Jamaica’s foreign exchange dealers bought US$11 million more than the amount sold on Wednesday, putting the surplus bought since the end of June to US$132 million, with the rate of the Jamaican dollar rising marginally against the United States currency.
In Wednesday’s trading, dealers bought US$35,858,443 and sold US$24,832,468 compared to US$32,763,938 purchased and US$35,875,715 sold on Tuesday, of all currencies.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$32,777,120 compared to US$29,193,791 on Tuesday. The buying rate for the US dollar rose 16 cents to $125.98.
A total of US$23,290,324 was sold versus US$34,459,336 on Tuesday, with the selling rate falling 5 cents to end at $126.66. The Canadian dollar buying rate climbed 18 cents to end at $93.65, with dealers buying C$1,287,555 and selling C$914,662 at an average rate that increased by 96 cents to $96.21. The average rate for buying the British Pound fell 43 cents to $161.18 for the purchase of £1,537,436, while £513,286 was sold to end at a rate of $162.98, for a gain of $1.80.
No rates were posted by Bank Of Jamaica for the Euro, on Wednesday. The US dollar 
equivalent of other currencies traded amounts to US$145,042 being bought, while US$186,931 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 fall of 85 cents in the highest buying rate of the US dollar to $127.15, a jump of $19.75 in the lowest selling rate to $123, a decline of $1 in the lowest selling rate of Canadian Dollar to close at $88, while trading in the British Pound resulted in a dip of $1.75 in the lowest selling rate to $158.
US$ build up $11m to US$132m – Wednesday
2 junior stocks up 25% – Wednesday
tTech jumped 27% in trading on Wednesday.
The junior market rose on Wednesday with 16 securities changing hands of which 7 stocks rose while 6 declined, the market index rose 21.20 points to close at 2,217.35, with only 496,276 units traded, valued at $3,940,720. The highlight of trading is a 25 percent jump in the price of Cargo Handlers to a new high and a climb of 27 percent in the price tTech.
At the end of trading 4 stocks closed with bids higher than their last selling prices and none ended with a lower offer. The junior market is showing that the lowest prices for stocks being offered, are moving away from the last traded prices for a number of the companies, with a few having no stocks being offered currently.
At the close, 
Access Financial lost $1.25 in trading 113,000 units at $16.25, Cargo Handlers jumped $14 and ended with 500 shares changing hands at an all-time high of $70, Caribbean Cream gained 5 cents with 4,500 shares changing hands at $7.30, Caribbean Flavours traded just 10,200 units to close with a gain of 20 cents at $6.30. Caribbean Producers lost 18 cents in trading 6,000 units at $3.30, Consolidated Bakeries traded 19,700 units to end at $2.55, there were just one offer posted at the close, to sell 5,000 units at $2.60. Dolphin Cove ended at $14 with 761 shares trading, 
Honey Bun had 105,259 shares changing hands at 5 cents lower to close at $5.45, Jamaican Teas traded 3,338 units and rose by 35 cents, to end at $3.50, Jetcon Corporation rose 4 cents, to end with 12,000 shares changing hands at $2.69. Key Insurance traded 9,713 units to close at $2.50 after shedding 10 cents, Knutsford Express closed with 6,865 units changing hands to end at $19, Lasco Distributors ended with 59,700 shares changing hands with a rise of 20 cents at $7. Lasco Manufacturing closed at $4.95 with 59,386 shares trading, but fell by 5 cents and tTech ended with 83,354 units changing hands at $4.75 after rising $1.
TTSE sheds more value – Wednesday
Trading on the Trinidad and Tobago stock market closed on Wednesday with more stocks declining than rising. The market closed with just 8 securities changing hands resulting in 219,949 shares valued at $946,629 being traded. At the close, 2 stocks rose, 2 declined and 4 remained unchanged.
The Composite Index lost 1.09 points to close at 1,150.84, the All T&T Index slipped 0.16 points to close at 1,811.44 and the Cross Listed Index eased 0.28 at 65.26.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 6 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Scotiabank closed with 1,066 shares changing hands and gained 1 cent to end at $55.51 and West Indian Tobacco traded 12,137 shares to close $126.31 after rising 1 cent.
Losses| Clico Investments lost 10 cents to end at $22.55 with 4,100 units changing hands and National Commercial Bank contributed 5,183 shares and fell 5 cents to close at $2.75.
Firm Trades| First Citizens traded 35,389 units for a value of $1,237,321 to end at $35, National Enterprises with 5,000 shares changing hands, closed at $10.50, Sagicor Financial Corporation closed with 2,643 shares changing hands and gained at $6.99 and Scotia Investments closed with 2,650 shares changing hands at $1.70.
Prices mostly down on JSE – Wednesday
The Jamaica Stock Exchange lost ground in early Wednesday morning trading as stocks traded mostly 
in low volumes, but Barita Investments traded 260,923 units but fell 75 cents to trade at $2.55.
Scotia Group had 143,139 shares changing hands but the price fell back to $30.10 from yesterday’s close of $30.90, Grace Kennedy with its 3 for 1 stock split has traded 52,754 units at yesterday’s close of $41.67, but has more than 250,000 units on offer at the current traded price bids are at $41.50.
The market indices all fell in the main and junior markets, with 6 stocks gaining versus 9 that fell.
The all Jamaica Composite Index fell 236.95 points to 178,347.33 the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market Index declined by 211.88 points to 160,515.99 the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index lost 397.21 points to close at 171,222.45 points and the junior market index dropped 19.56 points to 2,176.59.
At 10:45 am 23 securities traded, resulting in a volume of 675,902 shares changing hands. The average number of shares traded amounts to 29,387 units compared to 25,083 units on Tuesday.
Cargo Handlers’ share goodies
Cargo Handlers to split stock 10 for 1.
The shares now issued amounts to 37,465,830 units but the stock trades infrequently as very few are in the hands of the general public. The stock split is expected to enhance liquidity of the stock.
The stock last traded at $56 on the junior market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange having shot up from $46 after the announcement was made that the directors were meeting to recommend a split. There are currently ids to buy the stock between $60 and $64.01 for 10,877 units, the last offer was 919 units on at $66, at the close on Monday.
The directors declared an interim dividend of $1.35 per share to be paid on September 13, with the ex-dividend date set for August 17.
The company enjoyed a buoyant June quarter, with revenues rising 55 percent from $56 million to $87 million and for the nine months by 36 percent to $245 million from $182 million. Profit before tax rose to $53 million from $29 million in 2015 and after taxation, profit ended at $46 million from $29 million. For the nine months, profit rose from $108 million to $143 million before tax, with the 2016 results ending at $125 million after tax, there were no taxes in 2015.
Management attributes the strong growth in third quarter revenues and profit, to increased activity in the Montego Bay region and increased port activity, flowing from the conversion of the Jamaica Public Service power plant to LNG gas.
Earnings per share for the quarter ended at $1.23 and $3.32 for the nine months. Full year’s earnings should be just under $5 per share but scarcity of the stock is driving the valuation up.
US$ build drops to US$121m on Tuesday
Jamaica’s foreign exchange dealers bought US$3 million less than the amount sold on Tuesday, putting the surplus bought since the end of June to US$121 million, with the rate of the Jamaican dollar slipping marginally against the United States currency.
In Tuesday’s trading, dealers bought US$32,763,938 while they sold US$35,875,715 compared to US$37,926,234 purchased and US$29,940,137 sold on Monday, of all currencies.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$29,193,791 compared to US$34,783,369 on Monday. The buying rate for the US dollar rose 1 cent to $125.82.
A total of US$34,459,336 was sold versus US$28,229,128 on Monday, with the selling rate rising 3 cents to end at $126.71. The Canadian dollar buying rate climbed $1.25 to end at $93.47, with dealers buying C$1,128,502 and selling C$540,659 at an average rate that dropped 79 cents to $95.25. The average rate for buying the British Pound rose 65 cents to $161.61 for the purchase of £1,915,825, while £538,882 was sold to end at $164.78, for a gain of 41 cents.
At the end of trading, the selling rate for the Euro, rose by 74 cents to close at J$141.44 from Monday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$132.88 for a fall of $2.31. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded amounts to US$255,751 being bought, while US$309,138 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 $1.05 in the highest buying rate of the US dollar to $128, a decline of 76 cents in the highest selling rate of the Canadian Dollar to close at $100.12, a fall of $2 in the lowest selling rate to $89, while trading in the British Pound resulted in a dip of $1.61 in the highest selling rate to $171.95 and a rise of $2.75 in the lowest selling rate to end at $159.75.
Strong close for JSE stocks on Tuesday
Grace Kennedy hits 52 weeks’ intraday high on Tuesday.
Kingston Wharves moved up by 45 cents to $16 with just 6,514 shares trading. Sagicor Group traded 14,346 units but fell 85 cents to $20.60, Scotia Group jumped 73 cents to $30.90 while 71,417 shares changed hands, Scotia Investments rose by 50 cents to $26.50 but just 4,395 units traded, Sterling fell 49 cents to $12.51 and Supreme Ventures climbed 58 cents to $5.10.In the overall market the prices of 18 securities gained out of a total of 40 securities that traded, with 11 declining, including 5 stocks, rising and 1 falling from the junior market.
The market closed with an overall volume of 4,024,061 units valued at $45,104,460 changing hands, in all market segments. The junior market accounted for 956,421 units traded, valued at $4,918,989 of all trades.
The JSE Market Index rose 744.87 points to end at 160,727.87, the all Jamaica Composite Index inched up 833.02 points to close at 178,584.28 and the JSE combined index gained 714.49 points, to end at 171,619.66.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 1 with a lower offer.
At the end of market activities, Barita Investments gained 25 cents and ended with 9,991 units traded, to close at $3.30, Cable & Wireless traded just 7,500 shares to close at $1.26, Proven Investments ended trading 420,975 units to close at 19.96 US cents and JMMB Group 7.50% preference share traded 1,921,100 units at $1.10.
5 junior stocks fell – Tuesday
Consolidated Bakeries (Purity) closed at a new high on Tuesday
At the end of trading 4 stocks closed with bids higher than their last selling prices and none ended with a lower offer. The junior market is showing that the lowest prices for stocks being offered are moving far away from the last traded prices for a number of the companies, with a few having no stocks being offered currently.At the close, Caribbean Cream gained 22 cents with 197,697 shares changing hands at $7.25, leaving 19,533 units on offer. Caribbean Flavours traded just 2,000 units to close with a loss of 40 cents at $6.10, the bid closed at $6.50, to buy 1,804 shares. Caribbean Producers lost 2 cents in trading 700 units at $3.48, Consolidated Bakeries traded 300 units with the price jumping 42 cents to a new all-time high of $2.55,
there were just two offers posted at the close, to sell 14,700 units. General Accident traded 7,722 shares and lost 6 cents to end at $2.10, Honey Bun had 4,810 shares changing hands at 10 cents lower to close at $5.50, Iron Rock Insurance traded 358,746 units to close at $3.28, Jamaican Teas traded 7,902 units at $3.15, Jetcon Corporation fell 5 cents lower to end with 9,055 shares changing hands at $2.65. Lasco Distributors ended with 243,560 shares changing hands at $6.80, Lasco Manufacturing closed at $5 with 61,690 shares trading and Medical Disposables ended with 62,239 units changing hands at $3.55 after rising 40 cents.
TTSE slipped on Wednesday
Trading on the Trinidad and Tobago stock market closed on Wednesday with more stocks declining than rising. The market closed with just 9 securities changing hands resulting in 219,949 shares valued at $946,629 being traded. At the close, 2 stocks rose, 4 declined and 3 remained unchanged.
The Composite Index lost 1.94 points to close at 1,151.93, the All T&T Index slipped 0.02 points to close at 1,811.60 and the Cross Listed Index eased 0.52 at 65.54.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 9 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 7 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Clico Investments rose 10 cents to end at $22.65 with 2,175 units changing hands and Guardian Holdings gained just 1 cent to close at $13.51 with 1,487 shares traded.
Losses| JMMB Group traded 158,520 units to end at 60 cents, after losing 3 cents, National Commercial Bank contributed 11,130 shares and fell 3 cents to close at $2.80, Sagicor Financial Corporation closed with 21,250 shares changing hands and gained 16 cents to $6.99 and Trinidad Cement traded 200 units but fell 1 cent to $3.
Firm Trades| Massy Holdings ended with 125 units changing hands at $55, National Enterprises with just 62 shares changing hands, closed at $10.50 and Trinidad and Tobago NGL closed with 25,000 shares with a value of $593,750 changing hands at $23.75.
Purity at new high on JSE – Tuesday
Consolidated Bakeries with its Purity brand trade a small volume at a new all-time high of $2.55, while Barita Investments fresh from releasing nine months results, showing good gains over 2015 rose 25 cents to trade at $3.30. 
Trading, however, on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Tuesday morning, remains light with no stock trading over 100,000 shares but all major indices rose.
Grace Kennedy traded after 10:30 AM with 5,100 units at $47.71 with a gain of $7.71, after trading ex stock split for the first time. The stock split into 3 shares for each one that previously existed. The market indices all rose moderately in the main and junior markets, with 9 stocks gaining versus 4 that fell. The price gain for Grace help push teh main Market Indices up over 1,000 points.
The all Jamaica Composite Index rose 242.94 points to 177,994.20 the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market Index climbed 217.24 points to 160,200.24 the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index gained 266.13 points to close at 171,171.30 points and the junior market index gained 6.29 points to 2,200.15.
At 10:30 am 23 securities traded, resulting in a volume of 576,918 shares changing hands. The average number of shares traded amounts to 25,083 units compared to 364,405 units on Monday.
