Trading in the foreign exchange market resulted in the Jamaican dollar losing value against the three major currencies it is normally exchanged with. The market closed with dealers buying the equivalent of US$35,396,058 and selling US$38,476,966, in contrast to US$43,966,113 purchased and US$40,723,813 sold on Monday.
In US dollars trading, dealers bought US$31,090,615 compared to US$41,142,103 on Monday, as the buying rate for the US dollar added 1 cent to close at $121.34. A total of US$35,644,274 was sold versus US$39,587,492 on Monday, the selling rate gained 2 cents to $122.04. The Canadian dollar buying rate climbed $2.73 to end at $92.55 with dealers buying C$1,726,695 and selling C$1,936,183, at an average rate that rose $2.57 to $94.39. The rate for buying the British Pound rose $3.01 to $171.49 for the purchase of £2,034,614, while £764,663 was sold, as the rate jumped $2.79 to $172.40. At the end of trading, the selling rate for Euro, rose 37 cents to close at J$139.63, from Monday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$136.75 for a rise of 42 cents on Monday’s rate. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded, amounts to US$112,783 being bought, while US$254,920 was sold.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest rates the currencies traded at on Tuesday are, a rise of $18.22 in the lowest selling rate of the US dollar to $118, a rise of $1.85 in the highest buying rate of the Canadian dollar to $96.15, a $1.08 rise in the lowest buying rate to $74.70 with highest selling rate gaining $1.04 to $97.20 and the lowest selling rate climbing by $1 to $89.30. The lowest selling rate for the British Pound rose $1.70 to $139.23, while the highest selling rate climbed $2.21 to end at $181.17 and the lowest selling rate gained $2.60 to end at $166.20.
Jamaican$ loses ground on Tuesday
5 new lows for TTSE on Tuesday
The Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange suffered another losing day with all price movements being negative on Tuesday. Trading ended with 302,331 shares valued at $2,916,112 changing hands. The market closed with 14 securities traded, none gained, 7 declined, while 7 remained unchanged. Five stocks closed at 52 weeks’ low at the end of trading.
The Composite Index fell 3.23 points to close at 1,130.31, the All T&T Index fell 6.43 points to close at 1,807.63 and the Cross Listed Indexremained unchanged at 60.17.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 6 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 6 with offers that were lower.
Gains| No stock gained when trading closed on Tuesday.
Losses| Grace Kennedy had 60,000 units changing hands at $5.15, Guardian Holdings lost 5 cents with 28,630 shares with a value of $378,016 changing hands to end at $13.20, Massy Holdings ended with 100 shares changing hands to close with a loss of 68 cents to end at a 52 weeks’ low of $54. One Caribbean Media fell 80 cents while trading 10,000 shares to end at a 52 weeks’ low of $20.90, Republic Financial Holdings lost 98 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $110 with 2,500 shares changing hands while Trinidad and Tobago NGL fell 10 cents to close at $21 with 2,800 units trading and Unilever Caribbean fell $1 with 5,300 shares trading to end at 52 weeks’ low of $65.
Firm Trades| Angostura Holdings ended with only 75 shares changing hands to close at $13.20, ANSA McAL contributed 1,000 shares in closing at $63, Clico Investment Fund ended at $22.60 with 11,104 shares changing hands, Firstcaribbean International Bank closed at $6.50 with 143,006 units valued at $929,539 changing hands. JMMB Group closed at of 59 cents with 2,477 shares trading, National Flour closed with 23,339 shares changing hands at $2.30 and Praetorian Property Mutual Fund contributed 10,000 shares to end at $3.
Eppley up 26% in a week to Tuesday
Eppley surged $46 to hit an all-time high of $505 in trading on the Jamaican Stock Exchange junior market on Tuesday while trading 8,337 shares. The stock is now up 26.25 percent since last week with latest price putting the PE at 7.2 times last year’s earnings of $70.43 per share and comes ahead of the company exploring the raising of added equity capital for expansion.
The junior market closed slightly lower on Tuesday with a fall of 5.07 points to 1,819.09. Trading ended with 15 active securities, 5 of which advanced and 4 declined as 1,258,428 units valued at $7,440,298, changed hands.
There were 5 stocks closing with bids that were higher than their last selling prices and one ended with a lower offer.
At the end of trading, Access Financial had 500 shares trading to close at $16.60, Caribbean Producers traded 27,210 units and rose 5 cents to end at $4.10, Consolidated Bakeries had 782,175 units changing hands but fell 15 cents to $1, Honey Bun had 80,402 shares trading and ended unchanged at $11. ISP Finance slipped 3 cents to close at $2.52 after trading 11,000 units, Jetcon Corporation rose 10 cents to close at $2.70 after 49,157 shares changed hands, Key Insurance closed at $3 with 1,000 units changing hands. KLE Group traded 4,231 shares and gained 1 cent to end at $1.70, Knutsford Express dropped $3 with 9,631 units changing hands at $19, Lasco Distributors ended with 30,890 units trading at $5. Lasco Financial closed at $3 with 17,962 shares changing hands, Lasco Manufacturing lost 5 cents and ended with 199,772 shares changing hands to close at $3.60 and tTech traded 2,000 shares and gained 22 cents to end at $4.22.
Eppley jumps $46 early Tuesday
Eppley stock price surged $46 to hit an all-time high of $505 in trading on the Jamaican Stock Exchange junior market, while trading 8,337 shares. The price is now up 26.25 percent since last week. The new price puts the PE at 7.2 times last year’s earnings of $70.43 per share and comes ahead of the company exploring the raising of added equity capital.
Elsewhere, JMMB Group 7.50% preference share traded 487,151 units at $1.20 and Cable & Wireless is back at $1.20 after slipping as low as 94 cents last week Thursday.
Trading remains subdued with the main market indices rising while the juniors is down slightly after 75 minutes of trading on Tuesday. An average of 30,628 per active stock traded, up from an average of 27,944 units traded in the mid-morning session on Monday.
A total of 26 securities, accounting for only 796,330 shares changed hands at 10.45 am as 9 stocks gained and 4 declined.
The market saw all Jamaica Composite Index fell 470.96 points to 170,339.95, the JSE Market Index rose 421.11 points to 153,356.14 the JSE combined index ending with a gain of 349.40 points to 160,925.26 and the junior market index fell 4.02 points to 1,820.14.
Jamaican$ makes gains on Monday
Trading in the foreign exchange market resulted in the Jamaican dollar gaining value against the three major currencies it is normally exchanged with. The market closed with dealers buying the equivalent of US$43,966,113 and selling US$40,723,813, in contrast to US$30,677,839 purchased and US$37,524,758 sold on Friday.
In US dollars trading, dealers bought US$41,142,103 compared to US$27,717,738 on Friday, as the buying rate for the US dollar remained at $121.33. A total of US$39,587,492 was sold versus US$35,846,874 on Friday, the selling rate fell by 6 cents to $122.02. The Canadian dollar buying rate declined 94 cents to end at $89.83 with dealers buying C$1,171,701 and selling C$538,658, at an average rate that declined $1.06 to $91.82. The rate for buying the British Pound rose 67 cents to $168.48 for the purchase of £1,191,516, while £286,641 was sold, as the rate fell 7 cents to $169.61. At the end of trading, the selling rate for Euro, rose 36 cents to close at J$139.26, from Friday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$136.33 for a rise of 30 cents on Friday’s rate. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded, amounts to US$301,872 being bought, while US$332,567 was sold.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest rates the currencies traded at on Monday are, a fall of $18.22 in the lowest selling rate of the US dollar to $99.78, a rise of $1.30 in the lowest selling rate of the Canadian dollar to $88.30. The highest selling rate for the British Pound rose $1.46 to $178.96, while the lowest selling rate dipped $1.70 to end at $163.50.
More gains for juniors on Monday
The junior market close slightly higher on Monday with an increase of 9.79 points to close at 1,824.16. Trading ended with 17 active securities, 4 of which advanced and 3 declined as 1,018,853 units valued at $4,061,844, changed hands.
There were 5 stocks closing with bids that were higher than their last selling prices and none ended with a lower offer.
At the end of trading, Access Financial had 6,220 shares trading to close at $16.60, Caribbean Cream lost 50 cents in trading 17,450 shares at $4, Caribbean Flavours rose 55 cents with 5,698 shares trading at $8, Caribbean Producers traded 57,130 units, to end at $4.05, C2W Music had 1,000 units changing hands at 33 cents. General Accident ended trading 59,420 units and closed at $2.59, Honey Bun had just 30,500 shares trading but ended unchanged at $11, ISP Finance rose 20 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $2.55 after trading 6,031 units. Jetcon Corporation lost 24 cents to close at $2.60 after 8,680 shares changed hands, Key Insurance closed at $3 with 8,050 units changing hands. KLE Group traded just 1,485 shares to gain 3 cents to end at $1.69, Knutsford Express jumped $4.50 with just 100 units changing hands at $22, Lasco Distributors ended with 319,314 units trading at $5. Lasco Financial closed at $3 with 127,872 shares changing hands, Lasco Manufacturing ended with 160,969 shares changing hands to close at $3.65, Eppley 10% preference share traded 10,000 units at $6.10 and Derrimon Trading preference share fell 15 cents to end at $2.25 with 198,934 units changing hands.
6 TTSE stocks rose on Monday
The Composite Index gained 3.32 points to close at 1,133.54, the All T&T Index rose 6.54 points to close at 1,814.06 and the Cross Listed Index added 0.01 point to end at 60.17.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 4 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 8 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Clico Investment Fund ended at $22.60 after rising by 9 cents with 118,717 shares valued at $2,682,938 changing hands, National Enterprises closed with 1,050 shares changing hands at $10.50 after rising 44 cents, National Flour gained 5 cents and closed with a mere 7 shares changing hands at $2.30. Prestige Holdings with 100 units changing hands ended at $11.30 to record a gain of 5 cents for a 52 weeks’ high, Sagicor Financial closed at $7.01 with 7,580 units changing hands after rising 1 cent while Trinidad and Tobago NGL gained 55 cents to close at $21.10 with 119,868 units worth $2,518,270 traded.
Losses| Massy Holdings ended with 7,124 shares changing hands to close with a loss of 5 cents to end at a 52 weeks’ low of $54.68 and Republic Financial Holdings closed at a new 52 weeks’ low of $110.98 with 337 shares changing hands with a loss of 2 cents.
Firm Trades| Angostura Holdings ended with 225 shares changing hands to close at $13.20, Firstcaribbean International Bank closed at $6.50 with 102,000 units valued at $663,000 changing hands, First Citizens closed at of $33.50 with 2,975 shares trading, Guardian Holdings had 10,000 shares changing hands to end at $13.25 and National Commercial Bank traded 8,195 shares at $2.40.
Juniors up majors down early Monday
Trading the Jamaican Stock Exchange is off to a slow start with the main market indices falling while the juniors was up slightly after 75 minutes of trading on Monday. An average of 27,944 per active stock traded, up from an average of 1.4 million units traded in the mid-morning session on Friday. The average on Friday was pushed up by a 43.6 million units of RJR.
A total of 24 securities, accounting for only 670,666 shares changed hands at 10.45 am as 7 stocks gained and 3 declined, reversing the negative trend in place for a few trading days. The only trade of note has been Scotia Group with 2,441 units trading at $32.99 compared with the last price on Friday, of $30 and Cable & Wireless trading 22,817 shares, with a 8 cents gain, taking the price to $1.09 but now has a bid at $1.12 to buy 150,000 units, a total of 964,692 units were offered for sale at $1.20.
Supreme Ventures has 10,053,513 units on offer at $5 but with the bid at $4.86 for 1,601 shares.
The market saw all Jamaica Composite Index fell 249.28 points to 169,681.55, the JSE Market Index dipped 222.90 points to 152,767.43 the JSE combined index ending with a fall of 148.98 points to 160,377.68 and the junior market index moved up by 5.63 points to 1,820.00.