Rates on Treasury bill slipped in the latest issues for October with the 91 days instrument coming in at 5.7 percent, down from 5.86 percent in September and the 28 days falling to 5.78 percent a decline from 5.84 percent previously.
The 192 days Treasury bill rate inched up from 5.81 percent to 5.83 percent. The latest rate out turn, comes off changes in rates with the 192 days instrument rate at 5.75 percent February 2013, rising to hit 9.11 percent in March 2014 and been on the decline since, with a few minor hiccups along the way. The trend continues downwards with the rate of decline having slowed markedly with the Bank of Jamaica repo rate set at 5.25 percent since May.
In June, the 192 days rate climbed to 6.01 percent from a 2016 low of 5.73 percent in February, at the same time, the 91 days instrument, fell to 5.65 percent in April and moved up to 5.86 in June and September. The 28 days T-bill fell to a 2016 low of 5.37 percent in April but rose to 5.95 percent in August.
The stock market has been heavily influenced by the decline in interest rates in late 2014 to the end of 2015 has struggled since, with rates being flat in 2016 with a few cases of it having risen.
US$11m surplus in FX market – Wednesday
The Jamaican foreign exchange market closed on Wednesday with buying volume again exceeding selling by US$11 million. At the close of trading, the Jamaican dollar’s lost value versus the main currencies it normally trades with.
At the end of trading, the equivalent of all currencies bought by dealers amounted to US$44,066,825, while US$32,829,162 was sold, compared to US$53,538,216 purchased and US$39,425,182 sold on Tuesday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$37,397,500 compared to US$50,287,877 on Tuesday. The buying rate for the US dollar rose 3 cents to close at $128.20. A total of US$28,637,721 was sold versus US$38,236,358 on Tuesday, with the selling rate rising 3 cents to end at $128.92.
The Canadian dollar buying rate jumped $3.57 to $98.27, with dealers buying C$4,553,605 and selling C$4,076,108 at an average rate that rose $2.01 to $99.16. The average rate for buying the British Pound jumped $1.12 to $155.05 for the purchase of £1,528,215 while £344,279 was sold at a rate that rose $1.16 to end at $157.33.
At the end of trading on Wednesday, dealers sold €404,779 as the selling rate for the Euro, closed at $141.79 for gain of 13 cents, according to data from Bank of Jamaica. Dealers purchased €386,294 of the European common currency at $141.52 after climbing $6.53. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded, amounts to US$904,247 being bought and selling of US$190,700.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest rates for the regularly traded currencies in the foreign exchange market on Wednesday, include a rise of $1.90 in the highest buying rate of the US Dollar to $129.95 and a gain of $20.50 in the lowest selling rate to end at $124.50. The lowest selling rate of the Canadian dollar climbed $2 to $95. The highest buying rate of the British Pound dropped $12.15 to $158.55, the lowest buying rate lost $9.13 to $126.99, the highest selling rate declined $12.66 to $164.46 and the lowest selling rate dived $9.80 to $151.20. Trading in the Euro resulted in a fall of $2.20 in the highest buying rate to $142.80, the lowest buying rate fell $1.45 to $113.71, the highest selling rate dropped $6.64 to $143.21 and the lowest selling rate jumped $22.47 to $137.
JSE majors in big fall on Wednesday
The main market indices of the Jamaica Stock Exchange got clobbered on Wednesday with the all Jamaica Composite Index dropping 2,404.09 points before the close of trading and ended down by with a smaller loss of 1,423.88 at 185,219.39.
The JSE Market Index had dived 2,146.93 points ahead of closing, but clawed back some of the losses, to finish at 166,660.85, having lost 1,273.21 points and the JSE combined index which plunged 2,038.87 points ahead of the close, lost 1,267.83 points to end at 178,971.13 and held a 13 percent for the year to date.
At the close 3,225,271 units valued at $32,690,159 changed hands, compared to 11,005,276 units valued at $189,009,513 changing hands on Tuesday. The junior market accounted for 1,741,347 units trading valued at $9,759,413 of the stocks traded.
The average trade for the day in the main market ended at 59,357 units, compared to an average for the month to date of 121,849 units. On Tuesday, an average of 241,975 units traded with the average for the month to date being 184,341.
The market closed with 38 securities trading as the prices of 16 gained while 13 declined in the overall market, including 6 stocks rising and 5 falling, in the junior market.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 9 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with a lower offer.
In market activity, Barita Investments traded 29,759 shares at $4.65, Cable & Wireless lost 1 cent and closed at 97 cents with 59,590 units trading, Caribbean Cement traded 5,150 shares and rose 50 cents to close at $32, Carreras rose 2 cents to close at $66 with 4,350 units changing hands. Trading in 1834 Investments ended with 4,716 shares changing hands, the price rose 2 cents to close at $1.20, Grace Kennedy closed with 118,515 shares changing hands at $41.55, Jamaica Broilers closed at $14.50 after shedding 1 cent, with 686,211 shares switching owners. Jamaica Producers fell 40 cents to $8 with 78,660 units trading, JMMB Group lost 1 cent in trading 2,665 units to close at $13.99. Mayberry Investments ended with 11,500 shares trading, to close at $3.50 for a fall of 35 cents, 
Mayberry reported third quarter results after the market closed, with net profit of $59 million or 4 cents per share and $320 million or 27 cents per share year to date. Net asset value amounts to $6.77, inclusive of appreciation in the share value of associated companies. National Commercial Bank traded 21,523 shares to close with a gain of $1 at $44, trading in 138 Student Living 169,160 shares changing hands at $4.70, Pan Jamaican Investments lost 25 cents and closed at $23 after trading 70,432 shares, Portland JSX traded 96,160 units with the price rising by 20 cents to $11.10. Sagicor Group fell $1 with 6,000 shares changing hands and closed at $22.60, Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 80,169 shares to close at $10.20, Scotia Group lost 95 cents and closed at $30.05 with 19,662 shares changing hands and Scotia Investments lost $2.90 as 2,820 units changed hands to close with at $31.
Juniors’ volume dips on Wednesday
Cargo Handlers stock split takes effect Wednesday but the stock did not trade.
Market activity resulted in advancing stocks just out pacing declining stocks 6 to 5, with the junior market index falling by 8.47 points to 2,376.31 to be up 33 percent for the year to date.
At the close, 13 securities traded, versus 16 on Tuesday but volume dived 61 percent from Tuesday’s levels, ending with 1,741,347 units changing hands, while value traded, dropped 60 percent to $9,759,413 from $24,376,547, on Tuesday.
An average of 133,950 units with an average value of $750,724 traded, compared to 279,498 units with an average value of $1,523,534 on the preceding trading day. The average for the month to date, amounts to 153,343 units at $855,281.Market activities ended with 3 securities closing with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 ending with lower offers.
Cargo Handlers 10 for 1 stock split became effective on the junior market today with the adjusted closing price being $9, the stock did not trade on Wednesday.
In trading activity, AMG Packaging ended at $20 with 10,882 units changing hands, Caribbean Producers gained 35 cents in trading 213,166 units to end at $4. Consolidated Bakeries regained 5 cents in trading 12,310 shares to close at $2.50,
Jetcon Corporation had 15,011 units changing hands, with the price rising 20 cents to end at $4.20, KLE Group rose 23 cents with 3,500 shares to close at $1.79, Knutsford Express ended at $23.20 with 159 shares changing hands. Lasco Distributors had 66,250 units trading and closed with a loss of 20 cents at $6.81, Lasco Financial fell 1 cent and ended with 59,737 shares changing hands at $3, Lasco Manufacturing rose 23 cents and closed at $4.98 with 8,021 shares trading. Medical Disposables traded 114,659 shares and dropped 50 cents to close at $4.50 and tTech put on 25 cents in trading 200 shares to close at $5.25.
4 stocks rose on TTSE – Wednesday
FirstCaribbean International Bank closed at a 52 weeks’ high on Wednesday.
The market closed with modest movements in the indices, with the Composite Index fell 0.30 points to close at 1,175.20. The All T&T Index closed with a decline of 2.74 points at 1,818.19, down 6.69 percent for 2016 and the Cross Listed Index rose 0.29 points to 70.99 points and is up 43.39 percent year to date.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 5 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 8 with lower offers.
Gains| Firstcaribbean International Bank ended trading with 4,535 shares and closed with a rise of 6 cents at a 52 weeks’ high of $7.81, Grace Kennedy contributed 6,901 shares and gained 1 cent in trading, to close at $2.57. National Enterprises closed with 800 shares changing hands at $10.20, after gaining by 4 cents and
Republic Financial Holdings ended with 1,510 shares trading, with a rise of 1 cent to end at $110.99.Losses| Trinidad and Tobago NGL closed with a loss of 4 cents at $23.55 with 495 units changing hands.
Firm Trades| Ansa Merchant Bank traded 200 units to end at $40.01, Guardian Holdings traded 76,289 shares with the price closing at $12.60, JMMB Group closed at 80 cents with 115,440 units switching owners, Massy Holdings ended with 921 shares changing hands at $51.50. National Flour ended with 194 shares changing hands at $2.58, One Caribbean Media traded 70 shares at $20.40 and Scotiabank traded 50 shares and closed at $58.51.
JSE off to slow start – Wednesday
The Jamaica Stock Exchange is to a modest start on Wednesday morning but trading in junior market stocks seems to have picked up a bit. Trading volume and values were up from Tuesday’s levels as advancing stocks edged out declining ones.
The all Jamaica Composite Index dropped 1,185.02 points to 185,458.25 the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market Index fell 1,059.62 points to 166,874.44, the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index dived 1,079.98 points to close at 179,158.98 and the junior market index lost 9.47 points to 2,375.31.
At 10.45 am, a total of 28 securities traded, resulting in a volume of 1,549,643 shares changing hands carrying a value of $11,650,702, compared to 659,435 shares changing hands carrying a value of $8,595,191 on Tuesday.
The average number of shares traded amounts to 55,344 units compared to 24,424 on Tuesday. Market activity resulted in 10 stocks falling while the prices of 12 securities rose.
In trading activity Caribbean Cream fell $1.70 to $7.55 with 109,434 shares trading, Caribbean Producers rose 20 cents to $3.85 with 81,717 units trading, Honey Bun with 1,000,223 units traded at a loss of 60 cents to $5.50, while Jetcon Corporation added 16 cents with just 13,311 units to $4.16 but have a bid at $4.16 to buy 36,689 shares. In the main market Cable & Wireless has come into renewed selling around the $1 level and traded down to 93 cents with 49,580 shares changing hands, the stock is offered for sale at 98 cents with 1,638,805 units and 6 million units at $1 and Grace Kennedy traded 61,945 at $41.55.
US$14m surplus in FX market – Tuesday
The Jamaican foreign exchange market closed on Tuesday, with buying volume US$14 million more than the amount sold by dealers. At the close of trading, the Jamaican dollar lost value against the US and the Canadian dollars, but gained against the Pound and the euro.
At the end of trading, the equivalent of all currencies bought by dealers amounted to US$53,538,216, while US$39,425,182 was sold, compared to US$27,764,103 purchased and US$19,940,807 sold on Friday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$50,287,877 compared to US$24,043,908 on Friday. 
The buying rate for the US dollar rose 25 cents to close at $128.17. A total of US$38,236,358 was sold versus US$18,470,128 on Friday, with the selling rate rising 7 cents to end at $128.89. The Canadian dollar buying rate declined 76 cents to $94.70, with dealers buying C$1,701,622 and selling C$625,427 at an average rate that rose 6 cents to $97.15. The average rate for buying the British Pound dropped $1.33 to $153.93 for the purchase of £1,510,510 while £385,341 was sold at a rate that declined 28 cents to end at $156.17.
At the end of trading on Tuesday, dealers sold €167,167 as the selling rate for the Euro, closed at $141.66 for fall of 20 cents, according to data from Bank of Jamaica. Dealers purchased €152,917 of the European common currency at $134.99 after falling $1.99. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded, amounts to US$17,809 being bought and selling of US$66,759.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest rates for the regularly traded currencies 
in the foreign exchange market on Tuesday, include a drop of $1.15 in the highest buying rate of the US Dollar to $128.05 and a dive of $20 in the lowest selling rate to end at $104. The highest buying rate of the Canadian dollar climbed $1.50 to $99.50 and the lowest selling rate rose $1.60 to $93. The highest buying rate of the British Pound jumped $13.30 to $170.70, the lowest buying rate climbed $9.13 to $136.12, the highest selling rate rose $11.88 to $177.12 and the lowest selling rate surged $10 to $161. Trading in the Euro resulted in a surge of $5.50 in the highest buying rate to $145 and the lowest selling rate dropped $21.47 to $114.53.
4 stocks rose on TTSE – Tuesday
Trinidad Cement climbed 8.6% to $3.72 on Tuesday
The market closed with modest movements in the indices, with the Composite Index rising by 1.33 points to close at 1,175.50. The All T&T Index closed with a gained 1.47 points at 1,820.93, down 6.55 percent for 2016 and the Cross Listed Index rose 0.16 points to 70.70 points and is up 42.80 percent year to date.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 5 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 8 with lower offers.
Gains| JMMB Group gained 3 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of 80 cents with 61,854 units switching owners, Sagicor Financial Corporation rose 5 cents to close with 34,585 shares changing hands at $7.20. Scotiabank ended trading 32,686 shares and closed with a rise of 24 cents at $58.51
and Trinidad Cement jumped 30 cents up by 8.6 percent to close at $3.80 while trading 28,503 units.Losses| First Citizens Bank closed with just 563 shares changing hands to end with a loss of 2 cents at $34.93 and Massy Holdings lost 49 cents and ended with 579 shares changing hands to end at $51.50.
Firm Trades| Ansa McAl traded 888 units to end at $62.68, National Commercial Bank closed at $2.60 with 556 shares trading, Scotia Investments had 125,036 shares changing hands to close at $1.80 and Trinidad and Tobago NGL closed at $23.59 with 821 units changing hands.
JSE majors gain on Tuesday
Sagicor Group HQ -The stock traded at an intraday high of $25.50 on Tuesday.
At the close, the all Jamaica Composite Index climbed 500.57 points to end at 186,643.27 with a gain of 12 percent year to date. The JSE Market Index gained 447.61 points to close of 167,934.06 and the JSE combined index rose 266.31 points, to end at 180,238.96, up 14 percent for the year to date.
At the close 11,005,276 units valued at $189,009,513 changed hands, compared to 1,362,599 units valued at $11,379,949 changing hands on Friday. The junior market accounted for 4,471,960 units trading valued at $24,376,547 of the stocks traded.
The average trade for the day in the main market ended at 241,975 units, compared to an average for the month to date of 138,002 units.IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 9 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 with a lower offer.
In market activity, Barita Investments traded 21,331 shares at $4.65, Cable & Wireless lost 1 cent and closed at 98 cents with 494,229 units trading, Caribbean Cement traded just 1,800 shares and rose 35 cents to close at $31.50, Carreras lost 2 cents to close at $65.98 with 150,300 units changing hands. Trading in 1834 Investments ended with 22,581 shares changing hands, the price fell 6 cents to close at $1.18,
Grace Kennedy lost 44 cents and closed with 420,865 shares changing hands at $41.55, Jamaica Broilers closed at $14.51 after shedding 9 cents, with 1,000,500 shares switching owners. JMMB Group lost 1 cent in trading 10,297 units to close at $13.99. National Commercial Bank traded 37,620 shares to close at $43, Radio Jamaica fell 19 cents in trading 158,763 shares to close at $1.35, Sagicor Group fell 40 cents with 1,016,783 shares changing hands and closed at $23.60 after trading at an intraday 52 weeks’ high of $25.50. Scotia Group closed at $31 with 3,009,596 shares changing hands, Scotia Investments had 53,500 units changing hands to close with a gain of $3.90 at $33.90, Supreme Ventures traded 24,361 shares and gained 3 cents to close at $4.79 and Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference share traded 50,000 units to close at $2.10.
Junior’s volume jumps on Tuesday
Medical Disposables at new closing high.
At the close, 16 securities traded, versus 14 on Friday but volume surged 1,322 percent from Friday’s levels, ending with 4,471,960 units changing hands, while value traded, leapt 1,578 percent to $24,376,547 from $3,787,554, on Friday. Jamaican Teas accounted for 3,968,532 units valued at $15,874,135 trading to close at $4.
An average of 279,498 units with an average value of $1,523,534 traded, compared to an average of 46,283 units at $270,540 on the previous trading day. The average for the month to date amounts to 155,282 units at $792,648.Market activities ended with 3 securities closing with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 ending with lower offers.
In trading activity, Access Financial Services traded 3,000 shares at $21, AMG Packaging ended at $20 with 290,000 units changing hands, Blue Power gained 10 cents and closed with 3,700 units changing hands at $24.50, Cargo Handlers ended with 15,000 shares changing hands at $90, Caribbean Producers gained 3 cents in trading 16,800 units to end at $3.65. Consolidated Bakeries lost 5 cents in trading 3,131 shares to close at $2.45, Dolphin Cove traded 683 shares to end at $12.05,
Jetcon Corporation had 19,610 units changing hands, to end at $4, Knutsford Express ended at $23.20 with 750 shares changing hands, Lasco Distributors had 121,043 units trading and closed with a gain of 1 cent at $7.01, Lasco Financial gained 1 cent and ended with 18,200 shares changing hands at $3.01, Lasco Manufacturing closed at $4.75 with 7,945 shares trading. Medical Disposables traded 1,251 shares and jumped 50 cents to close 52 weeks’ high of $5, Paramount Trading ended with 2,040 shares changing hands at 4 cents higher to close at $23.99 and tTech lost 5 cents in trading 275 shares to close at $5.
