The Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange ended June on a positive note with the market index rising 24.30 to close at 2.592.24 and ended the halfway mark of the year, down 22.6 percent and closing out the month 41 points lower than the close of May.
Trading ended with 33 securities changing hands, down from 37 on Monday, with prices of 15 stocks rising, 10 declining and eight stocks closing unchanged. The average PE Ratio of the Junior Market ended at 10.1 based on IC Insider.com’s forecasted 2020-21 earnings.
The market closed with an exchange of 4,554,181 shares accounting for 12,472,239 compared to 13,689,006 units at 25,143,842 on Monday.
Jetcon Corporation led trading with 1.23 million units for 27 percent of total trades, followed by Mailpac Group with 786,681 shares or 17 percent and Lasco Distributors with 675,284 stock units at 15 percent market share.
The average trade for the ended at 138,005 units at 377,947 in contrast to an average of 414,818 valued at 761,935 on Monday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 245,049 units valued at 689,955 in contrast to 258,414 units valued at $659,203. Trading for May ended with an average of 150,274 units for $491,077 for each security.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading for the Junior Market shows four stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and four with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial jumped $5.49 to $27 with 56,075 shares trading, AMG Packaging gained 3 cents to close at $1.68 after exchanging 7,720 shares, Blue Power advanced 16 cents to settle at $3.86 in trading 2,918 units. Cargo Handlers dropped 60 cents to $6.40 with 1,400 shares changing hands, Caribbean Assurance Brokers rose 5 cents and transferred 6,549 stock units to finish at $2.20, Caribbean Flavours jumped $2.22 to end at $13.72 with an exchange of 22,218 shares. Caribbean Producers slipped 3 cents to $2.37 with 152,585 units changing hands, Consolidated Bakeries closed 9 cents higher at $1.60, trading 30,100 units, Derrimon Trading climbed 24 cents and exchanged 35,826 shares to finish at $2.42. Dolphin Cove dropped 2 cents to $8.28 with 1,460 stock units passing through the market, Fontana decreased 6 cents to settle at $5.39 with 46,002 units changing hands, Fosrich climbed 56 cents to end at $4.02 in the transfer of 117,363 shares. Honey Bun gained 8 cents and traded 43,409 stock units to settle at $5.72, 
Indies Pharma carved out a 15 cents gain to end at $2.63 with an exchange of 508,368 units, Jamaican Teas dropped 11 cents to close at $4.78 with investors transferring 3,642 stock units. Jetcon Corporation exchanged 1,236,791 units and fell 2 cents to settle at $1.08, Knutsford Express rose 20 cents to end at $8.90 with 11,637 stock units changing hands, Lasco Distributors shed 6 cents in the exchange of 675,284 shares to finish at $3. Lasco Manufacturing declined 45 cents to end at $3.50in the transfer of 87,821 stock units, Limners and Bards lost 24 cents to close at $2.56 trading 139,400 units, Lumber Depot advanced 13 cents and traded 133,144 stock units to settle at $1.13. Mailpac Group closed 1 cent higher at $1.99 exchanging 786,681 units, Main Event jumped 48 cents to settle at $4.48 in trading 977 shares, Medical Disposables shed 70 cents and with 300,200 shares changing hands to finish at $6.30 and Stationery and Office Supplies added 30 cents to end at $6.29 with 200 shares crossing the exchange.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
The market enjoyed a sharp rise in the prices of Barita Investments, up by $3.70, Jamaica Broilers rising $2.10, Kingston Wharves climbing $4.20, Palace Amusement gaining $10, Sagicor Group added $4.97 and Wisynco Group with a rise of $1.98. NCB Financial lost $2.90, PanJam Investments shed $5 and Scotia Group lost $1.60.
Other securities trading a million units or more are Carreras with 1.1 million units and Wigton Windfarm with 1 million shares.
Mayberry Investments gained 35 cents to settle at $6, after investors transferred 10,171 stock units, Mayberry Jamaican Equities picked up 40 cents, in ending at $10 with an exchange of 50,040,562 shares. NCB Financial Group declined by $2.90 to close at $136, with 42,866 shares changing hands, Palace Amusement advanced by $10, to $1,850 with an exchange of just two units, PanJam Investment declined by $5 to settle at $70 having 11,901 units crossing the exchange. Proven Investments rose $1 to end at $35.50 with a transfer of 8,998 stock units, Sagicor Group climbed $4.97 to close at $51, after exchanging 111,028 shares. Scotia Group shed $1.60 to close at $45.40 trading 43,845 shares and Wisynco Group jumped $1.98 to close at $19.50 with 475,698 units passing through the market.
The market closed with six securities changing hands with the prices of one stock rising, two declining and the prices of two closing unchanged. The average PE Ratio of the Market ended at 15.2 based on IC Insider.com’s forecasted 2020-21 earnings.
Unilever Caribbean ended at $16.98, down 1 cent exchanging 223 units and West Indian Tobacco finished at $34.79, with a loss of 1 cent trading 200 units,
At the close of market activities on Monday, the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index dropped 4,523.57 points to 412,244.06, the JSE Market Index dived 4,167.69 to end at 375,988.74 and the JSE Financial Index slipped 0.97 points to settle at 97.41.
The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 782,169, units at $7,295,380 in contrast to 808,713 units at $7,227,394 previously. May closed with an average of 475,543 shares at $3,077,280 for each security traded. IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading for the Main market shows 14 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
MPC Caribbean Clean Energy dropped $1 to settle at $169, trading 200 units, NCB Financial Group lost $1.09 to close at $138.90 in the transfer of 119,505 shares, 138 Student Living climbed 42 cents to settle at $6.72 in trading just one stock unit, Palace Amusement jumped $240 to settle at $1,840 with an exchange of 25 units. PanJam Investment climbed $2 in ending at $75 with 6,582 stock units traded, Proven Investments increased $1.50 to $34.50 in the exchange of 560 stock units, Sagicor Group shed 97 cents to settle at $46.03 with the transfer of 66,782 units. Salada Foods rose 90 cents to end at $29.90, exchanging 20 shares, Scotia Group eased by 35 cents in closing at $47 in trading 10,164 stock units and Wisynco Group shed $1.18 to end at $17.52 with 130,643 shares crossing the exchange.
Market activities ended, with four securities changing hands, with the prices of one stock rising and three declining. The market index gained 1.28 points to 189.12 at the close and the average PE ratio of the market ended the day at 15.1 based on IC Insider.com’s 2020-21 earnings forecast.
Market activity and resulted in 33 securities changing hands, up from 31 on Friday, with investors pushing the prices of 13 stocks up and 14 down, leaving prices of six unchanged. The average PE Ratio of the Junior Market ended at 9.9 based on IC Insider.com’s forecast of 2020-21 earnings.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging advanced by 4 cents to end at $1.65 in trading 900 units, Blue Power gained 3 cents to end at $3.70 after investors swapped 49,900 stock units, Caribbean Assurance Brokers declined by 5 cents to settle at $2.15 with an exchange of 26,721 shares. Caribbean Cream rose 23 cents to end at $2.70 with a trade of 400 units, Caribbean Flavours shed 20 cents to settle at $11.50 in exchanging 252,280 shares, Caribbean Producers gained 6 cents while closing at $2.40 trading 43,305 stock units. Consolidated Bakeries dropped 19 cents to $1.51 swapping 35,470 shares, Elite Diagnostic eased by 9 cents to settle at $3.91 in trading 20,300 units, Everything Fresh shed 1 cent to close at 80 cents with an exchange of 29,500 shares. Express Catering dropped 60 cents to $4.35 with investors swapping 77,204 stock units, Fontana declined by 4 cents to end at $5.45 with 1,213,293 units changing hands, Fosrich shed 54 cents to end at $3.46 with an exchange of 36,979 shares. General Accident gained 15 cents to $6.15 after exchanging 117,000 units, Honey Bun inched 1 cent higher to end at $5.64 with an exchange of 1,052 stock units, Indies Pharma declined 2 cents to end at $2.48 with 450,753 shares crossing the exchange. ISP Finance declined by $1 to close at $12 in trading 2,300 stock units, Jamaican Teas added 18 cents to close at $4.89 after investors swapped 69,509 units, Jetcon Corporation surged 8 cents to end at $1.10 in trading 7,929 shares.
Knutsford Express advanced 70 cents to end at $8.70 with an exchange of 784 stock units, Lasco Distributors gained 1 cent to $3.06 with a transfer of 88,405 shares, Limners and Bards gained 40 cents to close at $2.80 with 126,818 shares changing hands. Lumber Depot lost 12 cents to settle at $1 with investors swapping 10,120,000 stock units, Mailpac Group added 1 cent to close at $1.98 after trading 516,217 units, Main Event dropped 48 cents in closing at $4 with 81,745 shares passing through the market. Medical Disposables advanced 26 cents in closing at $7 with an exchange of 14,000 stock units, SSL Venture shed 7 cents in ending at 78 cents and trading 1,088 shares and Stationery and Office Supplies declined 21 cents to $5.99 with 4,100 stock units changing hands.
The T&T Composite Index fell 5.25 points to 1,304.40. The All T&T Index dropped 8.44 points to 1,760.56, while the Cross Listed Index lost 0.27 points to close at 114.63.
Firm Traders│ Angostura Holdings was unchanged at $14.90 trading 164 units, Ansa Merchant Bank closed at $37 exchanging 3,350 units, Clico Investments finished at $25 in exchanging nine units. First Citizens Bank remained at $45.71, with 454 units crossing the market, National Flour held firm at $1.90, with a transfer of 142 units, Republic Financial Holding ended at $139.50 with 2,619 units changing hands. Trinidad and Tobago NGL traded 1,769 units at $17.50 and Unilever Caribbean held firm at $16.99 with investors exchanging 67,889 shares.
Premium income dropped from US438 million in 2019 to $342 million and net premium Income declined to $318 million from $265 million. Profit for the quarter was impacted, mostly by the performance of the banking and investment operations, with credit impairment losses rising, from just $48,000 to $16 million and fair value changes and interest income falling from a positive contribution of $36 million to a loss of $94 million. The net effect of the above resulted in total revenues plummeted from $516 million to $343 million in 2020. Thankfully, a sharp drop in Policy benefits and change in actuarial liabilities contributed $232 million to a reduction in expenses bringing net benefits to policyholders down to $203 million versus $348 million in the 2019 March quarter. Administrative and other expenses rose, from $131 to $153 million and resulted in a loss after taxes and results of the associated company to $25 million from a profit of $32 million in 2019.
The market move resulted in just two changes to the IC Insider.com TOP 10 weekly lists as the Main Market recovered almost all of the losses in the previous two weeks of 3,784 points a week ago and just under 2,000 points in the week before.
IC Insider.com’s forecast is 85 cents per share for the current year. The stock closed on Friday at $6, up from $5.51 last week and traded over $8, last year, October. It now sits just below the Top 10 stocks, with the potential to reach $15 within the next nine months.
The targeted average PE ratio of the market is 20 based on profits of companies reporting full year’s results for the financial year ending after the second quarter of 2020, up to the second quarter in 2021. Both the Junior and Main markets are currently trading well below this level. The JSE Main Market ended the week, with an overall PE of 15.2 and the Junior Market at just 10.6, based on 2020-21 earnings. The PE ratio for the Junior Market Top 10 stocks averages a mere 5.6 at 53 percent to the average of the overall Junior Market. The Main Market TOP 10 stocks trade at 8.8 or 58 percent of the PE of the overall market.
IC TOP 10 stocks are likely to deliver some of the best returns up to March 2021. Gains for each company are based on the earnings and PE ratios for the current fiscal year.
