At the end of trading, the junior market index ended Tuesday with a small loss of 13.91 points to close at 1,930.73. The market closed with 11 active securities, 3 of which declined and 1 advanced as 934,404 units changed hands, valued at $3,657,423.
At the close, 1 security ended with no bid and 6 securities had no stocks being offered for sale. There were only 3 stocks closing with bids that were higher than their last selling prices and 5 ended with lower offers.
In trading, Access Financial traded 1,990 shares to close at $17, AMG Packaging ended with 7,830 units changing hands to close at $11, Blue Power had just 379 shares trading but rose 18 cents to end at $11.18.
Consolidated Bakeries had 2,500 units trading firm at $1.30, General Accident traded at $3 with 3,000 shares changing hands. Honey Bun traded 19,500 units at $13, Iron Rock Insurance traded 456,960 shares and closed unchanged at $4, Jamaican Teas closed at $4.99 after trading 11,119 units for the loss of 1 cent. Lasco Distributors closed with 5,457 units trading with a fall of 1 cent at $5.89, Lasco Financial ended at $3.03 with 272,427 shares changing hands, Lasco Manufacturing ended with 151,621 shares changing hands to close at $3.50 with a fall of 30 cents and tTech traded 2,000 shares but rose by 10 cents to $4.30.
Junior stocks soften – Tuesday
Falling Interest rates
Interest rates payable on government of Jamaica latest Treasury bills fell for the 28 and 91 days instruments but the rate for the 182 days that was below the 91 days instrument normalized by going above it this time compared to lower rates for the longer term instrument at the close of the February auction.
At the latest auction the 91 days T-bill ended up at 5.75 percent and was down by 25.4 basis point while the 28 days instrument fell by 15 basis points to 5.38 percent while the 182 days rose by 10 basis points to 5.83 percent, at the March 2015 auction this tenure of T-bill was at 7 percent and is down by 17 percent.
Gains for Jamaican$ on Monday
Trading resulted in the Jamaican dollar gaining in value on Monday as the market ended with dealers buying the equivalent of US$51,988,256 and selling US$42,767,826, in contrast to US$33,506,151 purchased and US$31,293,513 sold on Friday.
In US dollars trading, dealers bought US$47,140,812 compared to US$29,939,202 on Friday, as the buying rate for the US dollar rose 3 cents to end at $121.32. A total of US$41,056,525 was sold versus US$29,104,944 on Friday, the selling rate fell 5 cents to end at $121.93. The Canadian dollar buying rate fell $1.63 to end at $90.26 with dealers buying C$1,998,221 and selling C$1,323,713, at an average rate that dropped 72 cents to $93.35. The rate for buying the British Pound dipped by 73 cents to $171.70 for the purchase of £2,264,195, while £315,739 was sold, on Friday, as the rate slipped by $2.43 to $172.48. At the end of trading, the selling rate for Euro, fell 34 cents to close at J$137.74, from Friday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European 
common currency at J$134.90 for a fall of 30 cents from Friday’s rate. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded, amounts to US$156,460 being bought, while US$251,228 was sold.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest rates the currencies traded at on Monday are, a big drop in the lowest selling rate of the US dollar of $18.22 to $99.78. A decline of $1.90 in the lowest selling rate of the Canadian dollar to close at $86.
Gains for JSE on Monday
Sagicor Group closed at a 52 weeks’ high on Monday
For the overall market, 32 securities changed hands, in all market segments with 11 rising and 10 declining while 1 closed at a 52 weeks’ closing high and one at an intraday record high. The market closed with 4,459,879 units valued at $105,773,180 changing hands in all markets. The junior market accounted for 935,672 units changing hands, valued at $3,901,047.
The JSE Market Index garnered 498.31 points to end at 153,581.38, the all Jamaica Composite Index added 556.89 points to end at 170,592.15 and the JSE combined index gained 199.09 points to close at 162,360.97.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading was 8 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 9 with lower offers. At the end of the market activities, Cable & Wireless traded 239,100 units to close with a gain of 2 cents at $1.39, Caribbean Cement ended at $22.65 with just 2,246 shares trading, after declining by 65 cents, Carreras traded 4,806 shares to end at $65, Gleaner closed at $2.09 with 105,736 shares changing hands. Grace Kennedy closed with 176,230 shares trading with a loss of 99 cents at $82, still well below the $97 equivalent, it last traded at in Trinidad. Jamaica Broilers declined by 9 cents in trading 5,375 units to close at $14, Jamaica Producers closed with a gain of $2 at $33 while trading 1,264,675 shares, down from 2,261,978 units traded on Friday. Jamaica Stock Exchange rose by 90 cents in trading 25,254 units to close at $22.90, JMMB Group had 7,596 units changing hands but rose 30 cents in closing at $10.30, Kingston Wharves traded 1,000 shares to close at $11.45, Mayberry Investments traded 20,680 shares to end at $4.45.
National Commercial Bank gained $1.03 with 330,105 shares changing hands to close at $41.03, Pan Jamaican investment fell 2 cents to close at $93 with 48,996 shares, Proven Investments ordinary share traded 138,420 units at 21 US cents. Sagicor Group gained 74 cents with 935,313 shares changing hands to close at a 52 weeks’ closing high of $23.74, Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 2,000 shares to close at $10.90, Scotia Group gained 39 cents with 69,377 shares changing hands to close at $30.90. Seprod traded 30,000 shares to close at $18.51, Supreme Ventures closed with a loss of 50 cents at $4.50 with 81,308 units changing hands and JMMB Group 7.5% preference share traded 35,990 units but recovered 5 cents to end at $2.15.
Junior stocks fell – Monday
Jamaican Teas traded at a new high of $5.24 on Monday.
At the close, 1 security ended with no bid and 6 securities had no stocks being offered for sale. There were 3 stocks closing with bids that were higher than their last selling prices and 5 ended with lower offers.
In trading, Access Financial traded just 220 and gained 50 cents to close at $17, AMG Packaging fell 47 cents with 400 units changing hands to close at $11, Blue Power had just 379 shares trading but rose 18 cents to end at $11.18. Caribbean Cream traded 52,000 shares but fell $1.05 to $3.70, Caribbean Flavours had 25,950 units trading firm at $8, General Accident traded at $3 with 129,400 shares changing hands. Honey Bun traded 24,051 units at $13 after falling 8 cents,
newly listed Iron Rock Insurance traded 368,917 shares and closed unchanged at $4, Jamaican Teas closed at $5 after trading 8,465 units, the price traded at a 52 weeks’ intraday high of $5.24 before closing. Lasco Distributors closed with 88,618 units trading with a fall of 8 cents at $5.90, Lasco Financial ended at $3.03 with 134,243 shares changing hands 1 cent higher and Lasco Manufacturing ended with 103,029 shares changing hands to close at $3.80 with a fall of 10 cents.
Jetcon listing slated for Thursday
Jetcon Corporation coming on the heels of a successful issue of shares to the public that opened on Monday March 14, in respect of 44,500,000 ordinary shares is expected to start trading on Thursday, March 24 with the listing committee meeting on Tuesday to consider and approve the listing.
The offer closed shortly after opening on Monday after it was oversubscribed. A total of 256 applications covering $113 million were received. Applications of all reserved shares were fully satisfied while the general public got the first 5,000 Shares applied plus 83.11 percent of the balance. The shares were sold to the public at $2.25 each. the closure left some investors out in the cold as they missed the early closing time of the offer.
Listing on the junior market will result in no corporate taxes being paid for 5 years from the time of listing. Jetcon reported profit of $50.6 million for the 2015 year and enjoyed 45 percent increased revenues for the first two months of 2016 ahead of the similar period in 2015, accordingly, IC Insider rate the stock Buy Rated.
TTSE falters again – Monday
The slide on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange continued on Monday as trading ended with 170,815 shares valued at $1,057,665 changing hands. A total of 10 securities traded with 3 falling, 2 gaining while 5 remained unchanged. One stock closed at a 52 weeks’ low.
The market closed with the Composite Index declined by 3.87 points to close at 1,138.76, the All T&T Index fell by 7.34 points to close at 1,824.12 and is down by 6.3 percent since the start of the year and the Cross Listed Index declined by 0.04 points to 60.21.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 5 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 7 with offers that were lower. More telling is the fact that about a third of the listings have no bids to buy.
Gains| Guardian Holdings ended trading just 100 shares but rose 10 cents to close at $13.80 and Trinidad and Tobago NGL ended trading 5,705 shares, but rose 1 cent to end at $19.06.
Losses| JMMB Group contributed 7,164 shares valued but lost 2 cents in closing at 57 cents, National Enterprises closed with 11,640 shares changing hands at to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $10 after falling by 50 cents 
and West Indian Tobacco traded 829 share but lost 2 cents in ending at $126.28.
Firm Trades| Ansa Merchant Bank traded 1,028 units at $38.95, Clico Investments Fund ended with a volume of 12,700 shares to end at $22.55, Firstcaribbean International Bank closed at $6.50 with only 2,516 units changing hands. Grace Kennedy traded 53,773 shares to end at $5.20 and National Commercial Bank traded 86,000 shares at $2.40.
Jamaica’s record remittances
Jamaica continued to enjoy positive inflows of foreign exchange from overseas in the area of remittances. For the first eleven months of 2015, total remittance inflows were US$2.015 billion, an increase of US$63 million or 3.2 percent over the similar period in 2014.
The 2015 take is the first time that the country has crossed the $2 billion mark by the end of November in any year.
Total remittance outflows which amounted $206.5 million in 2014, ended at $210.4 million for the first eleven months of 2015 and resulted in net remittances for the year to November 2015 of US$1.80 billion, an increase of US$59 million or 3.4 percent relative to the corresponding period of 2014.
In addition to remittances, other transfers into the country were almost on par with that of 2014 up to October, with inflows of US$115 million compared with $117 million in 2014. For all of 2014 other transfers amounted to $145 million.
Executive chairmen are dangerous
Mr. Golding has some major assets and may well be able to make his wealth of knowledge in government and in is personal business contribute in a significant way to the fortunes of the Housing Trust.
If news item is correct, the decision would not a good one and it is not based on competence. Good corporate practise suggests that executive responsibilities should never be merged with that of head of the board. There are a number of good reasons for this separation. There must always be someone to appeal to when things may not be going well in aspects of the business. When someone has a problem with the top executive, to whom does he or she appeal?
Separation is even more critical when it comes to governmental appointments, where many of the board members are political appointments with party interest being placed ahead of the national interest, as such boards are often just another arm of the party. The developments re Outameni operation that was acquired by the NHT is one such case in point that when executives or chairmen have too much power how that it can be inimical to the interest of an organisation..
One hopes that the new report is not true as it would be a really terrible move by the new Prime Minister.