Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed with 19 securities changing hands, the same as on Friday, resulting in an exchange of only 394,030 units valued at $1,640,793 compared to 2,279,940 units valued at $14,635,254 on Friday.
The market Index declined by 12.08 points to close at 2,991.60, with prices of the last trades resulting in 4 advancing, 6 falling and 9 remaining unchanged.
Trading ended with an average of 20,738 units for an average of $86,358 in contrast to 119,997 units for an average of $770,277 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to units 129,302 valued at $593,087, 
compared to 136,087 units at an average of $624,758 previously. In contrast, August closed with average of 234,437 units valued at $1,295,260 for each security traded. Trading ended with the market sentiments looking mixed and having implications for Tuesday’s trading activity as 2 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 with a lower offer.
At the close of the market the volume of stocks changing hands and their last traded price are: Cargo Handlers traded 9 cents higher at $11.09, with 500 units, Caribbean Cream finished with a loss of 40 cents at $6.10, with 1,000 stock units, Caribbean Producers concluded trading with a loss of 20 cents at $3.60, with 93,333 shares, Derrimon Trading ended at $8, with a mere 903 units, Express Catering concluded trading at $4.40, with 20,314 stocks changing hands, General Accident closed with a loss of 10 cents at $2.60, with 29,426 shares, 
Honey Bun concluded trading 5 cents higher at $4.05, with 1,160 units, Iron Rock settled at $2.80, with 13,303 shares, Jamaican Teas closed at $4.05, with just 1,751 stock units, Jetcon Corporation traded 10 cents higher at $4.50, with 25,797 shares, Key Insurance traded at $4, with 10,415 units, KLE Group traded at $2.86, with 4,400 shares changing hands, Lasco Distributors settled with a loss of 5 cents at $6.75, with 10,551 stock units, Lasco Financial closed 10 cents higher at $4.10, with 9,851 units, Lasco Manufacturing ended at $4, with 103,799 shares, Main Event ended with a loss of 83 cents at $4.45, with 19,939 units, Medical Disposables concluded trading at $5, with 1,400 stocks trading, Stationery and Office finished with a loss of 9 cents at $4.75, with 26,188 stock units and tTech traded 20,000 shares at $7.55.
570,000 Berger shares snapped up
Berger Paints traded 570,000 shares on Friday and closed at $12.
The JSE market indices rose on Friday as Scotia Group recovered some ground with 9 other stocks posting gains even as 11 fell in value.
At the close of market activity, Barita Investments closed with a loss of 15 cents at $8 with 323 units trading, Berger Paints added 75 cents to close at $12 with 572,833 shares changing hands, Cable and Wireless closed at $1.04, gaining 3 cents with 13,270 units, Caribbean Cement closed with a loss of 30 cents at $25.50 with 67,941 shares, Carreras gained 20 cents, and closed at $11 with 417,758 units, Grace Kennedy traded $1.45 lower, to $42.05 with 35,700 units. Jamaica Broilers advanced $1.25 to $17 exchanging 28,943 shares, Jamaica Producers declined by $1, closing at $15 with 6,650 units,
Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at $6.50 with 4,960 stock units, JMMB Group closed at $22, after falling $1 in trading 148,514 shares. Kingston Wharves with 100 units traded rose $1.23 to $30.73, Mayberry Investments lost 9 cents, closing at $4.60 with 31,800 shares, NCB Financial Group traded 70 cents lower to $87.80 with 90,395 shares, 1834 Investments lost 4 cents to close at $1.40 with 30,000 shares. PanJam Investment dropped $3.50 to $35.50 with 22,813 stock units, Pulse Investments closed at $1.71, gaining 6 cents with 126,500 shares, Radio Jamaica closed at $1.12 trading 72,310 shares, Sagicor Group gained 40 cents, and ended at $34.40 with 15,770 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund gained 39 cents, closing at $11 with 1,850 units, Scotia Group closed $2.90 higher at $49 while exchanging 58,409 shares, Scotia Investments fell $1.50, closing at $35.50 with 1,412 units, Seprod with gains of $1, ended at $34 with 1,000 units, Supreme Ventures closed at $11, having gained 15 cents with 50,150 shares changing hands. Productive Business Solution US ordinary shares closed at 65 US cents trading 1,920 units, Proven Investments US ordinary shares closed at 22 US cents, after losing 1.99 US cents in exchanging 241,067 units and JMMB Group 7.5% preference share closed traded at $1.19 with 171,913 units.
Berger pushed to $12 at close – Friday
Investors pushed the price of Berger Paints higher during trading, buying more than half a million units while Scotia Group shares were pushed back over $50, but closed below with a tidy gain at the end.
At the end of market activity on Friday,Jamaica Stock Exchange main market stocks eked out small gains in the market indices to close out a week that was recovering from the battering it got a week ago. At the close the All Jamaica Composite Index advanced 572.04 points to close at 286,231.36, the JSE Market Index gained 521.69 points to 260,789.14 and the JSE US dollar market index declined by 4.25 points to 187.05.
Trading levels remained low with just over $30 million being turned over, with 24 securities changing hands in the main market, with 3 trading in the US dollar market, leading to 9 stocks advancing and 10 declining. The main market ended with 1,971,314 units valued at $32,172,854 changing hands compared to 3,004,551 units valued at $33,829,615 at the close on Thursday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 242,987 units valued at US$56,879 bringing the total of all trades to J$39,567,173.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and US dollar markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 with a lower offer.
The main market ended trading with an average of 82,138 units for an average of $1,340,536 for each security traded compared to an average of 120,182 units valued at $1,353,185. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at $296,879 units with an average value of $2,933,171 compared with an average of 311,195 units with an average value of $3,032,711 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for August ended at 184,094 units with an average value of $4,336,090.
Junior Market hangs on to 3,000 points
Caribbean Cream gained 6o cents to close at $6.50.
Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed on Friday with 19 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 2,279,940 units valued at $14,635,254 compared to 468,877 units valued at $2,858,513 on Thursday.
The climb in the volume and value traded is due to trading in nearly 17 million units of Eppley preference shares.
At the close of market activities, the prices of 6 advanced, 8 declined and 4 remained with the prices unchanged, based on the last price each traded at. The Junior Market Index declined by just 0.37 points to close week at 3,003.68.
Trading ended with an average of 119,997 units for an average of $770,277 in contrast to 29,305 units for an average of $178,657 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 136,087 units valued at $624,758 and 137,160 units valued at $615,057, previously. 
In contrast, August closed with average of 234,437 units valued at $1,295,260 for each security traded.
Trading ended with the market sentiments looking mixed but with an improvement over the signals at the close on Thursday suggesting that market activity could be a bit better than for Friday. Friday’s trading activity, ended with 6 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
The volume of stocks changing hands and the last price traded for the day are as follows: AMG Packaging concluded trading 10 cents higher at $3.25, with 39,184 shares, Blue Power traded at $45, with only 100 units changing hands, CAC 2000 concluded trading with a loss of 35 cents at $7, with 11,300 shares changing hands, Caribbean Cream added 60 cents to close at $6.50, with 100,000 units trading, Caribbean Producers ended trading at $3.80, with 49,165 stock units switching owners. 
Consolidated Bakeries settled with a loss of 10 cents at $2.30, with 9,897 shares, Derrimon Trading closed with a loss of 90 cents at $8, with just 1,597 units, Express Catering settled with a loss of 7 cents at $4.40, with 2,329 shares trading. Honey Bun traded 20 cents higher at $4, with 400 shares, Jamaican Teas finished 25 cents higher at $4.05, with a mere 300 stock units switching owners, Jetcon Corporation closed with a loss of 10 cents at $4.40, with 247,000 units, KLE Group lost 10 cents trading at $2.86, with 5,500 stocks trading. Knutsford Express settled at $14.50, with 2,900 shares changing hands, Lasco Distributors traded at $6.80, with 6,469 units, Lasco Financial concluded trading 7 cents higher at $4, with 11,014 stock units. Medical Disposables finished 50 cents higher at $5, with 1,100 shares. Main Event traded with a loss of 32 cents at $5.28, trading 87,488 shares, Stationery and Office closed with a loss of 1 cent at $4.84, with 37,210 stocks changing hands and Eppley 9.5% preference share, finished with a loss of 25 cents at $7 as 1,666,987 shares changed hands.
JSE suffers set back in forward move
JMMB Group inching higher on limited supply of stocks.
Large fall in the prices of are Caribbean Cement, Carreras and Scotia Group push the market down appreciably on Thursday and strong gains in PanJam Investment and JMMB Group could only dent the fall.
At the close of market activity, Berger Paints gained of 25 cents and closed at $11.25 with 148,982 shares, Cable and Wireless closed at $1.01, having lost 9 cents with 117,235 shares changing hands, Caribbean Cement with a loss of $2.20 at $25.80 with 30,123 shares, Carreras traded $1.20 lower to $10.80 with 1,217,220 shares, Ciboney Group exchanged 367,400 shares at 16 cents, Grace Kennedy gained 49 cents to settle at $43.50 with 11,300 units. Jamaica Producers advanced $1, to $16 in exchanging 34,495 shares, Jamaica Stock Exchange closed with gains of 5 cents, at $6.50 with 1,379 units, JMMB Group ended at a 52 weeks’ closing high of $23, after adding $1, trading 16,843 shares. Kingston Wharves traded at $29.50 with the exchange of 1,740 units, Mayberry Investments lost 1 cent, closing at $4.69 with 298,018 shares, NCB Financial traded 49 cents lower to $88.50 with 35,806 shares, 138 Student Living exchanged 20,000 shares at $4.75, 
while 1834 Investments gained 4 cents to close at $1.44 with trades of 6,520 units. PanJam Investment jumped $3.50 to $39 with 61,275 shares, Pulse Investments gained 23 cents to close at $1.65, with 12,581 shares, Radio Jamaica added 1 cent, in closing at $1.12 trading 305,416 shares, Sagicor Group closed with a loss of 52 cents at $34 with 4,550 units, Sagicor Real Estate Fund declined 39 cents in closing at $10.61 with 10,000 shares, Salada Foods traded 3,316 units at $8, Scotia Group plunged $4.90 to $46.10, in exchanging 117,999 shares, Scotia Investments closed at $37 with 30,453 shares, Seprod ended with a loss of $1 at $33 with 500 units, Supreme Ventures exchanged 131,400 shares at $10.85. Margaritaville Turks US ordinary shares closed at 30 US cents trading 5,500 units, Proven Investments US ordinary shares traded 13,000 units at 24 US cents, JMMB Group US 6% preference share closed at US$1.12 with 7,280 units and Proven 8.25% cumulative redeemable preference share lost 5 cents to close at $5.25 with 20,000 units.
Junior Market sentiments weakened
Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange finished on Thursday with 16 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of only 468,877 units valued at $2,858,513 compared to 852,002 units valued at $3,622,384 on Wednesday.
At the close of market activities, the prices of 5 advanced, 5 declined and 6 remained with the prices unchanged leading to a rise of 3.28 points to 3,004.05 for the Junior Market Index.
Trading ended with an average of 29,305 units for an average of $178,657 in contrast to 44,842 units for an average of $190,652 on Wednesday.
The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 137,160 units valued at $615,057 compared to 144,864 shares with an average of $646,228, previously. In contrast, August closed with average of 234,437 units valued at $1,295,260 for each security traded.
Trading ended with the market sentiments looking very weak and having negative implications for the Friday’s trading activity. Just 1 stock ended with the bid higher than their last selling price and 8 with lower offers.
At the close of the market the volume of stocks changing hands and their last traded price are: Access Financial concluding trading $2 higher to $42, with 500 stock units, Cargo Handlers concluded trading with a loss of 10 cents at $11, with 125,525 units, 
Caribbean Cream finished at $5.90, with 3,100 stocks trading, Caribbean Producers settled at $3.80, with 122,411 stocks units, Express Catering rose 27 cents to $4.47, with 1,271 shares,Honey Bun settled with a loss of 25 cents at $3.80, with 8,606 stocks changing hands. Jamaican Teas ended at $3.80, with 62,997 units, Jetcon Corporation settled at $4.50, with 58,092 stocks changing hands, Knutsford Express finished at $14.50, with 1,212 shares, Lasco Distributors closed 1 cents higher at $6.80, with 281 stock units, Lasco Financial closed with a loss of 2 cents at $3.93, with 21,168 units. Lasco Manufacturing ended with a loss of 5 cents at $4, with 11,454 shares, Medical Disposables ended with a loss of 30 cents at $4.50, with 2,620 stocks, Main Event gained 32 cents and ended at $5.60, with 31,572 stocks, Stationery and Office finished 10 cents higher at $4.85, with 12,968 shares and tTech settled at $7.55, with 5,100 stocks trading.
Buy Berger – Sagicor Investments
Berger Paints is worth more than $20 per share.
While the directors of Berger Paints are recommending minority shareholders accept an abysmally low $10.88 for the shares with one condition that the bidders as a result of the Offer its holding will most likely exceed 75 percent of the holdings.
No information was given as to how this was possible. Interestingly two entities that control more than 25 percent of the total shares in the company don’t appear ready to sell at least not at the low price offered.
Sagicor Investments, a subsidiary of Sagicor Group who controls more than 10 percent of Berger Paints shares have issued an analysis of the company and the fairness of the offer. They are advising investors to hold or buy more shares at the current low price. It would be an odd situation that the subsidiary of the group are recommending a buy or hold recommendation and the parent did the opposite. A fair conclusion is that they will not sell, in which case the offer fails as most investor thing it will.
Sagicor Investments concluded, “the business has made significant strides in the past three years. This has resulted in the company achieving phenomenal financial success as the company implemented its strategic goals. With a solid foundation established operational and financial performance should continue to improve over the medium term. Though the attractive dividend policy may change, the future earning potential should see the stock trading at a price to earnings ratio within the range of 10X – 12X. The stock is currently trading below this range.”
“Having considered the anticipated economic outcome along with challenges facing the company, including the strengthening purchasing power of domestic consumer, the growth trend in the construction industry and moderate growth in overseas market, the 12 month price target is within a range of J$17.05 to J$20.46.”
Carib Beer brewed in Trinidad by Ansa McAl Group
“Given the price expectation, the current offer of $10.88 is at a significant discount to the value of the company’s shares. Investors would better serve maintain the current position or take the opportunity to increase the position in the stock given the fall-off in the current market price. While there are risks, relating to changes in the management agreement and delisting, the future earning potential of the company should compensate for holding the stock.”
IC Insider.com got wind of a letter by Ideal Group of companies that commented a possible delisting Berger, “we are the largest minority shareholder in Berger Paints at 12%+ of the Company. We find the offer price of $10.88 by ANSA McAL to be woefully-inadequate and have chosen to reject the offer. In fact, given that the share price is now on or around $11 per share, we are buying Berger at this attractive price level, not selling.”
The letter goes on to say, “we are also aware that another leading minority shareholder, shares our views and has also rejected the offer. In fact, they are buying via the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE). Both parties between themselves own around 25 percent of BRG’s issued share capital.”
On investors on Monday bought 60,411 of the company’s shares, on Tuesday 153,142 units, on Wednesday 129,140 shares and on Thursday 148,982 units around or above $11 per share, a clear enough indication that the smart money is not buying into the Berger directors unfortunate recommendations.
JSE main market falls – Thursday
Scotiabank dropped $4.90 and helped put a sharp dent in the indices on Thursday.
The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange indices suffering a big fall at the close on Thursday on limited volume. The All Jamaica Composite Index declined by 3,472.85 points to close at 285,659.32, the JSE Market Index fell 3,164.16 points to 260,267.95 and the JSE US dollar market index was down 0.45 points to 191.30.
Big players in the days loss are Caribbean Cement falling $2.20, Carreras down $1.20, Scotia Group with a fall of $4.90 while a big jump of $3.50 in PanJam Investment and $1 in JMMB Group, helped to alleviate the pain.
At the close of trading, 25 securities changed hands in the main market with 3 trading in the US dollar market, leading to 9 stocks advancing and 10 declining. The main market ended with 3,004,551 units valued at $33,829,615 changing hands compared to 1,826,710 units valued at $21,069,859 at the close on Wednesday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 25,780 units valued at US$12,873 bringing the total of all trades to J$35,516,032.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and US dollar markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 with lower offers.
The main market ended trading with an average of 120,182 units for an average of $1,353,185 for each security traded compared to an average of 91,336 units valued at $1,053,493. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at $311,195 units with an average value of $3,032,711 compared with an average of 324,839 units with an average value of $3,144,679 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for August ended at 184,094 units with an average value of $4,336,090.
JSE rise on modest trading – Wednesday
Carreras jumped to a record close of $12.
In modest trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Wednesday, the prices of 10 stocks rose and 5 fell in the main and US dollar markets, leading to gains in the main market indices, the third consecutive day of increase.
Cigarette distributor, Carreras fresh from a 10 for 1 stock split, traded at a new 52 weeks’ high of $12 at the close while JMMB Group hit an intraday 52 weeks’ high of $23.70 before pulling back to $22 by the close as supply to sell is very limited and should pave the way for upward push in the price in the days or weeks ahead.
At the close of market activity, Berger Paints closed at $11, the last price the stock traded at, after hitting a high of $12.20 and ending with 129,140 shares changing hands. Cable and Wireless gained 5 cents to close at $1.10 with 111,500 units, Carreras closed at a record $12, after gaining 50 cents with 1,134,465 shares, Grace Kennedy advanced $1, settling at $43.01 with 4,332 units. Jamaica Broilers lost 29 cents and closed at $15.75, with 12,130 shares, Jamaica Producers lost 1 cent, closing at $15 in exchanging 18,700 stock units, Jamaica Stock Exchange rose 10 cents to $6.45 with 1,000 units, JMMB Group closed at $22, after gaining $1 and trading 20,959 shares. 
Kingston Wharves dropped $2.50 to close at $29.50 with 1,000 units having been exchanged, NCB Financial Group traded 99 cents lower to $88.99 with 34,831 shares. PanJam Investment remained at $35.50 with trades of 2,100 units, Pulse Investments closed at $1.42, gaining 2 cents with 183,000 shares, Radio Jamaica with gains of 6 cents, closed at $1.11, in trading 11,000 stock units, Sagicor Group added 2 cents, ending at $34.52 with 8,333 units changing hands, Salada Foods traded 88,783 shares at $8, Scotia Group closed at $51, exchanging 16,194 units, Seprod added $1 to close at $34 with 1,500 shares, Supreme Ventures closed 15 cents lower to $10.85 in exchanging 3,703 units. Productive Business Solution US ordinary shares closed at 65 US cents, trading 540 units, Proven Investments US ordinary shares traded 397 units at 23.99 US cents, JMMB Group 7.5% preference share closed at $1.19, gaining 4 cents with 26,540 stock units and Proven 8.25% cumulative preference share closed at $5.50 with 17,500 units.
Recovery continues on JSE – Wednesday
JMMB Group traded at an intraday 52 weeks’ high of $23.70.
Activity on the Jamaica Stock Exchange was tepid on Wednesday, with only $21 million of trade taking place. At the close of trading, 20 securities changed hands in the main market with 2 trading in the US dollar market.
Trading closed with the prices of 10 stocks advancing and 5 declining in the main and US dollar markets leading to the third consecutive days of increase after the main market plunged sharply on Friday. Carreras fresh from a 10 for 1 stock split, traded at a new 52 weeks’ high of $12 at the close, while JMMB Group hit an intraday 52 weeks’ high of $23.70, before pulling back to $22 by the close, as supply to sell is very limited and should pave the way for an upward push in the price, in the days or weeks ahead.
The All Jamaica Composite Index advanced 510.79 points to close at 289,132.17, to sit just below resistance at 290,000 points. The JSE Market Index gained 465.38 points to 263,432.11 and the JSE US dollar market index closed unchanged at 191.75.
The main market ended with 1,826,710 units valued at $21,069,859 changing hands compared to 5,755,768 units valued at $88,334,159 at the close on Tuesday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 937 units valued at US$446 bringing the total of all trades to only J$21,128,316.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and US dollar markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading is slightly biased to the upside, suggesting that rising prices should have the upper hand over declining ones on Thursday, with 9 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 with a lower offer.
The main market ended trading with an average of 91,336 units for an average of $1,053,493 in contrast to 230,231 units for an average of $3,533,366. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at $324,839 units with an average value of $3,144,679 compared with an average of 342,801 units with an average value of $3,294,050 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for August ended at 184,094 units with an average value of $4,336,090.