of trading on Wednesday, dealers sold €547,303 with the selling rate for the Euro, closing with a rise of $2.80 to $136.45, according to data from Bank of Jamaica. Dealers purchased €612,472 of the European common currency at $130.92 after adding $1.71 cents. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded, amounts to US$129,105 being bought and selling of US$128,832.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest rates for the regularly traded foreign currencies on Wednesday, include a fall of $16.67 in the lowest selling rate of the US dollar to $103.33. The highest selling rate for the Canadian dollar fell $1.08 to end at $98.82. The highest buying rate for the British Pound lost $1.23 to $158.74, the lowest buying rate fell $1.25 to $126.99, the highest selling rate climbed $3.34 to $165.24, the highest buying rate for the Euro dropped $2.47 to $123.80 and the lowest selling rate dived $19.94 to $108.06.
6 stocks rise on TTSE – Wednesday
Sagicor Financial closed at a 52 weeks’ high on Wednesday on the TTSE.
The Composite Index rose 2.04 points to 1,206.16, the All T&T Index gained 1.11 points to 1,832.67 with a year to date loss at 5.94 percent. The Cross Listed Index advanced by 0.40 to end at 77.46 points with year to date gains of 56.45 percent.
IC bid-offer Indicator |The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 4 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
Gains| Clico Investments Fund traded 2,000 units at $22.61 after adding 1 cent, First Citizens Bank had 5,214 units trading with a gain of 44 cents to end at $34.99, National Commercial Bank traded 145,444 units valued at $421,788 and gained 3 cents to end at $2.90. Sagicor Financial Corporation gained 7 cents to end at
a 52 weeks’ high of $7.73 with 800 shares changing hands, Scotiabank gained 7 cents in trading 8,737 shares at $58.85 and Trinidad Cement traded 10,220 units with a rise of 10 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $4.35.Losses| Republic Financial Holdings with a volume of 8,193 shares valued at $888,448 being traded, closed with a loss of 1 cent at $108.44 and Trinidad and Tobago NGL fell 25 cents, in trading 6,476 shares at $21.
Firm Trades | Guardian Holdings traded 12,558 units to close at $12.65, JMMB Group traded 101,000 units to end at 89 cents, Massy Holdings contributed just 91 shares to end at $52 and LJ Williams ended with 17,300 B shares trading at 66 cents.
Jamaican stocks surge to record close
Prices surged on the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, to close on Wednesday at a new closing high as the main market indices were up by more than 4,000 points. The market ended with the All Jamaica Composite Index climbing 23.5 percent for the year to date, the JSE market index gaining 25.6 percent and the Combined index rising 27.6 percent.
The All Jamaica Composite Index had sharp uptick of 4,561.30 points, to close at 206,750.96. The JSE Market Index surged 4,078.62 points to finish at 189,246.69. The JSE combined index jumped 3,991.66 points to close at 201,943.16.
Market activity ended with 36 securities changing hands. At the close, the prices of 13 stocks gained while 8 declined in the overall market, including 4 stocks rising and 3 falling, in the junior market.
At the close with 4,343,022 units valued at $31,074,893 changed hands, compared to 4,431,672 units valued at $71,950,263 changing hands on Thursday. Of the stocks traded, the junior market accounted for 2,545,501 units changing hands, valued at $2,533,304.
The average trade for the day in the main market ended at 81,706 shares compared to an average of 167,153 units traded on Friday. The average for the month to date stands at 202,375 shares compared to an average of 323,045 units for the month up to Friday. November ended with an average of 208,466 units.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 13 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 7 with lower offers.
Some notable stocks with bids above the last sale price are Kingston Wharves with a bid of $21 versus the last price of $20.01 Pan Jam with a bid of $27.50 versus the last price of $27 and Seprod with a bid of $29.80 with a last sale of $27.50.
In market activity, Barita Investments closed with a gain of 45 cents to $6 with 59,690 shares trading, Berger Paints traded 14,000 shares to end at $5.60, Cable & Wireless rose 2 cents to close at 72 cents with 98,075 units trading, Caribbean Cement ended with gain of $4.70 while trading 25,306 shares at $35.40. Ciboney traded 257,346 shares at 22 cents, Grace Kennedy closed at $41 with 7,900 shares changing hands, Jamaica Broilers closed at $14.08 with 7,515 shares changing hands, Jamaica Producers lost 30 cents to end at $8.85 with 968,280 units trading, 
Jamaica Stock Exchange fell 4 cents in trading 5,325 shares, to end at $5.55. Mayberry Investments fell 10 cents to end at $5.40 with 63,413 shares changing hands, National Commercial Bank rose 76 cents to end at $49.76 with 27,850 shares changing hands, PANJAM Investment traded 2,000 shares to close at $27. Pulse Investments traded 115,621 shares with a fall of 90 cents to close at $3, Radio Jamaica traded 80,000 shares to close at $1.22 after rising 2 cents, Sagicor Group closed with 8,250 shares changing hands at $30, Scotia Group with just 5,000 shares changing hands and closed with a gain of 99 cents at $34.99 and Proven Investments closed at 21.95 US cents up from 21.05 US cents, with 37,735 units changing hands.
AJI jumps 5,396 points to record 207,585 – Wednesday
Pan Jam Investment jumped $2.50 to a new high of $29.50 in trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, on Wednesday, after the market opened having been closed for the holidays and helped the main market indices to surge by 4,047 points 
on the all Jamaica Composite index at 10:45.
At 11:40 the strong> all Jamaica Composite Index surged by 5,395.82 points to 207,585.48, the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market Index jumped 4,824.83 points to an all-time high of 189,992.90, the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index 4,426.36 points to a record high of 202,377.86 and the junior market index fell 4.65 to 2,548.52.
Market activity resulted in 26 securities traded at 10:45 am, compared to 20 on Friday at 10:45 am. A total of 9 securities advanced and 4 declined, resulting in a volume of 721,003 shares changing hands, carrying a value of $1,962,803, compared 272,207 shares changing hands, carrying a value of $4,538,567 on Friday. The average number of shares traded, amount to 27,731 units versus 13,610 units on Friday.
At 10:45, the all Jamaica Composite Index surged 4,047.12 points to a record 206,236.78, the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market Index jumped 3,618.86 points to an all-time high of 188,841.46, the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index 3,321.81 points to a record high of 201,273.31 and the junior market index fell 3.31 to 2,549.86.
Venezuelan stocks lead with 95% in 2016
With just one week from the close of 2016, Venezuela Caracas Stock Exchange leads the world’s stock markets with year to date of 94.94 percent in the market Index, according to data reported on Bloomberg website.
Peru S&P/BVL LIMA 25 Index is next, with year to date return of 81.80 percent, Kazakhstan Stock Exchange Index KASE gained 57.16 percent up to Friday, December 23, while the return for S&P/BVL Peru General Index is up 56.71 percent. Jamaica Stock Exchange JSE index that topped the world in 2015, trails well behind the 2016 leaders with gain of just 20.8 percent year to date.
While the Venezuela stock market may record the highest gains in local currency for 2016, with inflation according to financial news network CNBC expected to hit 700 percent for 2016, the market may well end up being one of the worse performing.
Sagicor Group jumps $2.30 to a new record
Sagicor Group ended at a record close on Friday of $30.
The market closed with reduced volume and value from the previous day with advancing stocks beating declining stocks almost 3 to 1 but the main market indices fell but the junior index hit a new record high.
The All Jamaica Composite Index dropped by 935.46 points, to close at 202,189.66 to be up by 21 percent for the year to date. The JSE Market Index lost 836.47 points to finish at 185,168.07. The JSE combined index declined by 350.93 points to close at 197,951.50, with gain for the year to date, of 25 percent.
Market activity ended with 37 securities changing hands, at the close, the prices of 19 stocks gained while 7 declined in the overall market, including 7 stocks rising and 3 falling, in the junior market.
At the close with 4,431,672 units valued at $71,950,263 changed hands, compared to 2,742,916 units valued at $409,709,133 changing hands on Thursday. Of the stocks traded, the junior market accounted for 587,155 units changing hands, valued at $2,533,304.
The average trade for the day in the main market ended at 167,153 shares compared to an average of 85,825 units traded on Thursday. The average for the month to date stands at 478,937 shares compared to an average of 323,045 units for the month up to Thursday. November ended with an average of 208,466 units.IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 12 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with lower offers. Some notable stocks with bids above the last sale price are Jamaica Broiler with a bid of $14.50 versus the last price of $14.08, Pan Jam with a bid of $30 versus the last price of $27 and Seprod with a bid of $29.80 with a last sale of $27.50.
In market activity, Berger Paints traded 8,109 shares and gained 1 cent to end at $5.60, Barita Investments traded 7,628 shares to end unchanged at $5.55, Cable & Wireless rose 5 cents to low of 70 cents with 418,150 units trading, Caribbean Cement traded with a loss of $1.30 while trading 26,766 shares at $30.70. Grace Kennedy gained $1 to close at $41 with 152,861 shares changing hands, Jamaica Broilers fell 92 cents and closed at $14.08 with 21,700 shares changing hands, Jamaica Producers gained 15 cents to end at $9.15 with 1,070,390 units trading, Jamaica Stock Exchange traded 17,545 shares, to end at $5.59. JMMB Group traded 8,734 shares at $14.48, Montego Ice traded 207,650 units at $20, National Commercial Bank recovered 1 cent and ended at $49 with 57,225 shares changing hands, PANJAM Investment traded 35,259 shares and dropped $1.10 to close at $27.
Radio Jamaica traded 25,774 shares to close at $1.20 after rising 12 cents, Sagicor Group jumped $2.30 to close with 1,393,691 shares changing hands at a 52 weeks’ high of $30, Scotia Group with 41,948 shares changing hands and closed at $34. Scotia Investments rose 70 cents with 2,013 units changing hands to close at $30, Seprod closed trading at $27.50 with 82,176 shares changing hands, Supreme Ventures traded just 2,223 units to end with the price gaining 17 cents to $5.07, Proven Investments declined from 21.95 US cents to end at 21.05 US cents, with 44,930 units changing hands and JMMB Group 7.5% preference share traded 200,000 units to close at $1.08.
Juniors jump to all-time high – Friday
New high of $18.60 for Cargo Handlers on Friday.
At the close, the prices of 7 stocks rose, 3 declined with 14 securities trading, compared to 8 trading on Thursday. Volume of stocks traded fell on Friday by 54 percent, from Thursday’s level, ending with 587,155 units changing hands, valued at $2,533,304, slipped by 58 percent from $6,029,065 on Thursday.
Market activities ended with 5 securities closing with bids higher than their last selling prices and none ending with a lower offer.
An average of 41,940 units with an average value of $180,950 units traded, compared to 160,486 units with an average value of $753,633 on the preceding trading day.
The average for December to date is 133,892 units, at an average of $667,008. The average for December to Thursday is 139,639 units, at an average of $697,387. November ended with an average of 109,679 units with an average value of $607,092.CAC 2000 traded 1,706 shares at $4.30, Cargo Handlers jumped $2.60 to a new high of $18.60 to with 26,121 units changing hands, Caribbean Cream had 4,194 units being exchanged at $8, Caribbean Producers traded 271,466 units at $3.50, Consolidated Bakeries had 18,800 units changing hands to close with a rise of 24 cents at $2.10. Derrimon Trading gained 80 cents and ended at $4.80 with 87,710 shares changing hands, Dolphin Cove lost $1 with 185 units
changing hands closed at $14. Honey Bun had 805 shares changing hands to close at $6 after rising 30 cents. Jetcon Corporation lost 1 cent to close at $5.88 with 2,450 shares trading, Key Insurance closed with 2,980 shares trading at $2.60. Lasco Distributors ended with 6,500 units trading with a gain of 25 cents at $6.75, Lasco Financial rose 15 cents with 160,289 shares changing hands, to end at $3.25, Lasco Manufacturing gained 18 cents and ended at $4.98, after 700 units switched hands and Paramount Trading exchanged 3,249 units at $3.
2 stocks fell none rise on TTSE – Friday
Trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Friday resulted in 7 securities changing hands compared to 9 on Thursday. Market activity ended with no stock rising, 3 declining and 5 holding firm, with 414,785 shares being traded valued at $1,433,699 compared to 435,352 shares being traded valued at $9,756,871 on Thursday.
The Composite Index fell 1.56 points to 1,204.12, the All T&T Index lost 2.09 points to 1,831.56 with a year to date loss at 6 percent. The Cross Listed Index declined by 0.14 to end at 77.06 points with year to date gains of 55.65 percent.
IC bid-offer Indicator |The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 7 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 7 with lower offers.
Losses| Angostura Holdings lost 50 cents with 36,443 shares valued at $546,651 closing at $15 and JMMB Group lost 3 cents in trading 353,350 units valued at $304,612 to end at 86 cents.
Firm Trades | FirstCaribbean International Bank ended with 3,500 shares being exchanged at $8.50, Guardian Holdings traded 3,782 units to close at $12.65, Massy Holdings contributed 9,199 shares valued at $478,348 to end at $52, National Commercial Bank traded 8,474 units at $2.87 and Scotiabank trades just 37 shares at $58.78.
