The Junior Market Index declined 12.20 points and closed at 2,976.62 as 18 securities changed hands from 26 trading on Monday, following 7 stocks rising, 3 declining and 8 remaining unchanged.
Market activities closed, resulting in an exchange of 5,405,843 units valued at $23,297,183 compared to 1,467,297 units valued at $6,334,954 on Monday. Lasco Distributors accounted for 4.4 million units of Tuesday’s volume.
Market activity ended with an average of 300,325 units for an average of $1,294,288 in contrast to 56,435 units for an average of $243,652 on Monday. April closed with an average of 121,622 units at $506,803, for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 3 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial closed 10 cents higher at $47.10, with 250 shares traded, AMG Packaging ended at $1.93, with 2,500 stock units changing hands, Elite Diagnostic settled at $3.20, with 57,474 units, Eppley ended trading 5 cents higher at $9.65, with 688 shares, Express Catering traded with a loss of 1 cent at $5.99, with 57,176 shares. FosRich Group finished trading with a loss of 7 cents at $2.38, with 7,029 shares, GWest Corporation ended with a loss of 2 cents at $2.40, with 27,695 units, Honey Bun concluded trading 20 cents higher at $4.80, with 21,380 shares, Jamaican Teas ended trading at $5, with 3,500 stock units. Jetcon Corporation traded 10 cents higher at $4.25, with 100,300 units, Lasco Distributors concluded trading 25 cents higher at $4.30, with 4,423,848 stock units, Lasco Financial finished at $5.62, with 34,210 units, Lasco Manufacturing settled 1 cent higher at $4.09, with 42,844 shares. Main Event ended trading at $7, with 16,018 shares, Medical Disposables traded at $5, with 35,681 shares, Paramount Trading finished trading at $3.10, with 100,000 stock units, Stationery and Office closed 4 cents higher at $6, with 470,750 units and tTech concluded trading at $6, with 4,500 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Increased demand for Republic on TTSE
Bids increased sharply for Republic Financial Holdings on Monday, with 208,394 on the highest bid which was in line with the last traded price of $101.60 and carried over to Tuesday with bids for 35,032 units at $101.60.
The improved demand follows improved results to March for the banking group and IC Insider.com’s report over the week-end that the stock was poised to go higher. Trinidad Cement came in for increased demand, following a report by this publication that profits for the quarter to March was up over 2017. The stock has a bid to buy 4,615 share at $2.65 which is higher than the last traded price of $2.62. O Monday the bid was at $2.62 to buy 13,353 shares.
In other market activities on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Tuesday, 13 securities changed hands against 15 on Monday, with 2 advancing, 2 declining and 9 remaining unchanged.
Trading ended with 186,598 shares with a value of $1,863,064 compared to 138,553 shares at a value of $4,411,178 on Monday.
At close of the market the, Composite Index slipped 0.37 points on Tuesday to 1,230.11, the All T&T Index gained 0.93 points to 1,698.42, while the Cross Listed Index shed 0.23 points to close at 102.52.
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, an indication of the continuation of a weak market currently.
Gains| Republic Financial Holdings rose 2 cents and ended at $101.60, with 4,631 stock units changing hands and Unilever Caribbean jumped $1.50 in concluding trading at $33.50, having exchanged 400 shares.
Losses| Clico Investments closed with a loss of 1 cent at $20.14, with 2,564 shares trading and JMMB Group share fell 1 cent and ended at $1.79, with 122,995 stock units changing hands.
Firm Traded| Ansa Merchant Bank settled trading at $40, after exchanging 10,944 shares, First Citizens closed at $32.55, in exchanging 500 shares, Massy Holdings ended at $47.40, with 51 stock units changing hands, National Flour settled at $1.80, after exchanging 6,790 shares, One Caribbean Media ended at $12.40, with 50 stock units changing hands, Prestige Holdings settled at $10.01, after exchanging 209 shares, Sagicor Financial completed trading at $7.80, with 21,000 units, Trinidad & Tobago NGL ended trading at $28, with 16,200 units and West Indian Tobacco ended at $88.51, with 264 stock units changing hands. Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Jamaican$ gains against all – Monday
The Jamaican dollar gained further ground at the close of foreign currency trading on Monday against all the four main currency it mostly trade against daily.
Inflows of all currencies amounted to the equivalent US$63.21 million compared to US$35.26 million bought on Friday and sold US$63.48 million compared to US$37.86 million sold on Friday.
At the close of foreign currency trading, dealers sold US$46.64 million, 21 cents less than on Friday with the US dollar selling rate closing at J$125.32, compared to J$125.53 in the sale of US$29.69 million on Friday. Purchases of the US currency by dealers, amounted to US$58.09 million, with the average rate rising 58 cents to $124.33, compared to US$29.47 million, with the average rate of $123.75 on Friday.
At mid-day on Monday dealers purchased US$25.27 million at an average rate of J$124.58 and sold $19.78 million at an average of J$125.24. At mid-day on the previous trading day, dealers purchased US$8.2 million at an average rate of J$124.37 and sold $7.46 million at an average of J$125.44.
The Jamaican dollar closed trading, with the selling rate for the Canadian dollar, declining to J$98.23 from J$100.96 at the close on Friday. The selling rate for the British Pound declined to J$172.28 from J$174.70 previously and the euro fell versus the Jamaican dollar to J$151.70 to buy the European common currency, versus the prior selling rate of J$152.09.
23,000 more Jamaicans employed
More Jamaicans continue to gain employment as the economic growth gathers pace with 22,600 persons added to the employment list, an increase of 1.9 percent more persons being employed over the year to January.
The increased number of employed persons, lifted the employed in January 2018 to 1,206,600, up from 1,184,000 employed in January 2017.
Over the period, male employment increased by a mere 1,900 persons over the twelve month period to reach 664,200 in January 2018 while female employment increased by 20,700 or 4 percent to 542,400.
According to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, the unemployment rate fell to 9.6 percent at the start of the year and is down sharply from 12.7 percent in January 2017. The lower rate of unemployment came as a result of decline in the total number of persons in the labour force and the increase in employment. In October last year the unemployment rate fell to 10.4 percent.
TTSE trading falls back on – Monday
Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange ended on Monday with trading in 15 securities against 16 on Friday, with 1 advancing, 3 declining and 11 remaining unchanged.
Trading ended with 138,553 shares at a value of $4,411,178 compared to 833,223 shares at a value of $20,721,197 on Friday.
At close of the market the, Composite Index rose 0.27 points on Monday to 1,230.48, the All T&T Index gained 0.52 points to 1,697.49, while the Cross Listed Index remained unchanged to close at 102.75.
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 3 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 4 with lower offers, an indication of the continuation of a weak market currently.
Gains| Trinidad & Tobago NGL gained 10 cents and completed trading at $28, with 22,096 units changing hands.
Losses| NCB Financial Group shares fell 5 cents and concluded trading at $5.50, after exchanging 4,700 shares, Republic Financial Holdings share fell 1 cent and ended at $101.58, with 2,125 stock units changing hands, but had demand to buy 208,394 units at $101.60 at the close of trading, following good six months report and West Indian Tobacco shed 4 cents and ended at $88.51, with 114 stock units changing hands.
Firm Traded| Ansa Mcal completed trading at $59.79, with 44,600 units, Ansa Merchant settled at $40, after exchanging 1,995 shares, Clico Investments completed trading at $20.15, with 19,111 units, First Citizens concluded trading at $32.55, after exchanging 2,410 shares, JMMB Group ended at $1.80, with 500 stock units changing hands, Massy Holdings ended at $47.40, with an exchange of 8 stock units, National Flour settled at $1.80, after exchanging 1,800 shares, One Caribbean Media ended at $12.40, with 5,000 stock units changing hands, Point Lisas completed trading at $3.81, with 200 units, Prestige Holdings settled at $10.01, after exchanging 1,500 shares and Sagicor Financial completed trading at $7.80, with 32,394 units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Trinidad Cement Q1 profit inched higher
The Trinidad Cement Group generated revenue of $429 million during the March 2018 quarter, an increase of just 2 percent compared to 2017.
The Group recorded a 5 percent increase in profit for the period to $27 million versus $26 million in 2017 and EPS of 6 cents. The results benefited from increased demand for cement in Jamaica and Guyana and increased export dispatches from Barbados the company reported, but there was “lower revenue from the Trinidad operations, due to lower sales volumes arising from the contraction of the construction industry,” management stated.
Group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment, and restructuring costs was $92 million for the period, down from $98 million in the 2017 quarter. There was higher costs from the planned equipment maintenance executed during the quarter at the Jamaica plant. The Group achieved a 55 percent reduction in finance costs to $13 million from nearly $28 million in the March 2017 quarter. Restructuring of loans in 2017 resulted in a 276 basis point reduction in the effective interest rate, potentially reducing finance cost by 30 percent. A net total of $167 million was repaid to lenders since April 2017, thus reducing the principal outstanding and finance costs.
Cash generation was impacted positively by better working capital management, improving to $105 million versus 2017. The Group invested $23 million in capital projects in the quarter and repaid $97 million of debt. The reduction in the loan will have a further positive impact on finance costs going forward.
Shareholders equity fell to $767 million from $1 billion in 2017 but is up on the December position of $753 million. Borrowings was $818 million with $244 million to be repaid within a twelve months period.
The TCL Group’s financial, operational and strategic direction is dedicated to producing favorable results notwithstanding the current restraints and challenges facing Trinidad and Tobago’s economy, management advised shareholders in their comments accompanying the results.
Going forward, there should be strong increase in demand from Guyana with the discovery of oil in commercial quantities, while the rest of this year should see a pickup in sales as well as lower finance in the Jamaican operation that should help boost profit for the overall group.
The stock last traded at $2.62 on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange at a PE around 10 times 2018 earnings.