Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange ended on Tuesday with the number of securities trading remaining at 12 as was the case on Monday, with 2 advancing, 3 declining and 7 remaining unchanged.
The market closed with 121,903 shares valued at $1,342,405 trading, compared to 243,252 shares valued at $1,831,701 on Monday.
At close, the Composite Index fell 0.89 points on Tuesday to 1,267.74, the All T&T Index rose 0.15 points to 1,700.06, while the Cross Listed Index shed 0.27 points to close at 112.72.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, on Tuesday, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 5 stocks with bids lower than their last selling prices and 6 with lower offers.
Gains| Scotiabank closed with an increase of 2 cents and settled at $62.50, after exchanging 6,655 shares and Trinidad & Tobago NGL ended trading with a gain of 3 cents at a new 52 weeks’ high of $28.14, after exchanging 1,250 shares.
Losses| JMMB Group shed 5 cents and ended at $1.90, with 67,885 stock units changing hands, Massy Holdings lost 1 cent and closed at $47.43, with 500 stock units trading and Sagicor Financial fell 5 cents to $7.80, with 565 units changing hands.
Firm Trades| Clico Investments completed trading at $20.11, with 13,490 units, First Citizens closed at $32.16, after exchanging 850 shares, Grace Kennedy completed trading at $3.35, with 4,085 units, One Caribbean Media ended at $12.44, with 397 stock units changing hands, Prestige Holdings settled at $10.05, after exchanging 24,481 shares. Republic Financial Holdings ended at $101.53, with 1,245 stock units changing hands and West Indian Tobacco settled at $88.55, after exchanging 500 shares.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
2 stocks rise 3 fall on TTSE – Tuesday
Lease buy out to save Carib Cement $2B
Caribbean Cement could save J$2B from lease buyout.
Caribbean Cement (CCC) seems set cut leasing cost by around $2 billion per annum when the company reacquires the leased equipment from Trinidad Cement (TCL) later this year.
The company paid $3.3 billion in 2017 for the lease of the new kiln that was installed to facilitate expansion of the plant.
Caribbean Cement announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding with agreeing to the termination of the operating lease and the purchase by CCC of the assets covered under the Lease.
Agreement is for approximately USD$118 million to be paid to TCL and redemption of an aggregate number of 52 million preference shares held by TCL for approximately USD$40.5 million to be paid over a nine-year period starting in 2018 and sourced from at least one third of CCC’s profits available for distribution from the previous year. CCC will also seek financing to fund the Asset Acquisition and the Redemption.
Carib Cement kilns
The agreement flows from concerns of minority shareholders who at the company’s last AGM, at which Shareholders were given the commitment by management that the best structure would be identified to acquire ownership of the assets. A special advisory group including representation from CCC’s minority Shareholders was subsequently set in place for that purpose.”
The closing of the above transactions is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including
approval from TCL and CCC’s corporate bodies, securing financing options by CCC, the absence of occurrence or potential occurrence of any material tax and/or accounting effects if the above transactions are executed, among others. The definitive agreements in relation to the foregoing
transactions are expected to be executed by TCL and CCC within 90 days from the date of signing of the MOU.
IC Insider.com gathers that CCC has already lined up potential financing at attractive rates for the execution of the asset acquisition.
Main market activity climbs on Monday
JSE main market activity ended on Monday with 26 securities changing hands, of which 11 rose, 10 declined and 6 traded firm. Trading closed with 6,657,188 units valued at $155,508,071 being exchanged, up from the $31 million traded on Friday.
At the close of trading, the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index surged 2,392.60 points to end at 321,159.47 and the JSE Index gained 2,179.93 points to 292,612.59.
In main market activity, Barita Investments closed 25 cents higher at $9.50, with 1,000 shares trading, Caribbean Cement rose 50 cents to $32.20, with 5,295 stock units changing hands, 
Carreras finished at $10.10, with 168,334 shares, Grace Kennedy fell by $1 to $50, with 160,875 stock units. Jamaica Broilers rose 1 cent to 420, with 8,482 units, Jamaica Producers closed trading at $15.50, with 1,205 shares, Jamaica Stock Exchange ended with a gain of 5 cents at $6.05, with 8,530 shares, JMMB Group dropped 31 cents to $26, with 3,017,431 stock units. Kingston Wharves traded 900 shares at $39, Mayberry Investments ended trading with a rise of $1 to end at $6.50, with 469,349 units, NCB Financial Group traded at $98, with 502,244 shares, 1834 Investments finished trading 4 cents higher at $1.19, with 20,000 shares, 138 Student Living ended 22 cents lower at $5.58, with 100 stock units, changing hands. 
Palace Amusement closed at $1,300, with 300 stock units, PanJam Investment rose 50 cents to end at $42.50, with 2,475 units. Radio Jamaica declined by 1 cent to $1.07, with 13,000 shares, Sagicor Group ended trading 20 cents higher at $36.25, with 94,710 stock units, Scotia Group finished trading with a rise of $2 to $54, with 13,023 shares trading, Supreme Ventures concluded trading at $12, with 185,389 stock units, Victoria Mutual Investments rose 4 cents and finished at $4.54, with 718,287 units and Wisynco Group gained 20 cents and settled at $10.70, with 449,497 shares trading.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place. For more details of market activities, see “JSE major indices jump on Monday.”
5 stocks up 5 down on TTSE – Monday
Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange ended on Monday with the number of securities trading remaining at 12 as it was on Friday, with 5 advancing, 5 declining and 2 remaining unchanged.
The market closed with 243,252 shares valued at just $1,831,701 trading, compared to 441,097 shares valued at $12,442,038 on Friday.
At close, the Composite Index fell 0.11 points on Monday to 1,268.63, the All T&T Index slipped 0.08 points to 1,699.99, while the Cross Listed Index shed 0.02 points to close at 112.99.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, on Monday, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 5 stocks with bids lower than their last selling prices and 7 with lower offers.
Gains| Clico Investments finished trading with a gain of 1 cent and closed at $20.11, with 3,200 units, Grace Kennedy increased 1 cent and completed trading at $3.35, with 165,808 units, Republic Financial Holdings closed with an increase of 1 cent at $101.53, with 3,520 stock units changing hands. Sagicor Financial rose 1 cent and completed trading at $7.85, with 35,835 units and Trinidad & Tobago NGL concluded trading with a gain of 7 cents at $28.11, after exchanging 5,064 shares.
Losses| First Citizens fell 3 cents and concluded trading at $32.16, after exchanging 1,000 shares, JMMB Group fell 1 cent and ended at $1.95, with 9,275 stock units changing hands, National Flour shed 2 cents and settled at $1.80, after exchanging 1,000 shares, One Caribbean Media lost 1 cent and ended at a 52 weeks’ low of $12.44, with 100 stock units changing hands and Scotiabank ended trading 2 cents lower and settled at $62.48, after exchanging 1,050 shares.
Firm Trades| First Caribbean International Bank settled at $9.30, after exchanging 15,500 shares and West Indian Tobacco closed at $88.55, after exchanging 1,900 shares.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Junior Market slips again – Monday
Junior Market trading jumped on Monday with an exchange of 12,328,672 units valued at $54,893,603 from 21 securities compared with 2,993,806 units valued at $14,194,427 changing hands from 20 securities on Friday.
Caribbean Producers accounted for 11 million of the total shares exchanged at the close of the day.
Market activity resulted in with just 4 security advancing, 10 declining and 7 remaining unchanged, with the Junior Market Index declining 9.64 points to close at 2,872.23.
Trading ended with an average of 587,080 units for an average of $2,613,981 compared to an average of 149,690 units for an average of $709,721 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date, amounts to 153,808 units at $657,083, compared to an average of 121,429 units at $510,838 on the previous trading day. 
February closed with an average of 338,697 units at an average value of $1,495,774 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows just 3 stocks ending with the bid higher than the last selling price and 6 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial closed with a loss of $5 at $51, with 1,160 shares, AMG Packaging ended 20 cents higher at $2.20, with 47,421 stock units, CAC 2000 ended trading at $9, with 890 shares, Caribbean Producers finished with a loss of 7 cents in closing at $4.60, with 11,036,816 units, Consolidated Bakeries closed 5 cents higher at $2.05, with 10,000 shares. Dolphin Cove finished at $18, with 500 stock units, Elite Diagnostic settled with a loss of 5 cents at $3.15, with 464,986 units, Eppley ended trading at $10, with 60,000 ordinary shares changing hands, Express Catering traded at $4.45, with 63,210 shares. 
FosRich Group finished trading with a loss of 7 cents at $2.51, with 6,650 shares, General Accident closed at $2.90, with 100,000 stock units, Honey Bun concluded trading at $4.30, with 27,501 shares, Jamaican Teas concluded trading with a loss of 50 cents at $4, with 23,500 stock units. Jetcon Corporation traded with a loss of 2 cents at $4.13, with 231,044 units, Knutsford Express ended $1.86 higher at $14, with 900 shares, Lasco Distributors concluded trading 6 cents higher at $4.05, with 83,442 stock units, Lasco Financial fell 9 cents to close at $4.71, with 35,601 units. Lasco Manufacturing settled with a loss of 21 cents at $3.99, with 29,425 shares, Medical Disposables traded at $4.90, with 381 shares, Stationery and Office closed with a loss of 1 cent at $5.50, with 89,997 units and tTech concluded trading with a loss of 20 cents at $5, with 15,248 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Big haul of FX on Monday
Trading in the foreign exchange market on Monday was the biggest for March for regular trades, with inflows of all currencies, totaling US$59.92 million, versus US$49.98 million on Friday.
Selling of foreign currency amounted to US$52.98 million in contrast to US$46.42 million previously.
At the close of the market, the selling rate of US dollar fell against the Jamaican dollar by 13 cents on Monday, with the rate dealers bought the US dollar for, costing 21 cents less than the closing rate on Friday.
In US dollar trading, dealers sold US$51 million at a rate of J$127.86 at the close, compared to US$40.7 million at a rate of J$127.99 on Friday. Purchases of the US currency by dealers, amounted to US$57.38 million at an average of $126.85 at the close, compared US$46.22 million at an average of $127.06.
At mid-day on Monday dealers purchased US$21.68 million at an average rate of J$127.10 and sold US$19.48 million at an average of J$127.75. At mid-day on Friday dealers purchased US$21 million at an average rate of J$127.56 and sold US$16.8 million at an average of J$128.13.
The selling rate on Monday, for the Canadian dollar dropped to J$96.50 from J$100.06 at the close on Friday, the selling rate for the British Pound dipped to J$177.09 from J$178.10 previously and the euro slipped against the Jamaican dollar at J$159.72 to buy the European common currency, versus the prior selling rate of J$160.40.
JSE major indices jump on Monday
Investors pushed the main market of Jamaica Stock Exchange up on Monday with the all Jamaican Composite Index climbing 2,392.60 points to 321,159.47 and the JSE Index jumping 2,179.93 points to 292,612.59.
Trading closed with 26 securities changing hands, down from 27 on Friday, leading to 11 advancing, 10 declining and 6 trading firm, in the main and US dollar markets. Securities closing with sizable price changes include, Grace Kennedy falling $1 to $50, Mayberry Investments jumping by $1 to $6.50 and Scotia Group with a rise of $2 to $54.
Main market activity ended with 6,657,188 units valued at $155,508,071 compared to 3,641,373 units with a value of $64,163,969 changing hands on Friday. At the end of trading, JMMB Group closed with 3,017,431 units and accounted for 45.33 percent of traded shares, followed by Ciboney Group with 809,577 units, 12.16 percent of total volume traded and Victoria Mutual Investments with 718,287 units with 10.79 percent of trades.
Trading results in an average of 277,383 shares valued at $6,479,503 for each security traded, compared to 140,053 shares valued at $1,194,310 on Friday. For the month to date an average of 604,726 units with an average value at 10,135,623 traded, compared to 627,970 units with an average value at 10,417,767 traded on the previous trading day. In contrast, February closed with average of only 213,336 units valued at $3,392,475 for each security traded.
Trading in the US dollar market on Monday ended with 16,220 units valued at over $4,268 with the market index slipping 0.91 points to close at 169.13. Proven Investments closed trading at 22 US cents with 14,220 units changing hands and Productive Business Solution traded 2,000 units at 58 US cents valued at US$295,
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 5 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 with a lower offer.
For more details of market activities see – Investor bids $1,300 for Palace shares – Monday.
Sharp drop in Treasury bill rates
Interest rates on Government of Jamaica Treasury bills reached their lowest levels yet, in more than 50 years, with the March Treasury bill auction, resulting in the 42 basis point fall in the 182 days and 37.5 basis point decline in 91 days instrument.
The 91 day bills cleared at an average of 2.98 percent, down from 3.35 in February, the 182 days instrument ended at 3.17 percent, a fall from 3.593 percent from the average rate in February. The sharp fall comes against the background of negative inflation rate for the year to February. With no tax increase for 2018, the next few months could continue to see very low inflation. The current inflation data contradicts any notion that investors are getting negative interest on their funds currently.
Investors placed $2.54 billion in the auction of $600 million for the 91 days bill and $2.48 billion for the 182 days instrument for which $600 million was on offer.
The trend in the rates suggest there will be more decline ahead but the fall should be coming to an end soon.
The decline has implications for a wide array of developments in the wider economy and should herald a general fall in interest rates across the board over the coming months. Stocks, real estate investments will get a kick from the lower rates and the government is set to save billion in interest cost while the rate charge to the heavily indebted Cable and Wireless on the intercompany debt is set to fall sharply to under 6 percent when the rate is reset in May, resulting in billion dollar savings.
Palace, Grace out NCB & PanJam in TOP 10
There were no entrants or exists from to the Junior Market TOP 10 list but Palace Amusement more than doubled during the week rising 132 percent and left the list along with Grace Kennedy that rose to $51.50. The two are replaced by NCB Financial and PanJam Investment.
PanJam released 2017 audited financial statements with increased earnings of 29 percent to $4.13 billion, from ongoing operations resulting in earnings per share of $3.93. The group is expected to continue to enjoy increased earnings in 2018.
The main market hit record highs during the week but pulled back as the market move closer to resistance level in a long term channel. 
It just a matter of time for the break out to take place, regardless the channel points upwards for the market. Profit results for 2018 first quarter, will be important in helping to fuel the break out but with Treasury bill rates falling to 3.16 percent on the 182 days instrument during the past week, an important leg for a rally to come, is in place.
At the close of Friday, the average PE ratio for Junior Market Top stocks ended at 6.3 compared to an average PE for the overall main market is 10 based on 2018 estimated earnings.
At the same time the main market ended the week with a PE of 6.7 for the top stocks compared to a market average of close to 12.
IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 stocks now trade at an average discount of 37 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 45 percent to the market
Junior Market slips again – Friday
The Junior Market ended trading on Friday with a 11.7 points drop in the market index to 2,881.87 with 20 securities changing hands compared to 23 trading on Thursday.
Market activity resulted in with just 6 security advancing, 6 declining and 8 remaining unchanged, with an exchange of 2,993,806 units valued at $14,194,427. On Thursday, trading ended with 1,983,814 units valued at $13,150,229 changing hands.
Trading ended with an average of 149,690 units for an average of $709,721 compared to an average of 86,253 units for an average of $571,749 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date, amounts to 121,429 units at $510,838, compared to an average of 119,263 units at $495,598 on the previous trading day. February closed with an average of 338,697 units at an average value of $1,495,774 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows just 5 stocks ending with the bid higher than the last selling price and 4 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging ended with a loss of 5 cents at $2, exchanging 87,325 stock units, CAC 2000 finished at $9, with 1,030 shares, Caribbean Cream ended trading with a loss of 98 cents at $5.99, with 1,000,000 shares, Caribbean Producers finished trading 27 cents higher at $4.67, with 30,000 units, Derrimon Trading concluded trading at $7.50, with 10,000 shares. Elite Diagnostic settled 14 cents higher at $3.20, with 287,518 units, Express Catering traded with a loss of 5 cents at $4.45, with 185,882 shares, FosRich Group finished trading 8 cents higher at $2.58, with 14,393 shares, Honey Bun lost 50 cents in closing at $4.30, with 1,777 shares. Jetcon Corporation traded at $4.15, with 33,951 units, 
Key Insurance finished trading at $4.10, with 50,000 shares, Knutsford Express ended 14 cents higher at $12.14, with 3,877 shares, Lasco Distributors concluded trading with a loss of 1 cent at $3.99, with 27,220 stock units. Lasco Financial finished with a loss of 20 cents at $4.80, with 1,119 units, Lasco Manufacturing settled 20 cents higher at $4.20, with 927,141 shares, Main Event ended trading at $6, with 695 shares, Medical Disposables traded 10 cents higher at $4.90, with 1,510 shares. Paramount Trading closed at $3.20, while 210 stock units were exchanged, Stationery and Office closed at $5.51, with 329,491 units and tTech concluded trading at $5.20, with 667 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
