The Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange 80.20 points of the nearly 145 points fall over the past two days after to close at 3004.55 on Friday as the prices of 9 securities advanced, 4 declined and 11 remained unchanged.
At the close of market activities, with 24 securities changed hands compared to 25 changing hands on Thursday, resulting in 3,742,224 units valued at $15,902,706 trading, compared to 5,590,001 units valued at $32,219,897 on Thursday.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 5 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Trading ended with an average of 155,926 units for an average of $662,613 in contrast to 223,600 units for an average of $1,288,796 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date, amounts to 164,621 units valued at $924,448 and previously 166,390 units valued at $977,703. In contrast, May closed with an average of 217,589 units, valued at $1,322,452 for each security traded.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging ended at $2.10, with 1,146 stock units traded, Caribbean Flavours traded at $10, with an exchange of 6,000 units, Caribbean Producers jumped 55 cents higher to close at $5.25, with 1,680 units, Consolidated Bakeries closed at $2.10, with 95,200 shares, Derrimon Trading rose 2 cents to $9.17, with 16,775 shares. Elite Diagnostic settled 3 cents higher at $3.16, with 36,257 units changing hands, Eppley ended 11 cents higher at $9.18, with 1,100 shares trading, Express Catering gained 27 cents to close at $7.70, with 123,272 shares, FosRich Group finished trading at $2.75, with 44,076 shares. General Accident closed at $3.39, with 565 stock units, GWest Corporation ended with a loss of 10 cents at $2.20, with 23,782 units, Honey Bun dropped 55 cents to $4.65, with 5,000 shares changing hands, Jamaican Teas ended trading at $5, with 45,660 stock units after trading at $5.25. Jetcon Corporation closed trading at $4, with 14,250 units, Key Insurance traded 1,000 shares at $4, KLE Group closed with a loss of 30 cents at $2.65, with 1,800 shares trading, Knutsford Express ended 50 cents higher at $12, with an exchange of 2,192 shares. Lasco Distributors concluded trading at $4.15, with 123,991 stock units, Lasco Financial finished at $5.15, exchanging 51,027 units, Lasco Manufacturing settled 18 cents higher at $4.18, with 3,060,100 shares, Main Event ended trading 1 cent higher at $7.57, with 22,861 shares. Medical Disposables climbed 70 cents higher to $5, with 872 shares, Paramount Trading finished trading at $3, with 32,135 stock units and Stationery and Office closed with a loss of 20 cents at $7.80, with 31,483 units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
5 stocks fell none rise on TTSE – Friday
Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange ended on Friday with just 9 securities trading against 11 on Thursday. The market closed without an advancing stock, while 5 declined and 4 remained unchanged.
Trading remained subdued, as market activity ended with just 42,427 shares valued at $1,567,716, compared to just 33,656 shares valued at $736,460 on Thursday.
The Composite Index fell 0.80 points on Friday to 1,241.49, the All T&T Index gained 0.39 points to 1,721.59, while the Cross Listed Index shed 0.28 points to close at 102.40.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows the market continuing to be weak as it closed with 6 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Losses| Clico Investments shares fell 18 cents and ended at $20.22, with 13,900 units, First Caribbean International Bank closed with a loss of 2 cents at $8.83, after exchanging 195 shares, First Citizens shed 5 cents and completed trading at $34.90, in an exchange of 2,780 shares, Massy Holdings lost 1 cent and settled at $47.20, with 312 stock units changing hands and Republic Financial Holdings ended trading 1 cent lower at $102.65, with 9,747 stock units changing hands.
Firm Trades| At the close of the market, JMMB Group settled at $1.85, with 317 stock units changing hands, Sagicor Financial concluded trading at $7.95, with 12,750 units, Trinidad & Tobago NGL closed with 1,774 units at $29.10 and Unilever Caribbean completed trading at $29.50, after exchanging 652 shares.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Trading levels dive on TTSE – Thursday
Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange ended on Thursday with 11 securities trading against 13 on Wednesday, with 5 advancing, 2 declining and 4 remaining unchanged.
Trading remained subdued, leading to lower volume and value of transactions than on Wednesday as market activity ended with just 33,656 shares valued at $736,460, compared to 51,696 shares, valued at $689,794 on Wednesday.
The Composite Index rose 0.87 points on Thursday to 1,242.29, the All T&T Index gained 1.05 points to 1,721.20, while the Cross Listed Index gained 0.09 points to close at 102.68.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows the market continuing to be weak as it closed with 5 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
Gains| Clico Investments gained 20 cents and completed trading at $20.40, with just 12 units, First Citizens added 5 cents and concluded trading at $34.95, after exchanging 150 shares, Guardian Holdings increased 50 cents to settle at $17, after exchanging 50 shares, Massy Holdings rose 6 cents and ended at $47.21, with 10,300 stock units changing hands and Trinidad & Tobago NGL closed with a gain of 4 cents and completed trading at $29.10, with and exchange of 5,000 units.
Losses| JMMB Group shares fell 2 cents and ended at $1.85, with 933 stock units changing hands and National Enterprises lost 14 cents to $9.50, with 650 units trading.
Firm Trades| National Flour settled at $1.80, after exchanging 11,500 shares, Sagicor Financial completed trading at $7.95, with 1,920 units, Unilever Caribbean concluded dealing at $29.50, after exchanging 33 shares and West Indian Tobacco ended at $88.50, with 88 stock units changing hands
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Lower Q2 profit for Scotia Group
Scotia Group reported a 19 percent rise in half profit to $6.76 billion after tax, but that clouds the fall in profit for the second quarter to April that fell marginally thanks to a big jump in loan provisioning of $560 million compared to a small recovery of $6 million in the January quarter.
The half year earnings are bolstered by a gain on sale of subsidiary of $753 million.
Shareholders don’t have much to cheer about except that loan losses are within the range of that of 2017 along with a few other good developments. Net interest income fell to $6.2 billion from $6.5 billion in April 2017 quarter, Insurance revenues fell from $1.1 billion to $707 million. Cost were contained well, with salaries and benefits declining from $2.84 billion in 2017 to $2,46 billion in the April quarter while other operating costs, rose marginally from $1.76 billion to $1.86 billion.
Year to date, net interest income moved from 13.17 billion to $12.82 billion while loan impairment fell sharply from $975 million to $564 million. Net fee income declined from $4.4 billion to $4.1, but gains from foreign exchange trading activities delivered $1.66 billion versus $1.1 billion in 2017. While the half year figures show a bit of positive signs, investors should be focused on more recent developments, as these are more likely to point the way forward.
The group made modest progress in increasing loans, the most important asset for a bank. At the end of April, loans grew to $171 billion from $166.5 billion at the end of 2017 fiscal year, the increase is twice the growth rate between April last year and the year end. Investment securities rose from $120 billion at the end of October in 2017 to $131.6 billion and cash resources from $116.5 billion to $126.2 billion, at a much faster pace than increased in lending. Deposits by the public moved from $260.6 billion to $383 billion.
Scotia ended with earnings per share of $1.08 for the quarter and $2.17 for the half year, including the one-off capital gains from sale of the former subsidiary. A dividend of 48 cents per share was declared by the board, payable on July 18.
The strongest positive for the group is that they currently lend out just about 52 percent of deposited funds by its customers, leaving much room to grow loans whenever that time comes around.
The stock traded on the Jamaica Stock Exchange and closed at $53 but with these results, further movement up is going to be very challenging in the short term and leaves NCB Financial as the banking group of choice for investors seeking growth in stock price.
JSE trading at new record of 335,379 points
The Jamaica Stock Exchange main market is currently trading in record territory with the all Jamaica Composite index having surpassed the 334,000 mark around mid day, moved to more than 335,000 points just ahead of the close.
The market having surpassed the 334,000 points for the first time around midday, moved even higher to trade at level 335,379.45 points with 15 minutes to go before the close with a rise of 5,429.21 points.
The All Jamaica Composite Index rose 4,212.92 points to 334,155.76 points just after midday while the JSE index rose to 3,838,45 points to 304,460.03 points, Scotia Group trading at $52.99 and JMMB Group at $28 were the two major contributors to the market rise. Wisynco Group trades at $9.80 and accounted for the largest block of shares with 5.356 million units of the stock traded.The AJI ended at a record closing high of 332,501.11 points on May 4, this year.
The Junior Market at the same time plunged 64.06 to 2,947.20.Iron Rock traded 4.24 million units in the Junior Market and Blue Power traded 538,182 units with the price falling to $28 from $the last traded price of $37.