Ending trading at a new record close on the first trading day of September, the Jamaica Stock Exchange climbed new intraday high on the second trading day of the month, with the All Jamaican Composite Index surging over 366,000 points level.
At 12 minutes after opening the All Jamaica Composite Index rose 2,142.96 points to a record 365,464.29 and by 28 minutes after opening it jumped 2,697.72 points to 366,019.05 and the JSE Index climbed 1,952.48 points to a record 332,979.28 and within 2 minutes of 10 o’clock it jumped 2,457.93 to a record 333,484.73
Later on, the market pulled back, with the all Jamaica Index up 1,751.53 to 365,072.86 and the JSE index gaining 1,595.84 to 332,622.64 as NCB Financial pulled back to $112.
The Junior Market lost 17.36 points to 3,255.01.
Major contributor to the early gains, is NCB Financial with a rise to $114.95 from a close of $112 on Monday.
All Jamaica breaks 366,000 points
JSE main market surges to new high – Monday
The Jamaica Stock Exchange main market started September off on a bright the market continued from the record breaker run on Friday to end at yet another record close.
The market closed with the All Jamaican Composite Index jumped 1,754.66 points to end at 363,321.33 and the JSE Index climbed 1,598.70 points to 331,026.80.
Market activities resulted in 32 securities trading including 3 in the US dollar market compared to 34 securities trading on Friday. At the end of trading, the prices of 9 stocks rose, 12 declined and 11 closed trading, unchanged.
Trading in the main market ended with 2,406,576 units valued $39,771,123, compared to 8,271,949 units valued at $100,951,929, on Friday.
The day’s volume was led by, Sygnus Credit Investments with 576,849 shares accounting for 23.97 percent of the volume traded, followed by Carreras with 444,645 units 18.48 percent of the day’s volume and Sagicor Real Estate Fund with 440,810 units 18.32 percent of main market volume.
Trading resulted in an average of 82,985 units valued at $1,371,418, in contrast to 266,837 shares valued at $3,256,514 on Friday. August closed, with an average of 224,564 shares valued at $4,310,285, for each security traded.
In the main market activity, Berger Paints lost 50 cents and ended at $21, in exchanging 5,775 stock units, Caribbean Cement jumped $1 to finish at $51, with while trading 31,442 shares, Jamaica Producers finished trading 14,365 units and rose $1.35 to end at a 52 weeks’ closing high of $19.85, , Jamaica Broilers 
lost 90 cents in trading 10,639 stock units at $26.10, Kingston Wharves climbed $2.49 and finished at $64.29, after trading 8,792 stock units, Sagicor Real Estate Fund lost $1.45 and settled at $11.05, in trading 440,810 shares, Supreme Ventures gained 50 cents and closed at $15.50, exchanging 26,543 shares and Wisynco Group lost 29 cents and concluded trading at $9.20, with 46,051 stock units changing hands.
Stanley Motta closed at a 52 weeks’ low of $4.40 having lost 17 percent of its value since listing in August.
Trading in the US dollar market closed with 19,140 units valued US$6,248. Trading ended with JMMB group6% preference share ended trading 2,286 shares at 59 US cents, Proven Investments exchanging 16,425 shares to close at 23 US centsSygnus Credit Investments traded 429 shares and lost 0.06 cent to 11 US cents. The JSE USD Equities Index unchanged at 173.74.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 5 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 closing with lower offers.
Junior Market opens September positively
Cargo Handlers hits 52 weeks’ high.
Trading slipped on the Junior Market on the first trading day of September, with 26 securities being active down from 30 on Friday as well as a fall in volume and value trading, leading to 10 advancing, 7 declining and 9 remained unchanged.
The market closed with the index rising 21.55 points to close at 3,272.02. A volume of 2,306,821 units valued at $10,660,960 changed hands, compared to 4,503,036 units valued at $56,383,723, on Friday.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading had 4 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices, 3 closed with lower offers.
Trading closed with an average of 88,724 units for an average of $410,037 in contrast to 150,101 units for an average of $1,879,457 on Friday. Trading in August, averaged 244,613 units at $1,348,298 for each security traded.
At the close of trading, Access Financial closed with a loss of $1.82 at $41.50, trading 1,000 shares, AMG Packaging ended 1 cent higher at $1.94, with 27,913 stock units changing hands, Blue Power concluded trading at $5, swapping 87,428 units, CAC 2000 finished with a loss of 5 cents at $9, exchanging 1,640 shares, Cargo Handlers settled 50 cents higher to end at a 52 weeks’ high of $13, trading 100 shares. Caribbean Cream ended trading 21,839 shares, 30 cents higher to $6, Caribbean Flavours traded with 50,000 stock units $1 higher to $19, Caribbean Producers finished trading at $6.50, with 787,109 units changing hands, Consolidated Bakeries closed at $2.50, exchanging 5,200 shares. 
Derrimon Trading ended with a loss of 1 cent at $23, trading 20,000 shares, Everything Fresh rose 10 cents trading 747,370 shares to end at $2.20, Express Catering ended trading 16,578 shares with a loss of 18 cents to $8, FosRich Group traded at $2.99, with 41,661 shares changing hands, General Accident finished trading 12,100 shares 5 cents higher at $3.85, with. Indies Pharma traded at a new high of $2.80 but pulled back to close at $2.69 after adding 9 cents and exchanging 141,895 shares, Iron Rock concluded trading of 17,500 shares and rose 5 cents to $3.25, Jetcon Corporation ended trading with a loss of 2 cents at $4, in exchanging 59,711 stock units, 
Lasco Distributors ended with a loss of 5 cents at $4, with 34,918 shares changing hands, Lasco Financial concluded trading 1,737 stock units at $5.80. Lasco Manufacturing finished at $3.90, with 49,500 units, Main Event settled with a loss of 1 cent at $7.10, with 207 shares changing hands, Medical Disposables ended trading with a loss of 1 cent at $6.67, with 15,300 shares, after trading earlier at a 52 weeks’ high of $6.70, Paramount Trading climbed 40 cents higher to $3, trading 3,000 shares, Stationery and Office finished trading at $8.50, with 6,157 stock units and tTech ended 50 cents higher at $6, after 11,000 shares changed hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Harris Group buys Antiguan paint business.
Harris Paints Group, the parent company of Jamaican B-H Paints, recently purchased the assets of Lee Wind Paints in Antigua.
The Harris group of companies was established in Barbados in 1972 and is one of the Caribbean’s manufacturers of architectural finishes, building products and industrial coatings.
The group expanded with the acquisition of Brandram-Henderson (B-H Paints) in 2006, a Jamaican paint manufacturer that was founded in 1961.
Harris employs over 200 people across the region, and manufactures paint in Barbados, Dominica, St. Lucia, Guyana and Jamaica. The group distributes paints and related products to over 15 countries in the Caribbean.
Ian Kenyon, CEO-Harris Paints Group, said that the company looked forward to establishing a new manufacturing facility, increasing their investment in the country and that it would provide important strategic access to new export markets such as the BVI, US Virgin Islands, as well as Turks and Caicos.
Over the past six years the Harris Group has seen consistent profitable topline growth across its operations. Kenyon said that these results were achieved despite some very challenging conditions. “The Caribbean has experienced difficult economic times in many of the markets and this has been compounded by the recent severe weather systems across the region, yet our teams in each of the 15 countries we currently sell to, have responded magnificently and have been very successful in achieving profitable market growth and increasing shareholder value. He added, “we are very optimistic about our future as we have built very strong springboards for growth with our investments in infrastructure and have a very exciting portfolio of new product and service innovations ready and primed to launch over the next few years”
This year, the Harris Group also invested and successfully implemented a new state-of-the art enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that integrates all manufacturing plants and functions across the Caribbean, including at the B-H facility in Kingston, providing improved business efficiency and a comprehensive digital platform that will strengthen their marketing capability.
Big price fall on TTSE – Monday
The collapse of Unilever share price.
After closing for the Independence holiday on Friday, the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange got shook up, with sharp decline in the prices of a series of securities in trading on Monday.
When the market closed, First Citizens lost 84 cents and completed trading at $34.01, after exchanging 5,443 shares, Massy Holdings fell 90 cents and closed at $47, trading 1,101 shares, NCB Financial Group lost 47 cents and completed trading of 3,590 shares at $5.67, Scotiabank dropped 64 cents to end at $64.36, trading 1,460 units and Unilever Caribbean closed with 3,450 shares changing hands as the price dropped $1.75 to end at $25, the lowest price since May 11, 2011.
The market closed with 15 securities changing hands against 18 on Thursday, 2 advanced, 5 declined and 8 remained unchanged and trading of 168,289 shares at a value of $2,804,863, compared to 1,412,439 shares at a value of $53,377,248, previously traded.
At close of the market the, Composite Index the Composite Index dropped 14.06 points to 1,223.10, the All T&T Index declined 4.56 points to 1,696.74, while the Cross Listed Index lost 3.26 points to close at 100.75.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading closed with 2 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Stocks closing with gains| JMMB Group added just 1 cent to settle at $1.71, after exchanging 7,633 shares and Republic Financial Holdings gained 2 cents 
settled at a 52 weeks’ high of $103.52, after exchanging 10 shares but closed with the bid at $105 to buy just 10 units.
Stocks trading with no price change| Agostini’s settled at $21.11, after exchanging 9,315 shares, Clico Investments closed at $20, with 376 stock units changing hands, First Caribbean International Bank traded 463 units to finish at $8.49, Grace Kennedy concluded trading at $2.82, with 32,514 stock units changing hands, Guardian Holdings closed at $17 exchanging 84,280 units, One Caribbean Media closed at $12.11, after exchanging 163 shares, Trinidad & Tobago NGL concluded trading at $29.50, after exchanging 17,235 shares and West Indian Tobacco ended at $87.90, trading 1,256 units.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
NCB Financial remains on high alert
The Jamaican stock market, scaled new heights last week, helped by NCB Financial hitting a record high of $115, as supply of the stock being sold remains limited.
More buying came in for the stock on Friday and investors should be on the watch again as the price could go higher during the current week.
Grace Kennedy is another of the main market stocks to keep an eye on, as it slowly tries to move higher. Caribbean Cement moved back to $50, on Friday and could go further in this week as increased demand came in for the stock. It clearly one to watch but investors will need to determine if Friday’s move is a part of the usual month end window dressing. Kingston Wharves closed at $61.80 but traded as high as $65, supply remains low, thus favouring further price gains, even as the stock is carries by far the highest PE in the market. Watch for Scotia Group that should be releasing third quarter results, this week Thursday and Sygnus Credit Investments that posted full year results in line with expectations of US$1.4 million.
In the Junior market, Indies continue with strong demand existing for the stock, with news of potential acquisition and new products, the stock is worth watching for more gains. General Accident could move higher as more demand comes in for it with limited selling.
Caribbean Flavours seems to be following its parent, Derrimon Trading, continuing to rise with limited volume on sale currently. Medical Disposables, declined during the previous week, recovered last week and .should be moving higher going forward, continue to watch this one, as well as Derrimon Trading that has contracted to distribute products of a Trinidad producer.
Kingston Wharves jumped to close at $60 on Tuesday.
Stocks with scarce supplies that could spring surprises include Barita Investments, Grace Kennedy, NCB Financial, Berger Paints, Caribbean Cement, Kingston Wharves, PanJam Investment, Sagicor Group, Salada Foods, Seprod and Scotia Group. The main market is not the only segment with limited supplies. The Junior Market supplies continue to be limited for many of the listings. The list includes, Caribbean Flavours, Cargo Handlers, Derrimon Trading, Express Catering, General Accident, Caribbean Cream, Medical Disposables, Stationery and Office Supplies and tTech.
An overall view of stocks indicates that the main market continues to be steered higher by an upward sloping support line as well the 45 and 125 day moving averages, lending support just below. The Junior Market now at a 15 months’ high, is being steered by an upward rising long-term support line and a golden cross. The golden cross is a very strong bullish long-term signal.
Under 1,000 investors bought Stanley Motta
Stanley Motta shares were recently listed on the Main Market Jamaica Stock Exchange in late August after a successful initial public offering (IPO), which raised $4 billion for the Musson Jamaica, the sellers of the shares.
Investors were given the opportunity to be a part property rental business located at 58 Half-Way-Tree Road next door to New Kingston, the country’s premier business centre. The IPO which opened July 6 and closed on July 20, attracted just under 1,000 investors and is one of the issues since 2018 with the lowest number of investors who bought into the issue. That is not surprising as the issue was geared to long term investors. Since listing the stock that was sold at $5.31 has fallen in price and last traded at $4.60 but could well increase significantly, as it now boast a PE ratio of just 10 at the latest price.
58 Half Way Tree Road, boasts five buildings with more than 230,000 square feet of office space for BPOs and other technology-based companies.
Access, Fosrich, JMMB now in IC TOP 10
Both the Jamaica Stock Exchange, main and Junior markets reached higher levels during the past week, with the main market hitting a series of new record highs. The coming weeks should see more gains as investors seek out opportunities as fixed interest returns have tanked.
The Top 10 has 3 changes, with Medical Disposables and Caribbean Producers moving out and making space for Access Financial and Fosrich Group in the Junior Market and JMMB Group coming in for is Berger Paints, with the latter jumping to $21.50 by the end of the week from $18 the week before.
Access Financial produced decent June quarter results with profit rising 16 percent to $217 million from $188 million for the 2017 quarter. 
The company is in the process of another acquisition, this time overseas, this should continue to help boost profit going forward. Fosrich posted good second quarter results and is on target to reach IC Insider.com’s forecasted earnings of 30 cents per share. Fosrich too, could be making an acquisition later this year, or early 2019, unofficial, but credible reports suggest. JMMB Group posted good first quarter results with a 59 percent increase in net profit. Some of the strong gains came from the relatively sharp fall in the value of the Jamaican dollar in the period that is not expected to continue.
The PE ratio for Junior Market Top stocks average 8.5 up marginally from 8.4 last week, as the market continues to revalue the multiple higher. The latest valuation compares to an average PE for the overall market of 13, based on 2018 estimated earnings. The main market PE is now 8.5 and is up from 8, last week, for the top stocks, compared to a market average of 13.7, a clear indication of the level of potential gains that can be made by owning these stocks.
Work done by IC Insider.com suggests that the PE ratio is likely to end 2018 around 16 to 18 times earnings, as investors continue to upgrade the multiple they are prepared to pay for stocks, which would lift prices sharply over the next several months from current levels. The latest government bond offer with a 4.58 years tenor, was heavily oversubscribed, resulting in rates dropping to 3.95 percent, suggesting that investors are satisfied that the economic policies will continue to lead to low inflation for a considerable time. These rates suggest more funds will be going into stocks as liquidity remains high in the financial system.
The TOP 10 stocks now trade at an average discount of 35 percent to the average for the Junior Market Top stocks but it’s a third of what the average PE for the year is likely to be of 20 times earnings and main market stocks traded at a discount of 38 percent to the market.
TOP 10 stocks are likely to deliver the best returns within a 12 months period. Stocks are selected based on projected earnings for each company’s current fiscal year. Based on an assumed PE for each, the likely gains are determined and then ranked, with the stocks with the highest potential gains ranked first followed by the rest, in descending order. Potential values will change as stock prices fluctuate and will result in movements of the selection in and out of the lists for most weeks. Earnings per share are revised on an ongoing basis based on new information received that can result in changes in and out of the list as well.
Blow by blow recount of All Jamaica record run
The Jamaica Stock Exchange climbed nearly 9,000 points at midday with the All Jamaican Composite Index surging 8,829.47 points to a record 363,496.38.
The market recorded at least 8 record highs during the day with the market rising 5,029.92 points at 9.59 am in morning session from the close on Thursday as NCB Financial climbed to a record $115.
The JSE Index surged 8,044.65 points to a record 331,186.28 but closed the last day of August at 329,428.09 up a strong 6,286.47 points.
Later on the market pulled back but still ended at a record close of 361,566.65 points to be up 12.5 percent for the year so far.
NCB Financial rise to a record $115 from a close of $113 on Thursday, was a major contributor to the big move on the index, but Caribbean Cement climbed to $50 from $46.50 on Thursday, Sagicor Group rose from $38.05 to $39.75 while Kingston Wharves jumped from $63 to a record $65 and helped push sharply higher beyond the 363,000 mark.
Towards the close PanJam Investment rose to $55 but NCB Financial pulled back at the close at $112 and Kingston Wharves closed at $61.80 and Wisynco Group rose to close at $9.49.
Rising stock prices dragging PEs higher
The bulls have taken control of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, driving the main market to several new record highs during the past week with All Jamaica Index hitting more than 352,000 points last week Friday and jumping more than 6,000 points on Tuesday morning this week to more than 356,400 points and hitting a high of 363,496.
At the same time, the Junior Market now trades at a 15 months’ high. The bullishness has also raised the PE ratio of the market higher since the start of July. The average PE for the overall Junior Market is now 13, based on 2018 estimated earnings. The main market PE, is now an average of 13.7. At the start of July, the PE ratios, were at 11 for the Junior Market and 13 for the main market. At the end of 2017, the average PEs were at 13.5 and 15 respectively, based on 2017 earnings.
The PE is the most used tool in valuing stocks. in order to compare the value of one stock versus another, as such paying attention to this most important measure is critical to success in the stock market. PE ratios are not static and will change as profit and interest rates change. Profit will drive a stock to an expected or accepted PE but interest rates will change PE depending on whether rates and rising or falling. For several years Jamaican became used to a PE of 10 being the norm. That was when interest rates were in the teens now that rates are down sharply from that level PE will rise but its taken quite some time for that to happen. 
Investors are slowly recognizing that to participate in a growing economy and rising profits that they have to pay more to buy the shares of the listed companies.
The attached chart suggests that the average PE ratio is likely to end 2018 around 16 TO 17 times earnings, as investors continue to gradually upgrade the multiple they are prepared to pay for stocks, which would lift prices sharply over the coming months, from current levels.
Treasury bill rates now under 2 percent and government 4 years bods clearing at 3.95 percent and with a chronic shortage of many of the stocks, continuing to put upward pressure on prices, the PE ratios will move higher, investors should be taking their cue from this development.
The movement of the markets PE to the range mentioned above would translate to and increase around 25 percent rise in the market for the rest of the year and would result in full year gains of 40 to 50 percent in main and Junior markets for the year.
