Trading in Jamaica’s foreign exchange market saw £6 million or just about US$8 million more sales than purchases of the Pound sterling on Wednesday, pushing the overall trading in the market into recording negative inflows, on a day when the inflows of US dollars currency exceeded sales by nearly US$4 million.
In Wednesday’s trading, dealers bought US$29,014,871 and sold US$34,171,553 compared to US$82,044,075 purchased and US$63,505,815 sold on Tuesday, of all currencies.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$26,580,347 compared to US$78,399,363 on Tuesday. The buying rate for the US dollar fell 41 cents to close at $126.88. A total of US$22,841,237 was sold versus US$61,557,554 on Tuesday, with the selling rate rising 2 cents to end at $127.70.
The Canadian dollar buying rate rose 78 cents to $96.60, with dealers buying C$1,073,476 and selling C$720,284 at an average rate that rose $1.24 to $98.89. The average rate for buying the British Pound rose 74 cents to $167.19 for the purchase of £1,152,715 while an usually large amount of £7,208,359 was sold with the rate that rose 79 cents to end at $171.14.
At the end of trading, the selling rate for the Euro, fell 7 cents to close at J$142.91 from Tuesday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, dealers purchased the European common currency at J$137.36 for a rise of $1.72 from the rate on Tuesday. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded amounts to US$98,219 being bought, while US$1,112,296, was sold.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest traded rates, for the Jamaican dollar in the foreign exchange market on Wednesday, include a rise of $1 in the highest buying rate for the Canadian Dollar to end at $100.45, a fall in the lowest selling rate of $1.20 to $93. Trading in the British Pound resulted in a 90 cents fall in the highest buying rate to $170.60 and a rise of $1.08 in the highest selling rate to $178.74 and a fall of $1.50 in the lowest selling rate to $162.
Surplus FX dips on Wednesday
14 JSE’s stocks rise 7 fall – Wednesday
NCB traded as low as $36.10 on Wednesday but ended back at $40..
Jamaican stocks again saw more prices rising than falling but the market indices incurred losses nevertheless at the end of trading on Wednesday. Unlike the previous two days with extremely low volumes trading levels climbed sharply by the close of the market with 5,711,945 units valued at $60,243,332, well up from the 2,652,003 units valued at $16,996,985 changing hands on Tuesday’s with, the junior market accounting for 1,483,909 units valued at $6,870,963.
At the close of trading, the JSE Market Index dropped 849.63 points to end at 159,305.92. The all Jamaica Composite Index dived 950.18 points to close at 176,994.05 and the JSE combined index sank 833.28 points, to end at 170,626.85.
At the close of the market prices of 14 securities gained out of a total of 36 that traded, with 7 declining in the overall market, including 7 stocks rising and 4 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 showed 13 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 6 with lower offers, suggesting continued fluidity in price movements ahead.
In market activity, Berger Paints traded 10,741 shares at $5, Cable & Wireless traded 822,600 shares and closed with a loss of 1 cent at 99 cents, Carreras traded 1,570 shares to close at $66.44. Trading in in shares of 1834 Investments resulted in 197,265 units changing hands to end at $1.25, Grace Kennedy jumped 99 cents to end at $42.99, with 23,328 shares changing hands, Jamaica Broilers had 13,650 shares changing hands, to end with a fall of 5 cents at $14.55. Jamaica Producers ended at $8.50 with 300,150 units trading, Jamaica Stock Exchange gained 18 cents with 160,144 units changing hands, to end at a 52 weeks’ closing high of $28 as investors continue to react positively to the announcement of a likely stock splitJMMB Group traded 1,009,454 units at $9.90.
Margaritaville Turks traded 6,540 shares to close at 21 US cents, Mayberry Investments ended with 502,200 shares trading to close at $3.30, National Commercial Bank had 531,488 units changing hands to close at $40, the stock traded as low as $36.10 during the day but with small volumes. Pan Jamaican Investments fell 1 cent and closed at $24.99 after trading 11,495 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 35,080 shares to close at $10.20, Scotia Group added 40 cents to close at $30.50 with 7,320 shares changing hands. Scotia Investments had 2,064 units changing hands at $26, Proven Investments traded 389,000 units to close at 19.90 US cents after rising 0.90 cent and JMMB Group 7.50% rose 2 cents in trading 193,871 units at $1.10. [Read more…]
TTSE Unilever drops $4.50 – Wednesday
Unilever products fighting in a weakened T&T economy leading to a big drop in the stock price.
Market activity ended with 89,258 shares valued at $1,450,746 changing hands, down from the $2,665,520 traded on Tuesday.
The Composite Index declined 1.03 points to close at 1,156.61, the All T&T Index fell 2.04 points to close at 1,817.25 and the Cross Listed Index ended unchanged at 66.04.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 8 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Trinidad Cement closed at $3.10 with 15,500 shares changing hands to gain 5 cents.
Losses| Clico Investment Fund closed with 14,420 shares valued at $326,637 changing hands, to end 1 cent down at $22.65, Massy Holding lost 1 cent in trading 5,718 shares valued at $314,433 to close at $54.99 and Unilever Caribbean traded 2,643 units to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $58 after nosediving $4.50. Unilever’s stock has been under pressure from early 2015 after it suffered from problems in a new software package followed by a weakening domestic market that saw revenues coming under pressure. The latest results to June, shows slightly reduced revenues in the June quarter, compared to 2015, with 13.6 percent more after tax profit, after gross profit increased by percent.
At the present price and likelihood of earnings per share hitting $2 this year, the stock is priced close to 30 times this year’s earnings, well ahead of others in that market and could undergo more decline in the price as the market adjusts it to be more in line with its peers.Firm Trades| First Citizens traded 13,058 units with a value of $457,030 at $35, Grace Kennedy ended with 36,950 shares changing hands at $2.56, Scotiabank closed with 955 shares changing hands to end at $57.53 and West Indian Tobacco with 14 shares changing hands closed at $126.32.
7 junior stocks up 4 down – Wednesday
Blue Power closed at a new high of $20.03 on Thursday.
Trading in the junior market resulted in 7 stocks rising, the same as on Tuesday, while 4 declined compared to 5 on Tuesday out of 13 securities that traded.
Trading ended with 7 securities closing with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 ending with lower
offers as the supply of many stocks continue to evaporate thus setting the stage for a big push forward in the prices of many of the junior listings.At the close, AMG Packaging lost 5 cents and ended at $14.50, with 19,750 units changing hands, Blue Power rose 3 cents to close with 1,600 shares changing hands at a new 52 weeks’ closing high of $20.03. At the close there was only one offer to sell 25,000 shares at $25, Caribbean Producers had 55,974 units changing hands, to close with a gain of 30 cents at $3.50, Consolidated Bakeries traded 300 shares but lost 15 cents to close at $2.25, General Accident traded 4,400 units but lost 1 cent to end at $2.08. Honey Bun traded 374,000 units at $5.51, after rising 1 cent, Jetcon Corporation ended with 24,916 shares trading at $3.20,
Knutsford Express closed with 1,200 units changing hands, to end with a gain of 7 cents at a new closing high of $25.0, KLE Group traded just 100 units at $1.40. Lasco Distributors ended with 87,374 shares changing hands, gaining 30 cents, in the process to close at $6.90, Lasco Financial saw Mayberry Investments buying most of the stocks to trade, for in house purposes as 570,000 shares changed hands at $3.50, for a rise of 25 cents. Lasco Manufacturing fell 15 cents and closed at $4.50 with 342,295 shares trading and Paramount Trading jumped $1 in trading 2,000 shares at $13.
JSE trades down early Wednesday
Trading on Jamaica Stock Exchange early Wednesday is slow with only a few trades of meaningful size as the indices gave up some gains over the past two days.
Meaningful volumes came from penny stocks Cable & Wireless with 113,022 units at $1 and 1834 Investments with 159,400 shares at $1.25 followed by Jamaica Stock Exchange with 55,577 units at $27.15, National Commercial Bank with 401,780 shares at $39.99 and Proven Investments with 389,000 units at US 19.9 cents.
At 10:45 am 23 securities traded, resulting in a volume of 1,182,572 shares carrying a value of $29,395,598 changing hands down from 1,835,382 units on Tuesday. The average number of shares traded amounts to 51,416 units compared to 63,289 units on Tuesday. The number of stocks falling are 7 while the prices of 6 securities rose as the market continues to consolidate with no new major developments or news to move prices in one direction or the other.
The all Jamaica Composite Index dropped 857.51 points to 177,086.72 the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market Indexdeclined 766.77 points to 159,388.78, the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index lost 919.05 points to close at 170,541.08 and the junior market index slipped 20.25 points to 2,212.09.
7 junior stocks up 5 down – Tuesday
tTech closed at $5 on Tuesday with the highest volume traded.
The market closed with 1,397,863 units trading, 13 percent more than on Monday, but the value traded fell 24 percent from Monday, with $6,429,584 changing hands on Tuesday. Trading in the junior market resulted in 7 stocks rising, down from 8 on Monday, while 5 declined up from only 1 on Monday out of 14 securities that traded.
Trading ended with 5 securities closing with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 ending with lower offers.At the close, AMG Packaging ended at $14.55, with 1,900 units changing hands, Caribbean Cream lost 50 cents to close with 78,131 shares changing hands at $7.50, at the close there was only three offers to sell 16,000 shares between $8 and $9.50. Caribbean Flavours traded 32,000 units to end at $8.50 with a rise of 74 cents, leaving two offers for 24,000 units between $8.50 and $9.59, Caribbean Producers had just 2,165 units changing hands, to close with a gain of 20 cents at $3.20. Consolidated Bakeries traded 16,560 shares and gained 5 cents to close at $2.40, C2W Music traded 20,000 units and was down 3 cents to a new low of 17 cents,
Honey Bun traded 25,000 units at $5.50 after rising 20 cents, Iron Rock Insurance rose 1 cent, in trading 5,000 units to close at $3.19. Jetcon Corporation ended with 399,800 shares trading with a gain of 30 cents to end at $3.20, at the close there was only one offer to sell at $4.80 but bids are not strong with 152,000 units from $2.80 to $3.01. Knutsford Express closed with 1,007 units changing hands to end at $25, but had only 248 shares on offer at the close at $29.50, Lasco Distributors ended with 11,702 shares changing hands with a loss of 10 cents at $6.60, Lasco Financial ended with 29,623 shares changing hands at $3.25, for a fall of 28 cents. Lasco Manufacturing fell 20 cents and closed at $4.65 with 71,642 shares trading and tTech jumped by 50 cents in trading 703,333 shares at $5. Trading removed almost all of the supply leaving only 26,000 units on offer at the close for the technology stock.
JSE stocks rise again – Tuesday
JSE stock jumped to $29.50 during trading.
At the close of trading, the JSE Market Index rose 231.36 points to end at 160,155.55. The all Jamaica Composite Index gained 258.74 points to close at 177,944.23 and the JSE combined index climbed 596.35 points, to end at 171,460.13.
At the close of the market prices of 14 securities gained out of a total of 36 that traded, with 12 declining in the overall market, including 7 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 showed 9 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers, suggesting continued fluidity in price movements ahead.In market activity, Berger Paints traded 109,400 shares at $5, Cable & Wireless traded 644,622 shares and closed at $1, Caribbean Cement traded 20,120 shares to end at $25.50, Carreras traded 6,907 shares and fell 6 cents to close at $66.44. Grace Kennedy dropped $1 to end at $42, with 38,441 shares changing hands. Jamaica Broilers had 5,400 shares changing hands, to end with a gain of 8 cents at $14.60, Jamaica Producers ended at $8.50 with 9,360 units trading, after rising by 10 cents, Jamaica Stock Exchange gained 42 cents with 28,280 units changing hands, to a 52 weeks’ closing high of $27.82. The stock traded at new all-time high during the morning session at $29.50, as investors continue to react positively to the announcement of a likely stock split,
JMMB Group traded 300 units at $9.90. Kingston Wharves traded 29,130 shares and rose 5 cents, to close at $17.55, Margaritaville Turks traded 2,710 shares to close at 21 US cents, National Commercial Bank had 19,809 units changing hands and fell 50 cents, to close at $40, Pan Jamaican Investments climbed 50 cents and closed at $24.50 after trading 7,218 shares. Radio Jamaica lost 2 cents to close at $1.48 with 33,698 shares trading, Sagicor Group lost 20 cents with 100,116 shares changing hands at $22.20, Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 42,100 shares and rose 5 cents to close at $10.20. Scotia Group added 40 cents to close at $30.10 with 31,800 shares changing hands. Scotia Investments had 4,988 units changing hands at $26, Seprod traded 6,500 units to close at $20.50 and Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% lost 1 cent in trading 108,741 units at $2.09.
Surplus FX jumps Tuesday
Trading in Jamaica’s foreign exchange market picked up sharply on Tuesday with dealers buying US$18.5 million more than they sold, as inflows continue to exceed outflows as was the case for the high summer months.
In Tuesday’s trading, dealers bought US$82,044,075 and sold US$63,505,815 compared to US$23,079,436 purchased and US$19,531,349 sold on Monday, of all currencies.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$78,399,363 compared to US$19,609,026 on Monday. The buying rate for the US dollar jumped $1.03 cents to close at $127.29. 
A total of US$61,557,554 was sold versus US$18,292,586 on Monday, with the selling rate rising 1 cent to end at $127.68. The Canadian dollar buying rate rose $1.18 to $95.82, with dealers buying C$1,202,592 and selling C$707,371 at an average rate that fell 38 cents to $97.65. The average rate for buying the British Pound rose $1.24 to $166.45 for the purchase of £2,026,181 while £909,970 was sold with the rate that rose $1.97 to end at $170.35.
At the end of trading, the selling rate for the Euro, rose 19 cents to close at J$142.98 from Monday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, dealers purchased the European common currency at J$135.64 for a fall of $5.48 from the rate on Monday. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded amounts to US$89,829 being bought, while US$193,203, was sold.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest traded rates, for the Jamaican dollar in the foreign exchange market on Tuesday, include a rise of 75 cents in the highest buying rate for the Canadian Dollar to $99.45, a rise in the lowest selling rate of $1.20 to $94.20. Trading in the British Pound resulted in a $1.10 rise in the highest buying rate to $171.50 and a rise of $1.50 in the lowest selling rate to $163.50.
5 TTSE’s stocks climb none fell – Tuesday
Trading activity on the Trinidad and Tobago stock market closed Tuesday with marginal gains in the market indices. The volume traded remained subdued with just over 200,000 units changing hands. At the close 12 securities changed hands, 5 of which rose, 7 remained unchanged with no losing stocks at the end of the day.
Market activity ended with 208,021 shares valued at $2,665,520 changing hands, down from the $3,417,455 traded on Monday.
The Composite Index gained 1.10 points to close at 1,157.64, the All T&T Index rose 0.51 points to close at 1,819.29 and the Cross Listed Index ended 0.23 point higher at 66.04.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 6 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Agostini’s gained 25 cent in trading 4,000 shares, to end at $17.30, Angostura Holdings rose 2 cents and ended with 18,685 shares valued at $587,776 changing hands to close at $14.02. Firstcaribbean International Bank ended trading with 13,165 shares and closed with a rise of 5 cents at $6.95, Guardian Holdings gained 1 cent to end at $13.01 with 9,800 shares changing hands and 
Sagicor Financial Corporation gained 1 cent to close with 2,961 shares changing hands at $6.52.
Firm Trades| Clico Investment Fund closed with 28,732 shares valued at $650,997 changing hands, to end 15 cents higher at $22.66, First Citizens traded 4,521 units at $35, Republic Financial Holdings ended with 5,310 shares changing hands at $110, Scotiabank closed with 610 shares changing hands to end at $57.53. Trinidad and Tobago NGL closed at $23.50 with 12,056 units changing hands, Trinidad Cement closed at $3.05 with 107,740 shares valued at $328,607 changing hands and West Indian Tobacco with 441 shares changing hands closed at $126.32.
$29.50 new high for JSE early Tuesday
Jamaica Stock Exchange traded 1,400 at a new high of $29.50 up $2.10, following the high it reached in early trading Monday of $28, 
Jetcon Corporation traded 399,800 units at $3.20, after rising 30 cents, tTech jumped 50 cents while it traded 503,333 shares at $5 and Cable & Wireless had 524,622 units trading at $1. Gains in prices moved the market indices much higher than at the close on Monday.
At 10:45 am 29 securities traded, including C2W Music that traded at a new all-time low of 17 cents as investors continue to bail out of the stock, following a history of continued poor results and depletion of capital. Trading resulted in a volume of 1,835,382 shares changing hands. The average number of shares traded amounts to 63,289 units compared to 36,243 units on Monday. The number of stocks falling amounts to 5 while the prices of 11 securities rose as the market continues to consolidate with no new major developments or news to move prices in one direction or the other.
The all Jamaica Composite Index jumped 1,250.51 points to 178,936.00 the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market Index climbed 1,118.18 points to 161,042.37, the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index gained 1,415.46 points to close at 172,279.24 and the junior market index up 36.86 points to 2,232.00.
