The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange recorded gains in the major indices but declining prices out weighted rising ones on Friday, as the indices flirted with record highs, failing to hold onto the strong morning gains to close with much smaller gains.
Main market activity ended with 27 securities changing hands, with just 6 securities rising, 12 falling, 9 trading firm on Thursday. Trading closed with 6,404,825 units valued at $87,957,828.
At the close of trading, the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index jumped 2,729.22 points to 321,733.98and the JSE Index shot up by 2,486.63 points to 293,136.03.
In main market activity, Barita Investments closed 10 cents higher at $8.10, with 3,301 shares, Berger Paints ended with a loss of 50 cents at $17, with 702 stock units, Carreras finished with a loss of 5 cents at $10.90, with 798,192 shares, Caribbean Cement settled at $35, with 12,087 shares, Ciboney Group ended trading at $0.11, with 1,362,000 shares. Grace Kennedy traded at $44.80, with 12,580 stock units, Jamaica Broilers finished trading at $19, with 52,115 units, Jamaica Producers closed at $15, with 1,101,566 shares, Jamaica Stock Exchange ended at $6.50, with 15,405 shares. JMMB Group concluded trading with a loss of 45 cents at $26, with 10,967 shares, Kingston Wharves settled $1.38 higher at $40, with 15,882 units, Mayberry Investments ended trading with a loss of 35 cents at $5, with 4,470 shares, NCB Financial Group traded with a loss of 50 cents at $99, with 18,860 shares. 1834 Investments lost 2 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $1.10, with 289,200 shares, 138 Student Living concluded trading 10 cents higher at $5.50, with 1,500 shares, PanJam Investment ended with a loss of 95 cents at $41, with 9,835 units, Pulse Investments finished at $1.80, with 198,900 shares, Radio Jamaica settled with a loss of 3 cents at $1.05, with 15,118 shares. Sagicor Group ended trading with a loss of 40 cents at $36.10, with 726,317 stock units, Sagicor Real Estate Fund ended trading with a loss of 1.99 cents at $15, with 170,860 shares, Salada Foods traded at $12.05, with 7,500 units, Scotia Group finished trading $2 higher at $54, with 348,524 shares, Seprod concluded trading with a loss of $1.99 at $30.01, with 900 stock units. Supreme Ventures closed 5 cents higher at $11.90, with 236,420 stock units, Victoria Mutual Investments gained 2 cents to end at $4.60, with 570,504 units, Wisynco Group settled with a loss of 17 cents at $10.55, with 253,420 shares and in the main market preference segment, JMMB Group 7.5% closed at $1.02, with 167,700 shares, changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place. For more details of market activities, see “Scotia pushes JSE to intraday record high – Friday.”
4 up 2 down on TTSE on Friday
Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Thursday ended with 16 securities trading the number as on Thursday. The market closed with 200,883 shares valued at $1,445,272 trading, compared to 501,264 shares valued at $7,417,872 on Thursday.
The market closed with the prices of 4 stocks rising, 2 declining and 10 remaining unchanged. At close, the Composite Index fell 41 points on Friday to 1,267.39, the All T&T Index closed with a fall 0.07 points to 1,694.71, while the Cross Listed Index lost 0.10 points to close at 113.38.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, on Friday, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 8 stocks with bids lower than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Gains| First Citizens added 4 cents and closed at $32.20, trading 627 shares, Grace Kennedy price increased 1 cent and completed trading at $3.35, with 61,893 units, Scotiabank rose 5 cents and settled at $62.01, trading 546 shares and Trinidad & Tobago NGL closed with a gain of 14 cents at $27.65, trading 2,961 shares.
Losses| Guardian Holdings fell 15 cents and settled at $15.50, trading 1,599 shares and National Flour lost 1 cent and closed at $1.82, trading 8,176 shares. Firm Traded| Ansa Merchant closed at $40, trading 503 shares, Clico Investments completed trading at $20.10, with 7,597 units, First Caribbean International Bank settled at $9.28, trading 5,823 shares, JMMB Group ended at $2, with 10,100 stock units changing hands LJ Williams B share concluded market activity at 75 cents, trading 20,000 shares. Massy Holdings ended at $47.50, with 3,301 stock units changing hands Prestige Holdings settled at $10.01, trading 1,300 shares, Sagicor Financial ended at $7.85, with 75,657 units, Trinidad Cement closed at $3.01, with 400 stock units changing hands and West Indian Tobacco settled at $88.50, trading 400 shares.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
JSE trading in record territory
Scotia Group is trading at $53.50 following the release of first quarter results yesterday and helped to push the main market into record territory.
The market is trading at an intraday high on the all Jamaica Index of 325,588.39 having risen 6,583.63 points at 10.27 in the morning session. The JSE index jumped 5,998.43 points to 296,647.83. if the market closed around these levels it would end at a n all-time closing high beating the previous record close by a few thousand points. The market indices slipped back a bit and are now at 325,177.34 for the all Jamaica Index and 296,273.32 for the JSE Index.
Scotia Group was showed increased profits from lower loan loss provisioning and gains from sale of its former subsidiary CrediScotia.
A KEY Partnership for life!
Junior Market listing, Key Insurance Company recently staged its inaugural Blood Drive at the Company’s Head Office in Kingston, in partnership with the National Blood Transfusion Service, more commonly known as the Blood Bank.
The event, coordinated by Carlene Isaacs, Reinsurance Manager and Corporate Social Responsibility team leader at Key, collected 33 units of blood. Key Insurance Company views the Blood Drive as a crucial engagement tool for sensitizing employees and increasing awareness about the vital importance of giving blood. Also participating in this life-saving initiative were some of Key’s corporate partners inclusive of bankers, brokers, valuators and neighbouring businesses.
With the estimated annual blood transfusion requirement in Jamaica at 50,000 units, Key Insurance Company plans to make the Blood Drive an annual event in this important partnership for life.
Key Insurance trades on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange with the last traded price of $4.
Jam$ rises vs non US currencies – Thursday
The Jamaican dollar made gains against the Canadian, the British and European currencies on Thursday but slipped against the US dollar on Thursday.
The selling rate of US dollar rose against the Jamaican dollar increased by 16 cents on Thursday, with the rate dealers bought the US dollar costing 38 cents less than the closing rate of the previous trading day.
On Thursday, Inflows of all currencies, totaled US$36.59 million, versus US$55.40 million on Wednesday with the selling of US$38.85 million in contrast to US$44.32 million previously traded.
In US dollar trading, dealers sold US$37.48 million at an average of J$128.86, at the close, compared to US$42.29 million at an average of J$128.70 on Wednesday. Purchases of the US currency by dealers, amounted to US$33.45 million at an average of $127.50 at the close, compared US$53.39 million at an average of $127.88.
At mid-day on Thursday dealers purchased US$12.85 million at an average rate of J$128.07 and sold US$10.34 million at an average of J$128.95. At mid-day on Wednesday dealers purchased US$27.30 million at an average rate of J$128.80 and sold US$15.37 million at an average of J$129.08.
The selling rate on Thursday, for the Canadian dollar eased to J$98.25 from J$98.35 at the close on Wednesday, the selling rate for the British Pound slipped to J$177.54 from J$178.59 previously and the euro dived against the Jamaican dollar at J$154.53 to buy the European common currency, versus the prior selling rate of J$159.28.