Activity picked up, will it last?

The market saw a pick-up in trading, with 19 securities being active, of which 6 advanced, 3 declined and 10 traded firm with 1,112,248 stocks trading, valued at $15,182,744.
The Composite Index lost 0.40 points to close at 1,180.79, the All T&T Index rose by 0.24 points to close at 2,018.14 and the Cross Listed Index fell 0.14 points to close at 45.02.
Gains| Stocks increasing in price at the close are, ANSA Mcal trading 100 shares, to close at $66.45, up a cent, Guardian Holdings traded 3,000 units, as the price rose a cent, to $13.51, Jamaica Money Market Brokers with 218,853 shares traded for $109,249, gained 2 cents, to close at 50 cents, National Flour Mills with 543,441 shares changing hands for a value of $590,815, rose 2 cents to end at $1.09 and One Caribbean Media stock price rose by 6 cents, to end the day at $20.46 as 10,401 units were traded, and it closed at a new 52 weeks high and Point Lisas Industrial Port Development traded 500 units, to close with a 4 cents loss, at $3.75.
Declines| Agostini’s traded 200 shares and lost a cent to end at $17.57, Prestige Holdings with 6,280 shares, traded at $9.37, with a fall of 4 cents and Sagicor Financial Corporation added 65,237 shares valued at $440,350 and lost 27cents, to close at $6.75.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of trading, are Angostura Holdings which exchanged 56,200 shares, valued $3,734,490 and closed at $13, Ansa Merchant Bank with 1,074 shares, closed at $38.49, Clico Investment Fund closed at $21.58 with 1.945 units changing hands, First Citizens Bank exchanged 10,063 units at $38.50, with a value of $387426, Firstcaribbean International Bank with 37,610 shares changing hands for a value of $206,855, closed at $5.50, while Neal & Massy with 5,705 shares closed at $67, Praetorian Property Mutual Fund with 5,000 shares changing hands, closed at $3.40, Scotiabank with 3,797 shares changing hands closed at $70, Trinidad Cement with 44,917 shares closed at $2 and West Indian Tobacco contributed 97,925 shares with a value of $11,555,150 to close at $118.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 3 stocks with the bid higher than their last selling prices and 2 stocks with offers that were lower.
PE ratio weekly moves| Prices for quite a few stocks changed during the week, but with moderate effect on the PE ratios. Biggest losers were, Trinidad Cement which pushed the potential gain to 615 percent and National Flour Mills that fell to $1.07 from $1.20 at the start of the week and saw the potential gains, climbing to 229 percent, up from 193 percent last week. Guardian Holdings made moderate gains and Citizens continued its recovery, by closing at $38.51 on the bid, up from $38.02 last week. One Caribbean Media and Neal and Massy both closed at new 52 weeks highs, but still has more to gain as they remain undervalued. The average PE ratio for the market is at 14, with 7 stocks trading below and 3 trading just above the average.