Fall in the price of fuel and appreciation of the Jamaica dollar helped in pushing inflation down in November with data out of Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) showing zero inflation.
According to Statin, the result was influenced by a 0.3 percent increase in the index for the division Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages. This was as a result of higher prices for vegetables, starchy foods and fruits but was tempered by a 0.8 percent decline in the division Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels due mainly to reduced rates for electricity despite the increased rates for water and sewage. The Transport division declined by 0.7 percent as a result of a decrease in the price for petrol. The calendar year-to-date inflation was 3.5 percent while the movement in the index for the fiscal year-to-date was 3.8 percent and the movement for the past 12 months comes out at 4.1 percent.
No inflation
Fontana IPO closed
The Fontana Initial Public Offer for 250 million shares to raised $468 million is oversubscribed and was closed shortly after 9 am today.
The issue which was scheduled to open on Thursday December 13 but and slated to close on 20 December 2018 but heavy demand for the issue forced an early closure. IC insider.com gathers that two brokerage houses delivered around 1,400 applications last night. Up to 1 PM on Thursday, staff at Scotia Investments were still sorting out applications that came in ahead of the closing time. With an historical PE ratio of just over 6 times earnings and around 5.4 times current years estimated earnings the price of the stock is expected to jump sharply after listing. With the plans the company has for expansion the company should enjoy strong growth in profit and stock price for a number of years.
Sharp drop in JSE Indices
The Jamaica Stock Exchange had one of its largest fall with the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index dropping 10,996.27 points to 422,043.60 and the JSE Index nosediving 10,018.84 points to close at 384,529.46 at the close.
Earlier in trading the market had slipped appreciably but dived in the last few minutes of trading with NCB Financial trading at $150 before moving back to last trade at $159 and Sagicor Group down to $140 but last traded at $144. The Junior Market inched higher by 2.46 points.
Scotia Group reported poor final quarter profit and that could weight on the market on Friday.
All Jamaica hits record 433,000 points
NCB trade at a record high of $160.
The market opened up at the start of trading with gains of 1,433.80 points for the all Jamaica and 1,306.36 for the JSE index.
The opening high follows Wednesday’s trading when the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index closed at a new all-time high of 418,487.99 and JSE Index ended at 381,289.90.
Barita Investments traded at a new high of $24.01 to more than double in value for the year so far, PanJam Investment traded at $72, Sagicor Group at $51.95 haven risen sharply to a record high, but the bid is at $55 to buy 49,301 shares, Scotia Group trades at $60 and Seprod at $33.65.
The junior market continues under some selling pressure is not sharing in the strong gains of the more matured companies and declined by 20.08 points to 3,158.36.
All Jamaica hits record 427,000 points
The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, has scaled several new highs this trading on Thursday morning on its record run that resulted in the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index hitting a record high of 426,298.79 points after rising 7,810.80 and the JSE index gaining 7,116.53 to 388,406.43 after just 51 minutes into the trading day.
The All Jamaica Composite Index has since broken the 427,000 points mark. The market opened up at the start of trading with gains of 1,433.80 points for the All Jamaica Composite Index and 1,306.36 for the JSE Index.
The opening high follows Wednesday’s trading when the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index closed at a new all-time high of 418,487.99 and JSE Index ended at 381,289.90.
Barita Investments traded at a new high of $24.01 to more than double for the year so far, NCB Financial now trades at $150 and Sagicor Group at $51.92 haven risen sharply to a record high, Scotia Group trades at $60..
The Junior Market continues under some selling pressure is not sharing in the strong gains of the more matured companies and declined by 8.22 a point to 3,170.22.
All Jamaica hits record 424,461 points
The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, gained in early trading on Thursday and now trades at a record high of 424,461.33 points after rising 5,973.34 while the JSE index rose 5,442.39 to now sit at 386,732.29 after just 15 minutes into the trading day.
The market opened up at the start of trading with gains of 1,433.80 points for the All Jamaica and 1,306.36 for the JSE Index.
The opening high follows Wednesday’s trading when the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index closed at a new all-time high of 418,487.99 and JSE Index ended at 381,289.90.
Barita Investments traded at a new high of $24 to more than double for the year so far, NCB Financial now traded up to$150 and Sagicor Group at $47.
The Junior Market continues under some selling pressure is not sharing in the strong gains of the more matured companies and declined by less than a point to 3,177.54.
Since posting the stroy the main market has moved higher with Sagicor Group trading at $51.95.
Many more stocks to watch now
NCB had a good 2018 fiscal year with strong profit gains that boosted interest in the stock.
Jamaica’s largest financial institution, advised the Jamaica Stock Exchange that a connected party sold 2,768,165 of the group’s shares and three directors and a senior manager purchased a total of 2,836,672 shares between November 23 and 26. This development is the clearest signs that the immediate future is extremely bright for the group.
The local stock market is showing major shift in sentiment with the news that Scotia Group is selling off of its insurance arm to Sagicor Group. The announcement drove up the prices of Scotia Group, Sagicor Group and Pan Jamaican that traded at a new high on Wednesday. But NCB continued to scale new highs on each day for the week. NCB has little supply coming onto the market as demand continues to climb.
All the above stocks are now the watch list, but investors must keep watch on Barita Investments that has shot up to a record high of $23 with a bid at $24.01. There is some amount of public chatter about the performance of the company that has encouraged more interest in the stock. The company will benefit from several developments in the financial market, including the impact of the change in
accounting policy that will result in gains or losses in investments whether realized or not going straight to the profit and loss account. With growth in the stock market Barita should benefit in two ways, increased value of the portfolio, for example, 48 million JSE shares owned increasing around $100 million in the December quarter so far but Barita is said to also own shares in NCB that has risen sharply in price for the quarter. The equity linked unit trust will garner more fee income based purely on the fact that the portfolio would have grown based on gains in stock price. The other financial stock to be watched is Key Insurance that has traded over 21 million shares so far with the stock having a bid of $4 to buy over 911,000 shares. The movement in the Key shares seems like the start of an aggressive stance an investor, watch developments in this one keenly. Seprod also seems poised to rise with early selling from the public offer now appearing to be abating.Mayberry Jamaican Equities is yet another to watch as the local stock market moves higher over the next several weeks and it could drag it mother company Mayberry Investments with it.
All Jamaica at record 418,488 points
The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, gained the most, in its history, on Wednesday with a rise of 11,005.53, bettering the previous high of 10,534.24 points on the All Jamaica Index, to close at at a record high of 418,487.99 on Wednesday.
Prior to Tuesday the previous best gain in a day was 9,823.00 points on October 1, 2018, when the index closed at 403,100.29 on October 5 and bettered the next highest one day index gain with a rise of 9,736.35 points, to end at 416,956.11 on January 27, 2017.
Wednesday’s all-time record high beat out the previous high on the All Jamaica Composite Index of 418,450.70 on October 12, this year. The Jamaica Stock Exchange Index rose 10,027.28 points to close at a record high 381,289.90, having risen above the previous record high of 381,255.95 reached on October 12, this year.
The main market was primarily driven by gains in NCB Financial that closed at $149.99, after trading at a record high of $152, Kingston Wharves trading at $78, PanJam Investment trading at $70 and Sagicor Group ending at $45.01,
The junior market continues under some selling pressure is not sharing in the strong gains of the more matured companies and declined by just 8.73 points to close at 3,178.44.
Record gains for JSE
The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, gained the most, in its history, with a rise of 10,574.31 points on the All Jamaica Index, to close at 407,482.62 on Tuesday.
The day’s move bettered the previous best gain in a day of 9,823.00 points on October 1, 2018, when the index closed at 403,100.29 on October 5 and bettered the next highest one day index gain with a rise of 9,736.35 points, to end at 416,956.11 on January 27, 2017.
The main market was being driven by gains in NCB Financial, Scotia Group and Sagicor Group, with the latter two responding to news out of Scotia in Canada of sale of the life insurance arm to Sagicor Financial.
During today’s trading, the market clocked more than 12,000 points at one stage. The junior market did not enjoy the gains of the main market and dropped 82.66 points to close at 3,187.17.
BNS huge Carib financial market shake up
scotia/BNS
Scotiabank Canada today announced agreements with respect to certain of its Caribbean operations, as part of its strategy to focus the Bank’s efforts on its core markets with significant scale.
As part of this strategy, Scotiabank’s subsidiaries in Jamaica (Scotia Group Jamaica Limited, “Scotiabank Jamaica”) and Trinidad & Tobago (Scotiabank Trinidad & Tobago Limited, “Scotiabank Trinidad & Tobago”) announced that they will enter into a 20-year distribution agreement with Sagicor Financial Corporation (“Sagicor”) through which an enhanced suite of market-leading insurance products and solutions, underwritten by Sagicor, will be offered to Scotiabank customers in Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago. As part of this partnership, Scotiabank Jamaica and Scotiabank Trinidad & Tobago have entered into agreements to sell their respective insurance subsidiaries: Scotia Jamaica Life Insurance Company and ScotiaLife Trinidad and Tobago Limited to Sagicor.
These agreements are subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. The transaction is also subject to the closing of the announced transaction whereby Sagicor will be acquired by Alignvest Acquisition II Corporation subject to conditions in and pursuant to a plan of arrangement and the
Republic Bank
surviving entity will continue the Sagicor brand and be publicly-listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Scotiabank has also entered into an agreement to sell its banking operations in 9 non-core markets in the Caribbean (Anguilla, Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Vincent & the Grenadines) to Republic Financial Holdings (“RFHL”). The agreement is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
These transactions are not financially material to Scotiabank the release from the group stated. Until such approvals are obtained and conditions are met, and the transactions close, all Scotiabank operations in these countries will continue as usual.
“Scotiabank is proud to work with the Republic Group and Sagicor – both leaders in financial services in the Caribbean who are well positioned to invest and grow these businesses,” said Ignacio (Nacho) Deschamps, Group Head, International Banking at Scotiabank. “We are pleased to partner with Sagicor
Sagicor
to deliver an enhanced suite of insurance products and services, underwritten by Sagicor, to our customers and to work with Republic Group, who is committed to delivering enhanced financial products and services that best serve customers’ needs.”
“Due to increasing regulatory complexity and the need for continued investment in technology to support our regulatory requirements, we made the decision to focus the Bank’s efforts on those markets with significant scale in which we can make the greatest difference for our customers,” continued Mr. Deschamps. “Scotiabank is committed to the Caribbean as demonstrated by the Bank’s ongoing investment in products, services and processes to provide an enhanced banking experience to customers across the region.”