Many investors in the growing pool of equity-linked managed Funds are losing out on good returns being enjoyed by others in the Unit Trust industry because they fail to focus regularly eyes on their investment and compare the performance of their investment against others.
Investors wanting to enjoy stock market-like gains with reduced risk have several options, but paying attention to past performance can make a big difference between ordinary or excellent returns.
Investors should review the performance of their investment regularly at least once per year to see how well theirs stack up with similar forms of investment. This applies to stocks, Unit Trusts, money market instruments or any other forms of investment.
A good example is the long-term top unit trust performer Barita’s Capital Growth Fund that gained the most for the year to September, with an increase of 43.15 percent, outperforming by far the 23.69 percent posted in the corresponding period in 2018. The Fund’s twelve-month growth was an attractive 52.67 percent, the highest of all the local equity Funds.
New kid on the block JN Mutual Funds Global Equity Fund holds the number 2 spot with growth of 35.91 percent to October 2 and gained just over 31 percent for the last twelve months, followed by 
Sagicor Investments’ Sigma Equity Fund with, growth of 31.31 percent and sits at number 3 for 2019 to date but that is lower than the 36.47 percent at the similar point in 2018. VM’s Wealth Classic Equity Growth portfolio is the fourth-best performing Fund in 2019 with a gain of 29.78 percent and is significantly up on the 16.42 percent increase in the 2018 period. NCB’s E Fund is next with 29.26 percent for 2019, a huge turnaround compared to last year’s mere 2.96 percent gain.
Barita’s Capital Growth Fund that led the pack with growth for the twelve-month period is followed by Sagicor’s Sigma Equity Fund with 39.84 percent and in third place, VMWealth Classic Equity with 33.96 percent.
Scotia Premium Growth Fund delivered a 23.14 percent growth while JMMB Income & Growth Fund had gains of 22.64 percent for the nine months to September. Sigma Global Venture Equity Fund delivered gains of 18.22 percent for the year to September and 17.60 percent for the 12 months.
The bottom three performing equity Funds for the year to September are JN Global Diversified Income with 11.26 percent growth and a twelve-month growth of 9.10 percent as of October 2, JMMB Optimum Capital generated just 15.7 percent gains for the nine months, and 11.44 percent for the past 12 months.
The three best performing Funds, Sagicor’s Sigma Equity, Scotia’s Premium Growth and Barita’s Capital Growth, have been and continue to outperform the other players in the market over the long term, despite encountering periodic blips in their performance due to local and external economic conditions.
For the past 5 years to the end of 2018, the three best performing Funds were Sagicor’s Sigma Equity, Scotia’s Premium Growth and Barita’s Capital Growth, and for the 10 years to 2018, the same three Funds have been the top performers.
Archives for October 2019
TTSE stocks slip – Thursday
Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange ended on Thursday with 15 securities trading against 16 on Wednesday, with 4 stocks advancing, 6 declining and 5 remaining unchanged.
At the close of the market, the Composite Index lost 1.62 points to end at 1,413.79. The All T&T Index fell 0.37 points to 1,758.71, while the Cross Listed Index slipped 0.40 points to close at 144.90.
Trading ended with 282,354 shares valued $2,703,518, compared to 58,149 shares at a value of $1,935,352 shares on Wednesday.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended at 5 stocks with bids lower than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
Gains| Guardian Holdings gained 8 cents and concluded trading of 500 shares at $18.50, NCB Financial rose 9 cents and settled at $10.75, after exchanging 21,845 shares, Sagicor Financial added 4 cents and ended at $10.65 trading 52,009 units and Scotiabank gained 25 cents to end at $60, with 2,542 stock units changing hands.
Losses| Ansa McAl traded a mere 8 units and lost 2 cents to close at $54.98, Clico Investment Fund declined 4 cents and ended at $24.06, with 45,658 units crossing the exchange, First Caribbean International Bank ended trading 4,800 stock units and fell 19 cents to end at $9.05. 
National Flour fell 3 cents and ended at $1.47, after swapping 107,000 shares, Trinidad & Tobago NGL lost 6 cents in exchanging 2,019 units to close at $25.71 and Unilever Caribbean fell 1 cent and completed trading of 830 shares at $24.50.
Firm Traded| First Citizens completed trading at $40.50, with 4,949 units trading, Grace Kennedy settled at $3.40, with investors exchanging 27,173 shares, Massy Holdings ended at $55, with an exchange of 1,000 stock units, National Enterprises ended at $5.70, with 2,621 stock units changing hands and Trinidad Cement ended at $2, with investors exchanging 9,400 shares.
Prices of securities trading are those at which the last trade took place.
JSE slips with 2 advances to 1 decline
Advancing Jamaica Stock Exchange stocks doubled declining ones but that did not stop the market indices from falling for the second day of trading with the All Jamaican Composite Index losing 1,445.53 points to close at 547,619.84 and the JSE Index dipping 1,377.67 points to 498,535.38.
The recently created JSE Financial Index slipped 0.53 points to close at 136.09 points as trading ended with 39 securities changing hands in the main and US dollar markets. At the close 20 stocks advanced, 10 declined and 9 traded firm. Main market activity ended with 35 securities trading, resulting in 21,914,251 units valued at $146,471,455 in contrast 29,682,285 units valued at $61,647,404 from 35 securities trading on Tuesday.
Wigton Windfarm led trading with 10.2 million units for 47 percent of total volume, followed by Sagicor Select Funds with 7.1 million shares for 33 percent of the market’s trade and Carreras 1.1 million units accounting for 5 percent of the day’s trade.
The market closed with an average of 626,121 units valued at $4,184,899 for each security traded, in contrast to 848,065 units for an average of $1,761,354 on Tuesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 907,175 shares at a value of $13,714,670 for each security traded and previously 924,647 shares at $14,346,378 for each stock traded. The market closed September with an average of 1,585,081 units valued at $14,071,562 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer reading shows 13 securities ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers. The PE ratio of the market ended at 16.5 with the main market ending at 17.1 times 2019 current year’s earnings.
In main market activity, Eppley Caribbean Fund gained $1.50 to close at $39.50, exchanging 5,650 shares, Grace Kennedy rebounded to close at $68.35, after advancing $2.30 trading 13,359 shares, Jamaica Producers closed 31 cents higher to $21.51 with just 100 shares changing hands, JMMB Group closed at $42, after gaining $1 in swapping of 100,100 shares. Kingston Properties gained 60 cents to settle at $5.90 with 200 shares crossing the exchange, Kingston Wharves closed 53 cents higher to $60.53 in trading 250 shares, Mayberry Investments lost 32 cents, ending at $7.98 after exchanging 35,999 shares. NCB Financial jumped $4 on the previous day’s closing trade to settle at $205 in swapping 116,828 shares, PanJam Investment fell $1.86 to $100, after trading 458,034 shares,
Sagicor Group gained 45 cents to close at $67, with 51,000 shares changing hands. Salada Foods advanced by $3 to $28, in exchanging 1,000 shares, Scotia Group slipped by $1, in ending at $56 with 30,862 shares trading, Seprod closed $2.80 higher at $53.82 in exchanging 10,666 shares. Supreme Ventures gained 85 cents, after closing at $26 with 7,832 shares changing hands and Sygnus Credit Investments lost 30 cents to settle at $22 with 61,665 shares crossing the exchange.
Trading in the US dollar market ended with 82,142 units valued at $19,621 and the market index gained 0.05 points to close at 196.78. At the close, Proven Investments traded 63,000 units to close at 27 US cents, Sygnus Credit Investments ended the day’s trade at 14 US cents, after gaining a fraction of a US cent with 16,950 shares changing hands, Sterling Investments exchanged 2,000 units at 3 US cents and JMMB 6 % preference share gained 2 cents to close at US$1.01 with just 192 shares changing hands.
Junior Market decline halted – Wednesday
The Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market Index eked out a minor gain of 4.01 points to 3,352.17 after trading closed on Wednesday after a near 47 points fall on Tuesday.
Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange settled on Wednesday resulting in an exchange of 2,463,223 units valued at $8,312,204 compared to 3,394,559 units valued at $18,938,756 on Tuesday.
At the close of market activities, 28 securities changing hands, down from 31 on Tuesday, with the prices of 9 securities advancing, 11 declining and 8 remained unchanged. Trading ended with an average of 87,972 units for $296,864 for each security traded in contrast to 109,502 units for an average of $610,928 on Tuesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to units 98,564 valued at $480,309 and previously 99,232 units for an average of $491,877. 
In contrast, September closed with an average of 954,574 units valued at $2,612,695 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 6 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial gained $2 to end at $34 with 19,811 stock units trading, Caribbean Cream closed trading of 5,000 units and gained 30 cents to end at $4.25, Consolidated Bakeries shed 24 cents in trading of 117,746 units at $1.75. Derrimon Trading ended trading with 289,579 shares, after rising 2 cents to end at $2.45, Everything Fresh declined 10 cents in trading of 54,984 units at $1.15, Express Catering closed with a loss of 2 cents at $5.90, in swapping 31,200 shares, Fosrich lost 7 cents in trading of 22,250 units to close at $4.84. General Accident fell 24 cents to settle at $8 in trading 309,120 shares after hitting a record high of $8.65, GWest Corporation dipped 6 cents in exchanging 103,732 units at $1.04, Honey Bun climbed 11 cents and exchanged 4,269 shares at to end at $6.81, iCreate dipped 5 cents in trading of 406,728 units at 66 cents. 
Indies Pharma ended with a loss of 1 cent at $3.15 with 20,560 stock units changing hands, Jetcon Corporation lost 26 cents trading 206,970 units in closing at $1.60, Lasco Distributors lost 10 cents with 109,700 shares crossing the exchange to close at $3.80. Lasco Financial closed trading of 46,726 units and gained 21 cents to end at $4.91, Lasco Manufacturing climbed 10 cents and exchanged 230,707 shares at $4.95, Limners and Bards closed 3 cents higher at $2.55, with 78,286 stock units trading. Medical Disposables closed trading of 100 units and gained 80 cents to end at $8.10, SSL Venture climbed 3 cents and exchanged 55,169 shares to end at $1.38 and tTech lost 10 cents trading 1,060 shares to close at $6.30.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
TTSE indices slip – Wednesday
Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange ended on Wednesday with 16 securities trading against 15 on Tuesday, with 3 stocks advancing, 5 declining and 8 remaining unchanged.
At the close of the market, the Composite Index lost 3.34 points to end at 1,415.41. The All T&T Index fell 3.58 points to 1,759.08, while the Cross Listed Index slipped 0.42 points to close at 145.30.
Trading ended with 58,149 shares at a value of $1,935,352, compared to 71,169 shares at a value of $2,062,260 shares on Tuesday.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended at 4 stocks with bids lower than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Gains| Clico Investment Fund gained 4 cents to end at $24.10, with 2,324 stock units changing hands, Republic Financial added 14 cents and ended at $122.96, with 1,769 stock units changing hands, and Scotiabank closed with an increase of 28 cents at $59.75, with 18,765 units crossing the exchange.
Losses| First Citizens Bank fell 49 cents and concluded at $40.50, with 370 units, Guardian Holdings closed with a loss of 8 cents and completed trading of 2,884 shares at $18.42, NCB Financial shed 9 cents and ended at $10.66, with 8,703 units crossing the exchange. 
Trinidad & Tobago NGL lost 8 cents in exchanging 1,531 units to close at $25.77 and West Indian Tobacco dropped $1.49 and ended at $104.51, with 1,344 stock units trading.
Firm Trades| Calypso Micro Index Fund traded 6,125 shares and closed at $15.75, JMMB Group completed trading 72 units at $2.08, Massy Holdings settled at $55, with 200 units trading, National Enterprises completed trading at $5.70, with 7,672 stock units changing hands, National Flour settled at $1.50, with an exchange of 1,708 units. One Caribbean Media completed trading of 741 units at $10, Prestige Holdings closed trading at $8.10, with 1,411 stock units changing hands and Sagicor Financial completed trading at $10.61, with 2,530 units crossing the exchange.
Prices of securities trading are those at which the last trade took place.
26 JSE stocks fall just 4 rise on Tuesday
The Jamaica Stock Exchange main market declined as the prices of 26 stocks tumbled and just 4 rose on Tuesday and just 7 closed with the prices unchanged as 37 securities changed hands in both the main and US dollar markets.
At the close of trading, the All Jamaican Composite Index declined by 2,056.84 points to 549,065.37, the JSE Index falling 1,863.72 points to 499,913.05 and The JSE Financial Index that was started early this year, inched just 0.04 points lower, to end at 136.62.
Main market activity ended with 35 securities trading, resulting in 29,682,285 units valued at $61,647,404 in contrast to 31,484,701 units valued at $125,777,352 from 34 securities trading on Friday.
Wigton Windfarm led trading with 20.7 million units for 70 percent of total volume, followed by Sagicor Select Funds with 7.1 million shares for 24 percent of the market’s trade and QWI Investments 635,758 units accounting for 2 percent of the day’s trade.
The market closed with an average of 848,065 units valued at $1,761,354 for each security traded, in contrast to 1,015,636 units for an average of $4,057,334 on Friday. 
The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 924,647 shares at a value of $14,346,378 for each security traded and previously 929,723 shares at $15,239,838 for each stock traded. The market closed September with an average of 1,585,081 units valued at $14,071,562 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer reading shows 13 securities ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with lower offers. The PE ratio of the market ended at 16.2 with the main market ending at 16.8 times 2019 current year’s earnings.
In main market activity, Barita closed 45 cents lower to $78.50, after trading 14,950 shares, Berger Paints ended at $1 and lost 50 cents in swapping 1,222 shares, Carib Cement dived $2.50 trading 35,679 shares, in closing at $73.50. Grace Kennedy declined by $3.45 to close at $66.05 with 21,438 shares changing hands, Jamaica Broilers lost $1 in exchanging 13,265 shares to settle at $34, Jamaica Producers closed $3.30 lower to $21.20 while trading 134,912 shares, Jamaica Stock Exchange dropped 50 cents at $28 with 42,794 shares traded. JMMB Group slid to $41, losing $1.50 in swapping 14,777 shares. 
Kingston Wharves lost 39 cents to settle at $60 trading 629 shares, NCB Financial closed $4 lower to $201 with an exchange of 51,820 shares, Portland JSX fell by 97 cents to $8, after trading 3,600 shares, Sagicor Group settled at $66.55, after losing 95 cents with 21,890 shares changing hands. Salada Foods closed $3 lower to $25, in swapping 1,198 shares, Scotia Group dropped $3 and ended at $57 in exchanging 2,650 shares, Seprod lost $1.98 to close at $51.02 after exchanging 7,454 shares and Supreme Ventures closed $1.60 lower to $25.15 with 15,953 shares changing hands.
Trading in the US dollar market ended with 583,847 units valued at $147,169 and the market index closed at 196.73. Proven Investments traded 503,847 units to close at 27 US cents and Sygnus Credit Investments ended the day’s trading at 13.9 US cents, after falling a fraction of 1 US cent with 80,000 shares changing hands.
Big drop for Junior Market index – Tuesday
The Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market Index dropped 49.65 points to 3,348.16 after trading resumed on Tuesday after the heroes’ holiday break on Monday.
At the close of market activities, 31 securities changed hands, the same number that traded on Friday and closed with the prices of 8 securities rising, 13 declining while 10 remained unchanged.
Trading closed on Tuesday with an exchange of 3,394,559 units valued at $18,938,756 compared to 808,904 units valued at $3,245,147 on Friday.
Trading ended with an average of 109,502 units for an average of $610,928 in contrast to 26,094 units for an average of $104,682 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 99,232 units for an average of $491,877 and previously 120,361 units valued at $482,941 for each security traded. In contrast, September closed with an average of 954,574 units valued at $2,612,695 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 2 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial lost $2.44 exchanging 15,498 shares to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $32, AMG Packaging dipped 23 cents in trading 513,472 units to close at $1.70, Caribbean Flavours dropped $1.50 in exchanging 400,000 shares to close at $12 after trading at a 52 weeks low of $10.50 earlier. Caribbean Producers slipped 10 cents and exchanged 3,250 shares at $4.70, Derrimon Trading lost 4 cents trading of 32,512 units at $2.43. Elite Diagnostic climbed 5 cents and exchanged 4,453 shares to end at $5.60, Everything Fresh ended trading 25,598 shares, after rising 2 cents to end at $1.25. Express Catering declined by 21 cents to settle at $5.92 after exchanging 9,240 shares, Fontana ended market activity exchanging 48,722 shares to close at $7.25 after falling 27 cents, Fosrich rose 7 cents in trading of 2,500 units to close at $4.91, General Accident gained 24 cents in swapping of 113,470 units at a record high of $8.24. 
Honey Bun lost 45 cents trading 7,028 units to close at $6.70, Jamaican Teas gained 9 cents with 19,125 units changing hands to end at $6.30, Jetcon Corporation ended trading with 57,060 shares, after rising 1 cent to end at $1.86. KLE Group shed 24 cents to end at $1.76 with 3,321 stock units trading, Knutsford Express closed trading of 4,446 units and gained 40 cents to end at $11, Lasco Distributors closed trading of 2,880 units and lost 8 cents to end at $3.90, Lasco Manufacturing closed trading of 1,375,455 units and fell 12 cents to end at $4.85. Limners and Bards ended with a loss of 3 cents at $2.52 with 33,046 stock units changing hands, Medical Disposables lost 81 cents to end at $7.30, after trading 7,700 shares and SSL Venture ended trading of 4,331 shares and rose 15 cents to end at $1.35.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
TTSE stocks rise again – Tuesday
First Citizens closed at a 52 weeks’ high on TTSE on Tuesday.
Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange ended on Tuesday with trading in 15 securities against just 10 on Monday, with the prices of 7 stocks advancing, 2 declining and 6 remaining unchanged.
At the close of the market, the Composite Index added 2.24 points to end at 1,418.75. The All T&T Index gained 3.62 points to 1,762.66, while the Cross Listed Index rose 0.11 points to close at 145.72.
Trading ended with 71,169 shares at a value of $2,062,260, compared to 138,960 shares at a value of $6,896,031 shares on Monday.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended at 2 stocks with bids lower than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Gains| Clico Investment Fund gained 1 cent and completed trading with 4,817 units at $24.06, First Citizens Bank climbed 59 cents and ended at 52 weeks’ high of $40.99, with 219 units changing hands, Grace Kennedy gained 4 cents and with completed trading of 327 shares at $3.40. Guardian Holdings added 8 cents and settled at $18.50, with 16,597 stock units changing hands, Massy Holdings rose 9 cents and settled at $55, after exchanging 8,055 shares. 
National Enterprises increased 10 cents and completed trading of 5,000 units at $5.70 and Unilever Caribbean rose 1 cent and ended at $24.51, after exchanging 166 shares.
Losses| Republic Financial fell 18 cents and ended at $122.82, in trading 1,994 units and Scotiabank closed with a loss of 28 cents at $59.47, with 9,847 shares crossing the exchange.
Firm Trades| Angostura Holdings settled at $16.05, with 11,472 units trading, Ansa Merchant Bank ended at $35.75, with an exchange of 70 units, NCB Financial ended at $10.75, with 5,387 stock units changing hands. Sagicor Financial completed trading at $10.61, after exchanging 1,000 shares, Trinidad Cement ended at $2, after trading 4,000 shares and Trinidad & Tobago NGL exchanged 2,218 units to close at $25.85.
Prices of securities trading are those at which the last trade took place.
TBill rates drop to 1.55%
Rates on Government of Jamaica Treasury bill dropped to 1.55 percent on the 30 days instrument in the latest issue auctioned on Wednesday, October 16.
The fall in rates follows applications for $2.2 billion of the Government of Jamaica Treasury Bills on offer and resulted in a notable fall in the average rates compared to the results at the September auction.
The October auction attracted $5.9 billion in bids, resulting in the 91 days instrument due January 2020, yielding an average rate of 1.54966 percent. The 182 days instrument due April 2020, produced an average rate of 1.64864 percent and the 273 days due July 2020, averaged 1.80915 percent.
In September auction resulted in an average yield of 1.74141 percent for the 91 days Instrument and 1.75085 percent for the 182 days with $4.6 billion chasing the $1.4 billion on offer. The previous 273 Treasury bill average yield was 2.00534 percent in August.
In October 2018, yields on the 182 days Treasury bill averaged 1.88 percent, then rose to 2.32 percent at the February 2019 auction and started to decline at the next auction in March.
Rates have fallen from 9.12 percent in December 2012 and 9.11 percent in March 2014 and are well below the lowest rates on record. The trend suggests that rates seem poised to fall further.
3 TTSE stocks rise 2 fall – Monday
Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange ended on Monday with trading in 10 securities against 16 on Friday, with 3 stocks advancing, 2 declining and 5 remaining unchanged.
At the close of the market, the Composite Index added 2.24 points to end at 1,416.51. The All T&T Index gained 2.78 points to 1,759.04, while the Cross Listed Index rose 0.23 points to close at 145.61.
Trading ended with 138,960 shares at a value of $6,896,031, compared to 129,696 shares at a value of $3,449,006 on Friday.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended at 3 stocks with bids lower than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
Gains| First Citizens Bank rose 1 cent and settled at $40.40, after exchanging 1,500 shares, JMMB Group gained 4 cents and ended at $2.08, with 40 stock units changing hands and Republic Financial jumped $1 and settled at $123 with 1,719 units crossing the exchange.
Losses| Clico Investment Fund closed with a loss of 1 cent and concluded at $24.05, with 7,936 units, and Massy Holdings fell 1 cent to $54.91, after exchanging 110,000 shares.
Firm Traded| Angostura Holdings ended at $16.05, with the trading of 4,557 stock units, Calypso Micro Index Fund traded 2,400 shares and closed at $15.75, Sagicor Financial concluded trading of 5,000 units at $10.61. Scotiabank completed trading at $59.75, with 2,333 stock units changing hands and Trinidad & Tobago NGL exchanged 3,475 units to close at $25.85.
Prices of securities trading are those at which the last trade took place.
