The Jamaica Stock Exchange hit several new highs in October but closed the month with a net gain of 7,478.51 points on the All Jamaica and 6,813.78 points on the JSE index leading to gains of 26.6 percent for the first 10 months of the year.
Trading closed with 33 active securities in the main and US dollar markets, on Wednesday compared to 34 on Tuesday.
The market ended with the prices of 12 securities rising, 9 declining while 12 remained unchanged leading to the All Jamaica Composite Index climbing 2,139.99 points to close at 400,755.80 and the JSE Index rising 1,949.77 points to close at 365,133.89.
Trading closed with 6,766,220 units valued at $113,213,380 trading, compared with 10,005,164 units valued at $94,380,140 changing hands, on Tuesday.
Main market trading closed with Supreme Ventures leading with 3,066,003 units trading, or 45.3 percent of the day’s volume and Wisynco Group with 2,131,159 units and 31.5 percent of volume traded and Carreras closed with 381,353 units with 5.6 percent of the day’s volume.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 3 stocks ending with bids higher than the last selling prices and 2 closing with lower offers.
Trading resulted in an average of 225,541 units valued at over $3,773,779, in contrast to 333,505 shares valued at $3,146,005 on Tuesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 290,851 shares, valued $5,213,901and previously, 293,971 shares, valued $5,289,432. September closed, with an average of 1,022,243 shares, valued $15,752,876, for each security traded.
In the main market activity, Caribbean Cement fell $1.20 trading 11,024 shares to close at $44, JMMB Group added 80 cents and ended at $33.80, trading 9,658 shares, Kingston Wharves lost $3 and finished at $75, with 771 stock units trading, Mayberry Investments gained 45 cents, settling at $11.25, trading 5,500 units, NCB Financial Group 
added $1 and ended trading 108,157 shares to close at $126, PanJam Investment closed with a loss of 50 cents to end at $64, trading 36,716 stock units, Portland JSX rose 50 cents and ended at $8.50, with 500 units. Sagicor Real Estate Fund lost $1 to settle at $12, exchanging 26,431 shares, Scotia Group fell 74 cents to settle at $53 in trading 142,970 units, Seprod dropped $3, in finishing trading at $36, with 7,900 shares changing hands. Supreme Ventures jumped $1.80 to close at $19.80, with 3,066,003 shares changing hands.
Trading in the US dollar market ended with 36,650 units valued at $23,839 changing hands, with JMMB Group 5.75 percent preference share traded 10,920 shares at $2.03, Margaritaville closed with 125 units trading at 24 US cents and Sygnus Credit Investments US dollar based ordinary share, traded 16,979 units and rose 0.10 to end at 11 US cents after. The JSE USD Equities Index advanced by 0.01 point to close at 163.30.
Archives for October 2018
Junior Market close out October down
In Junior Market activity, Express Catering traded 5 million that pushed the overall volume to 7,039,541 units valued at $46,203,913, compared to 1,044,222 units valued at $3,800,904 on Tuesday.
Trading ended in the regular market with 25 securities changing hands, versus 29 on Tuesday, leading to gains in the prices of 11, decline of 5 while 10 remained unchanged. The market Index rose 17.11 points but closed October with a loss of 88.45 point to close at 3,306.56, on Wednesday.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading had 10 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices, while 5 closed with lower offers.
Trading ended with an average of a mere 281,582 units for an average of $1,848,156 in contrast to 36,008 units for an average of $131,066 on Tuesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 69,421 units valued at $347,455 and previously 59,915 units valued at $276,934. September, ended with an average of 484,335 at $2,628,299 for each security traded.
At the close of trading, Access Financial closed $2 higher at $52, with 1,645 shares changing hands, AMG Packaging ended at $1.80, exchanging 302,368 stock units, Blue Power concluded trading with a loss of 20 cents at $6, with 
3,970 units, Cargo Handlers settled at $13, trading 5,467 shares, Caribbean Flavours traded 5,117 stock units at $18. Caribbean Producers finished trading 10,859 units, for 5 cents higher at $6.55, Consolidated Bakeries closed 1 cent higher at $2.30, with 50,000 shares changing hands, Derrimon Trading ended 41 cents higher at $2.82, with 46,000 shares trading, Elite Diagnostic finished with 18,229 stock units changing hands at $3.17. Everything Fresh fell 6 cents in trading 177,881 shares, to close at $2, Express Catering ended trading 5,012,164 shares with a loss of 25 cents to close at $7.85, FosRich Group traded with a loss of 5 cents at $3.05, with 171,333 shares, Honey Bun ended 9 cents higher at $4.14, in exchanging 6,350 units, Indies Pharma rose 10 cents and closed at $3.30 with 659,403 shares changing hands, Jamaican Teas settled at $4, trading 5,827 shares. Jetcon Corporation ended trading 36,193 stock units, for 15 cents more at $3.85, 
KLE Group finished 15 cents higher at $3.90, trading 1,640 shares, Knutsford Express closed at $12, exchanging 807 shares, Lasco Distributors ended at $4, with 54,996 shares. Lasco Financial concluded trading of 320,455 stock units, with a loss of 5 cents to end at $5.45, Lasco Manufacturing finished 6 cents higher at $3.66, swapping 117,031 units, Paramount Trading ended at $2.75, with 28,694 shares changing hands, Sweet River closed with a loss of 30 cents at a 52 weeks’ low of $3.50, trading 1,200 units and tTech ended $1 higher at $6, with 800 shares trading. In the junior market preference segment, Eppley 9.5% finished at $6, with 1,112 shares, In the US dollar Junior Market, Eppley 5% US preference share traded 5,626 units at US$1.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Trading slips on TTSE
Trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange remained at low levels on Wednesday as 69,698 shares traded with a value of $1,598,906, compared to 132,451 shares traded with a value of $2,138,171, changing hands on Tuesday as 3 stocks closed at 52 weeks’ low.
Market activities ended with 11 securities trading against 11 on Tuesday, 3 advanced, 5 declined and 3 remained unchanged with the Composite Index rose 0.15 points to 1,226.91. The All T&T Index gained 0.30 points to 1,694.95, while the Cross Listed Index remained unchanged at 102.06.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading closed with 6 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 6 with lower offers.
Stocks to Watch include, a number of companies that are exhibiting bullish tendencies and may be moving higher in the days ahead, the group includes, Ansa McAl, Grace Kennedy, Republic Holdings, Point Lisas and West Indian Tobacco.
Stocks closing with gains| Agostini’s finished trading with a gain of 43 cents and ended at a 52 week’s high of $23.40, after exchanging 500 shares, Trinidad Cement closed with an increase of 5 cents at $2.65, exchanging 30,266 shares and West Indian Tobacco ended trading with 3 cents and settled at $90.03, with 5,957 units. The company announced that shareholders approved the 3 for 1 stock split with the effective data to be announced.
Stocks closing with losses| Angostura Holdings lost 3 cents and completed trading at $15.70, with 1,554 stock units changing hands, First Citizens ended trading 5 cents lower to $32.65, after exchanging 10,023 shares, Massy Holdings concluded trading with a loss of 17 cents and ended at a 52 week’s Low of $46.75, after exchanging 8,760 shares, National Flour traded 3,417 units with a loss of 4 cents and settled at $1.65 and Trinidad & Tobago NGL fell 9 cents to $29.41, after exchanging 5,890 shares.
Stocks trading with no price change| Clico Investments completed trading at $20.15, with 131 stock units changing hands, Prestige Holdings settled at $7.50, with 3,000 units and Unilever Caribbean completed trading at $25, with 200 stock units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Lowest unemployment for Jamaica
Jamaica’s unemployment dropped to the lowest on record at 8.4 percent in July 2018, down from July 2017 when the rate was 11.3 percent. The previous lowest unemployed rate was 8.6 percent reached on October 2007 before the country economy went into contraction.
Importantly, 1,226,400 persons were employed in July this year, an increase of 12,800 above the number recorded in July 2017. Helping with the sharp reduction in the rate of employment, was a simultaneous reduction in the number of persons in the labour force to 1,338,200 persons, a decrease of 2.2 percent compared to July 2017, Statin stated in their release of the data.
The male labour force, of 723,600 persons in July 2018 decreased by 1.5 percent relative to July 2017 while the female labour force decreased by 3 percent to 614,600 persons. The number of males employed increased by 5,900 to 681,800 while female employment increased by 6,900 to 544,600.
Construction saw increased employment.
The number of unemployed persons declined by 27.7 percent to 111,800 persons in July 2018, compared to July 2017. The number of unemployed males decreased by 28.6 percent to 41,800, while unemployed females decreased by 27.2 percent to 70,000. Unemployed youth, aged 14 to 24 years, decreased by 14,600 persons to 45,200 in July 2018.
Carib Cement hit by exchange loss
Caribbean Cement traded at $45.200 on Tuesday.
Sale revenues at Caribbean Cement rose 6.7 percent for the quarter, to $4.46 billion from $4.18 billion in 2017 and rose 7.9 percent for the year to date, to $13.2 billion from $12.25 billion in 2017.
A $464 million foreign exchange loss hit the results for the September quarter pulling the strong 44 percent increase in operating profit to $1.2 billion from $836 million, into lower net profit of $305 million than $748 million for the prior year’s period. For the nine months to September, profit fell 28 percent to $1.3 billion from $1.8 million in 2017.
Energy cost climbed by $233 million in the quarter and $342 million year to date but other operating cost declined, with the repurchase of the mill and kiln, previously leased from Trinidad Cement with only $213 million was incurred in the third quarter versus $1.1 million in 2017. For the nine months $1.57 million was incurred compared to $3.3 billion. On-the-other-hand finance cost excluding foreign exchange loss rose to $227 million up sharply from just $11 million in 2017 in the quarter and $299 million versus $4 million year to date. Depreciation and amortisation cost rose to $342 million from $132 million in 2017 and for the nine months to $808 million from $400 million in 2017. The net effect is that the company enjoyed a savings of $500 million per quarter or $2 billion per annum as a result of the buy of the lease, but virtually none of this, benefited shareholders.
Earnings per share came out at 39 cents for the quarter and $1.54 for the nine months and should end the fiscal year ending to around $3.50, as the company reverses the foreign exchange loss in the December quarter and picks up some gains, as well as increased revenues resulting from a price increase of just over 4 percent, effective on October 22.
Carib Cement could earn $5.30 in 2019.
But IC Insider.com is forecasting a jump in earnings for 2019 around $5.30 per shares, as the plant upgrades is completed and commissioned, allowing for the elimination of costly imports that negatively impacted cost in 2018 and will see them moving back into exports.
Gross cash flow brought in $849 million but growth in receivables, inventories, addition to fixed assets, loan repayment and increased payables resulted in negative total flows thus reducing the cash on hand to $468 million. For the nine months the operations brought in $2.6 billion but working capital needs and capital transactions saw cash funds reduced from $1.67 billion to $468 million.
The sharp changes in funds is due to the repurchase of equipment that was previously leased that drove fixed assets to $23 billion from $7.7 million in 2017 and borrowing to $12 billion.
Shareholders’ equity stood at $10.26 billion with borrowings at just $12 billion and net current assets ended the period was negative $1 billion.
The stock traded at $45.20 on the Jamaica Stock Exchange with a PE ratio of 13 times 2018 earnings and sits around the centre of the market valuation. the price could double in 2019. Net asset value is $12 with the stock selling at almost 4 times book value.
Going forward, the company results should be helped from the improvement in the Jamaican economy and growth that is likely to flow from the construction sector including buildings and roads and bridges as well as from increased exports. There is also focus on cost reduction with the high energy cost being the next centre of attention.
J$ revaluation leads to more US$ selloff
On Tuesday dealers purchased US$39.6 million from the public at $127.50 and sold $44.86 million at an average of $128.63 down from $128.93 on Monday.
On Monday, Bank of Nova Scotia bought US$14.27 million and sold $11.68 million on Monday and on Tuesday bought US$5.6 million and sold $10.1 million while National Commercial Bank bought US$8.66 million and sold US$18.95 million on Monday and on Tuesday bought $4.1 million and sold $9.5 million. Sagicor Bank bought US$1.96 million but sold $9.92 million on Monday and on Tuesday purchased $787,000 and sold $1.89 million. JN Bank sold $6 million on Tuesday having bought just $1.6 million and Victoria Mutual Building Society bought US$3.1 million and sold just $347,000.
In foreign exchange trading, dealers in total bought US$56.13 million and sold $73.36 million, representing a net sale of US$17 million on Monday. Purchases of all currencies on Monday amounted to US$60.64 million and selling of $76.95 million and on Tuesday, purchases of all currencies amounted to US$45.44 million and selling of $59.3 million. Including in the trade was the purchase of can$4.68 million and sale of Can$17.16 million.
The sell off of US dollar is unlikely to be coming from stock piling of foreign currency and may be coming from banks selling the currency short hoping to buy back at a lower price in the winter months when the supply is expected to be higher. The financial institutions are also earners of foreign exchange from loans, bonds and fees on foreign currency accounts and would have some of these to sell.
JSE makes big recovery on Tuesday
The Jamaica Stock Exchange closed a big gain on Tuesday as trading levels rose much higher than on Monday, from 34 active securities in the main and US dollar market compared to 31 on Monday.
The market ended with the prices of 17 securities rising, 7 declining while 10 remained unchanged leading to the All Jamaica Composite Index surging 8,178.20 points to close at 398,615.81 and the JSE Index jumping 7,451.27 points to close at 363,184.12.
Trading closed with 10,005,164 units valued at $94,380,140 trading, compared with just 3,098,511 units valued at $31,049,457 changing hands, on Monday.
Main market trading closed with JMMB Group 7.50% preference share leading with 7,780,000 units trading, or 78 percent of the day’s volume and NCB Financial with 517,883 units and 5 percent of volume traded and Carreras closed with 372,736 units with 3.7 percent of the day’s volume.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 3 stocks ending with bids higher than the last selling prices and 2 closing with lower offers.
Trading resulted in an average of 333,505 units valued at over $3,146,005, in contrast to 110,661 shares valued at $1,108,909 on Monday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 293,971 shares, valued 
$5,289,432 and previously, 291,988 shares, valued $5,142,412. September closed, with an average of 1,022,243 shares, valued $15,752,876, for each security traded.
In the main market activity, Barita Investments rose 90 cents and closed at $19 while trading 288 shares, Berger Paints climbed $1.40 to $22.90, in exchanging 24,500 stock units, Caribbean Cement rose $1.20 trading 14,777 shares to close at $45.20, Jamaica Broilers gained $1 trading 64,499 stock units to close at $31, Jamaica Producers jumped $1.651 and finished trading 28,494 units at $27.51, Jamaica Stock Exchange climbed $1.30 to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $9.80, trading 22,926 shares, Mayberry Investments gained 80 cents and settled at $10.80, trading 234,551 units, Mayberry Jamaican Equities lost 40 cents and settled at $11.40, in exchanging 13,025 units, NCB Financial Group added $5 and ended trading 517,883 shares to close at $125, PanJam Investment closed with a rise of $1.20 to end at $64.50, trading 55,001 stock units, Sagicor Group climbed $1.85 and settled at 
$46.85, exchanging 10,431 shares, Scotia Group rose $1.74 in trading 8,363 units to close at $53.74, Seprod jumped $2, in finishing trading at $39, with 3,348 shares, Stanley Motta rose 55 cents trading 25,000 shares to close at $5, Victoria Mutual Investments rose 33 cents and concluded trading of 78,638 stock units at $4.13 and Wisynco Group rose 26 cents and finished at $10.50, with 198,252 units changing hands.
Trading in the US dollar market ended with 48,323 units valued at $8,927 changing hands, with Margaritaville falling 1 cent and closing with 3,800 units trading at 24 US cents, Productive Business Solution gained 4 cents to close at 59 US cents trading just 100 units, Proven Investments fell 1 cent trading 34,223 shares to close at 20 US cents and Sygnus Credit Investments US dollar based ordinary share, traded 10,200 units to end at 10.9 US cents after slipping 0.1 cent The JSE USD Equities Index advanced by 1.36 points to close at 163.29.
Junior Market down again – Tuesday
Medical Disposables traded at new all-time high of $10.
The Junior Market Index lost 18.06 points to close at 3,289.45, on Tuesday with 29 securities trading, versus 26 on Monday. At the close 11 advanced, 10 declined and 8 remained unchanged.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading had 9 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices, while 3 closed with lower offers.
The market traded just 1,044,222 units valued at $3,800,904, compared to 758,861 units valued at $3,466,162 on Monday.
Trading ended with an average of a mere 36,008 units for an average of $131,066 in contrast to 29,187 units for an average of $133,314 on Monday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 59,915 units valued at $276,934 and previously 61,226 units valued at $280,213. September, ended with an average of 484,335 at $2,628,299 for each security traded.
At the close of trading, AMG Packaging ended trading at $1.80, with 108,833 stock units exchanged, CAC2000 finished trading 200 shares at $16, Caribbean Cream ended with a loss of $1.10 at $5.65, trading 20,000 shares, Caribbean Flavours traded 510 stock units and rose $1 to $18, Caribbean Producers finished trading with a loss of 1 cent at $6.50, with 40,000 units. Consolidated Bakeries closed with a loss of 11 cents at $2.29, in exchanging 167 shares, Derrimon Trading ended with a loss of 41 cents at $2.41, in trading of 46,715 shares, Elite Diagnostic finished trading 28,229 stock units at $3.17, Eppley settled with a loss of 85 cents at $8.15, with 1,000 units changing hands. Everything Fresh fell 6 cents in trading 18,369 shares, to close at $2, Express Catering ended trading 6,486 shares and rose 10 cents to $8.10, FosRich Group traded at $3.10, in exchanging 103,268 shares, General Accident finished trading 1,500 shares and closed 25 cents higher at $3.75, GWest Corporation closed 10 cents higher at $1.70, with 23,477 stock units. Honey Bun ended with a loss of 5 cents at 
$4.05, trading 61,379 units, Indies Pharma rose 10 cents and closed at $3.20 with 128,477 shares changing hands, Iron Rock concluded trading 20 cents higher at $5, in swapping 9,500 shares, ISP Finance finished trading 3,300 shares at $20, Jamaican Teas settled with a loss of 9 cents at $4, in exchanging 2,435 shares. Jetcon Corporation gained 20 cents to end at $3.70, in trading 298,550 stock units, Knutsford Express closed 20 cents higher at $12, with 366 shares changing hands, Lasco Distributors ended at $4, in exchanging 83,099 shares, Lasco Financial concluded trading of 16,666 stock units and closed 5 cents higher at $5.50. Lasco Manufacturing finished with a loss of 16 cents at $3.60, exchanging 16,031 units, Main Event settled 40 cents higher at $6.50, trading 1,000 shares, Medical Disposables jumped $2.50 to an all-time high of $10, with 9,174 shares being exchanged, Paramount Trading ended at $2.75, with 300 shares changing hands, SSL Venture Capital traded 7,173 shares but lost 5 cents to close at $2 and Stationery and Office finished trading of 8,018 stock units at $9.50.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
3 stocks closed at 52 weeks’ low on TTSE
Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange Head Quarters
Trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange remained at low levels on Tuesday as 132,451 shares traded with a value of $2,138,171, compared to 142,297 shares valued $2,046,355, changing hands on Monday as 3 stocks closed at 52 weeks’ low.
Market activities ended with 11 securities trading against 14 on Monday, 1 advanced, 4 declined and 6 remained unchanged with the Composite Index falling 3.55 points to 1,226.76. The All T&T Index fell 5.76 points to 1,694.65, while the Cross Listed Index shed 0.17 points to close at 102.06.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading closed with 4 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
Stocks to Watch include, a number of companies that are exhibiting bullish tendencies and may be moving higher in the days ahead, the group includes, Agostini’s, Ansa McAl, Grace Kennedy, Republic Holdings, Point Lisas and West Indian Tobacco.
Stocks closing with gains| Trinidad & Tobago NGL rose 9 cents and completed exchanging 16,141 shares at $29.50.
Stocks closing with losses| Calypso Macro Index Fund traded 200 shares and lost 2 cents to close at $15.81, Guardian Media traded with a loss of 70 cents and settled at a 52 week’s Low of $15, after exchanging 100 shares, 
National Enterprises fell 44 cents to a 52 week’s Low of $8.52, with 100 stock units changing hands and Sagicor Financial closed with a loss of 25 cents and ended at a 52 week’s Low of $7.45, trading 87,571.
Stocks trading with no price change| Clico Investments ended at $20.15, with 3,745 stock units changing hands, First Citizens completed trading at $32.70, after exchanging 20,050 shares, Massy Holdings settled at $46.92, trading just 6 shares, National Flour ended at $1.69, with 583 units trading, NCB Financial Group completed trading at $6, after exchanging 1,050 shares and West Indian Tobacco ended at $90, exchanging 2,905 units.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
JSE falls with modest trading on Monday
The Jamaica Stock Exchange closed on Monday with more decline following Friday’s big decline as trading volume decline to very low level.
The market ended with the prices of 11 securities rising, 11 declining while 9 remained unchanged leading to the All Jamaica Composite Index diving 3,396.00 points to 390,437.61 and the JSE Index dropping 3,094.14 points to close at 355,732.85.
Trading closed with 31 active securities in the main and US dollar market compared to 29 on Friday but with higher volume and value as 3,098,511 units valued at $31,049,457 traded, compared with 4,241,799 units valued at $75,795,522 changing hands, on Friday.
Main market trading closed with 1834 Investments with the leading volume of 1,200,000 units trading, or 39 percent of the day’s volume, Sagicor Real Estate Fund with 559,428 units and 18 percent of volume traded and Carreras closed with 344,581 units accounting for 11 percent of the day’s volume.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 7 stocks ending with bids higher than the last selling prices and 5 closing with lower offers.
Trading resulted in an average of 110,661 units valued at over $1,108,909, in contrast to 151,493 shares valued at $2,706,983 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 291,988 shares, valued $5,142,412 and previously 300,895 shares, valued $5,350,785. September closed, with an average of 1,022,243 shares valued $15,752,876, for each security traded.
In the main market activity, Berger Paints lost 51 cents and ended at $21.50, exchanging 12,999 stock units, Caribbean Cement dipped $3 to finish trading with 43,795 shares at $44, Grace Kennedy gained 99 cents, trading 34,473 shares to close at $55.99, Jamaica Stock Exchange lost 70 cents to close at $8.50, trading 160,996 shares, JMMB Group lost $1 and ended at $33, exchanging 42,590 shares, Kingston Wharves jumped $8 and finished at $78 trading 6,301 
stock units, Mayberry Investments lost 35 cents and settled at $10 in trading 22,721 units, Mayberry Jamaican Equities lost 40 cents and settled at $11.40, in exchanging 13,025 units, Salada Foods jumped $3.50 ended trading 11,274 stock units to close at $25, Scotia Group declined $2 in trading 5,599 units to close at $52, Seprod jumped $5, finishing trading at $37, with 2,100 shares and Supreme Ventures rose $1.50 to end at $18, in an exchange of 29,677 shares.
Trading in the US dollar market ended with 39,347 units changing hands with Proven Investments trading 37,436 to close at 21 US cents and Sygnus Credit Investments US dollar based ordinary share traded 1,911 units but lost 0.5 cent to end at 11 US cents. The JSE USD Equities Index lost 2.73 points to close at 161.93.
