Lasco Distributors dominated trading on Monday with 9m shares.
The market closed with 9,177,959 units valued at $63,684,987 passing through the market, compared to 5,586,153 units valued at $33,901,745 that were traded on Friday. At the close, with 21 securities changing hands, up from 19 on Friday with 6 advancing and 7 declining.
The junior market ended trading with an average of 437,046 units for an average value of $3,032,618 traded, compared to 294,008 units for an average value of $1,784,302 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for the month to date is 328,309 units and $2,363,612.
The average volume and value for the month to the previous trading day ended at 306,561 units and $2,229,811. The average volume and value for March was 137,459 units and $1,313,411.Trading ended with 4 stocks having bids higher than their last sale prices and 1 ending with a lower offer, than the last traded price.
At the close of the market on Monday, AMG Packaging gained 30 cents to close at $5.80 with 800 units changing hands, Blue Power traded 1,000 units to close at $35, Cargo Handlers traded 2,630 shares to end at $21, Caribbean Cream traded 20,100 units to end at $7.30, Consolidated Bakeries lost 1 cent with 4,500 shares changing hands, to close at $2.91, Derrimon Trading had 24,868 units changing hands to close at $8.70, Dolphin Cove ended at $20 with 1,000 shares trading, General Accident fell 10 cents and closed trading with 3,000 shares at $3.05, Honey Bun had 14,265 shares changing hands to close with a gain of 19 cents at $7.49, Jamaican Teas traded 28,071 shares to close at $7.40, Jetcon Corporation lost 35 cents to end at $11.50 with 1,000 shares traded, KLE Group traded 17,182 shares and fell 50 cents in closing at $3,
Knutsford Express traded just 2,537 shares and gained $1 in closing at $41, Lasco Distributors gained 5 cents and ended with 8,934,455 units trading to close at $6.85, Lasco Financial shed 5 cents and ended with 83,990 shares changing hands at $3.80, Lasco Manufacturing closed with 10,755 units changing hands at $4.99, Main Event rose 3 cents trading 200 shares at $5.23, Medical Disposables closed trading with 10,500 shares at $6, Paramount Trading closed with a loss of 10 cents to end a $3.60 with 600 units trading, tTech trade 1,500 shares and gained 50 cents to end at $7.50 and Derrimon Trading preference share fell 6 cents and ended with 15,000 units changing hands to close at $2.05.
bid-offer indicator reading shows 12 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Mayberry Investments closed at $4.80 with a 10 cents gain trading 41,016 shares, NCB Financial Group closed at $62.40, after exchanging 15,500 shares, 1834 Investments traded 2,874 units at $1.54, while 138 Student Living traded 30,700 units at $4.46, having lost 3 cents, Pan Jamaican closed 60 cents higher at $35.60 with 5,241 shares changing owners. Pulse Investments traded 2,000 units at $8, Sagicor Group closed with gains of 51 cents to $33.51, exchanging 11,135,988 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund lost 46 cents to close at $10.05, with 695 shares traded, Scotia Group dropped $1.40 and closed at $38.60, trading 10,154 units, Seprod fell $3.70 to close at $36, while trading 5,400 shares, Supreme Ventures closed at $6.38, gaining 3 cents with trades of 360,757 shares. Proven Investments lost 1 US cent to close at 29 US cents with trades of 3,670 ordinary shares and JMMB Group 7.5% preference share gained 5 cents to close at $1.10, with an exchange of 884,000 units.
Blue Power was eased out of the Top list for Juniors with Lasco Financial moving in to occupy the tenth spot, this past week. Access Finance that ended the previous week with the bid at $39, traded to end the past week at $34.25 to be back in the list.
In the Main market, Barita Investments has limited buying interest at the current price with just 100 units on the bid at $6.86 and just 9,200 units on the offer at $7.70, this represents quite some change form the week past when the offers were at $7, which were taken out by buyers.
For the time ever, a company listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange has provided investors with a time table for release of important information.
In market activity, Berger Paints closed at $12.05, losing 25 cents with 3,430 shares changing hands, Cable and Wireless closed at $1.28 with an exchange of 1,715,016 shares, Caribbean Cement added 50 cents to close at $30.50 with trades of 2,051 units. Carreras closed $3.98 higher to $74 with 3,589 shares being exchanged, Grace Kennedy added 85 cents to close at $44.70, with 54,517 units trading, Jamaica Broilers closed with trades of 24,595 shares at $16.50, Jamaica Producers closed at $15, with 24,515 shares changing hands, JMMB Group closed 45 cents lower at $18.55 trading 250,373 units, Kingston Properties gained 5 cents to close at $15.95 with 3,730 shares changing hands. Kingston Wharves closed at $32.36, with gains of $1.35 while exchanging 694 units, Mayberry Investments lost 5 cents to close at $4.70 with trades of 20,638 shares, NCB Financial Group gained 50 cents, closing at $62.40 after exchanging 2,216,545 shares, 138 Student Living traded 787,300 units at $4.49, Pan Jamaican closed 61 cents lower at $35 with 1,000,860 shares changing owners. Portland JSX slid 90 cents trading 700 units to close at $10 
, Radio Jamaica closed at $1.60 with an exchange of 1,422,991 units, Sagicor Group closed at $33, after falling by $1 with 544,295 shares changing hands, Sagicor Real Estate Fund gained 51 cents to close at $10.51, with 1,480 shares traded, Scotia Group climbed $1.39 to close at $40, with 258,220 units traded, Scotia Investments jumped $3.15 to $39.20 in exchanging 12,000 shares, Supreme Ventures closed at $6.35, with trades of 16,521 shares. Margaritaville Turks gained 3 US cents to close at 26.01 US cents trading 3,400 units, Proven Investments closed at 30 US cents trading 19,950 ordinary shares and JMMB Group 7.5% preference share closed at $1.05, with an exchange of 1,147,989 units.
Trading ended with 6 stocks having bids higher than their last sale prices and 2 ending with lower offers, than the last traded price.
I$P Finance traded 20,100 shares to end with a rise of $1.50 at an all-time high of $15.50, Jamaican Teas lost 10 cents with 24,456 shares being exchanged, to close at $7.40, Jetcon Corporation lost 4 cents to end at $11.85 with 4,332 shares traded, Key Insurance traded 120,000 shares and fell 1 cent in closing at $3, Lasco Distributors ended with just 9,656 units trading at $6.80, Lasco Financial gained 5 cents and ended with 12,427 shares changing hands at $3.85, Lasco Manufacturing closed with 2,600,300 units changing hands at $4.99 after rising 19 cents, Main Event lost 54 cents trading 10,693 shares at $5.20, Medical Disposables closed trading with 9,500 shares at $6 and Paramount Trading closed with a gain of 10 cents to end a $3.70 with 3,200 units trading.
reported lower profit for 2016 after profit tax after profit before tax increased from US$30.83 million to $33 million. Taxes more than doubled to US$8.94 million cutting profit to US$24 from US$26.5 million in 2015.
The average volume and value for the month to the previous trading day ended at 133,197 units and $961,366. The average volume and value for March was 137,459 units and $1,313,411.
Dolphin Cove ended at $20 with 6,611 shares trading. Honey Bun had 5,245 shares changing hands to close at $7.30, I$P Finance traded 2,990 shares to end with a rise of 50 cents at an all-time high of $14, Jamaican Teas had 26,558 shares being exchanged to close at $7.50, Jetcon Corporation lost 1 cent to end at $11.89 with 10,660 shares being exchanged, Knutsford Express traded just 1,209,000 shares and fell $2 in closing at $40, Lasco Distributors ended with 151,076 units trading at $6.80 after losing by 9 cents, Lasco Financial ended with 4,019,937 shares changing hands at $3.80, Lasco Manufacturing closed with 1,180,858 units changing hands at $4.80 after losing 28 cents and Medical Disposables lost 50 cents in trading 27,940 shares to close at $6.
Thanks NCB but go further
After all, the more information investors have, the more transparent and better the market in which they operate will be. The recent disclosure that Jamaica’s NCB Group made, to publish the dates in 2017, of the announcement of dividends, is a positive move for the Jamaican market, one hopes that other listed companies will follow the NCB’s lead.
While historically, the dates of dividend announcements, have usually been the same dates on which their interim results are released, investors should not have to be wondering when those dates should be, accordingly, we wish they would have gone further and also state the dates of the release of their quarterly reports for all to see.
The announcement is an enhancement of good corporate governance and good investor relations. We would however, suggest that the group restates for clarity, its dividend payment policy as well in furtherance of good governance.