Lasco Distributors dominated trading in the morning session on the Jamaica Stock Exchange with 16,391,584 shares valued at $124,452,572, the stock traded down to $7.25 from $7.60 at the close on Tuesday. 
The only other trade in with six digits is Mayberry Investments with 131,434 units at $4.2o down from $4.50 it traded ta earlier in the morning.
After 75 minutes of trading, on Wednesday, all main indices rose. The average volume traded amounts to 697,832 units per active stock, compared to an average of 25,536 units in the mid-morning session on Tuesday. The big Lasco Distributors trade, pushed up the average today.
Trading resulted in activity in 24 securities, accounting for 16,747,973 shares changing hands as 8 stocks gained and 6 declined.
The market saw the all Jamaica Composite Index gained 873.76 points to 171,238.08, the JSE Market Index rose 781.28 points to 154,159.22, the JSE combined index ended with a rise of 926.69 points to 165,340.89 and the junior market index gained 19.50 points to 2,178.06.
LasD big early trade – Wednesday
Rising stocks dominate on JSE – Tuesday
Scotia Group jumped by $2.70 on Tuesday
At the close of trading there were 2 new 52 weeks’ closing highs in the junior market.
The JSE Market Index fell 122.57 points to end at 153,377.94. The all Jamaica Composite Index declined by 137.09 points to close at 170,364.32 and the JSE combined index eased 121.52 points, to close at 164,416.20.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 14 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.At the end of market activities, Berger Paints traded 218,684 shares to close at $4, Cable & Wireless gained 4 cents and closed at $1.39 in trading 505,450 units, Caribbean Cement traded 14,180 shares but the price fell by 1 cent to close at $26.49, Carreras recovered 50 cents while trading 12,521 shares, to close at $63. Ciboney traded 615,712 and gained 2 cents to 15 cents, Rebranded Gleaner Company, 1834 Investments, fell 13 cent to close at $1.02 in trading only 8,500 shares, Jamaica Broilers gained 35 cents with 19,395 units changing hands, to close at $14.50. Jamaica Stock Exchange traded 20,000 shares but lost 45 cents to end at $20.55, JMMB Group rose 70 cents in trading 4,116 shares to close at $10.20, Kingston Properties traded 12,084 shares to close at $6.50, Mayberry Investments jumped 85 cents as it traded 73,642 shares to close at $4.25.
National Commercial Bank gained 50 cents while 20,091 shares traded, to close at $41, Pan Jamaican closed with a gain of 50 cents at $88.50 with 2,000 shares changing hands. Pulse Investments rose 51 cents to close at $3.01 as 3,987 units changed hands, Radio Jamaica traded 25,100 shares and lost 1 cent to close at $1.19, Sagicor Group fell 40 cents to end with 100,330 shares changing hands at $22, Scotia Group jumped $2.70 to close at $33.20 while only 1,035 units changed hands. Scotia Investments closed with 8,374 shares trading with a gain of 50 cents to $26, Seprod ended with 19,777 units trading with a loss of $1.30 at $15.60, Supreme Ventures climbed 50 cents and closed at $5.50 with 2,086 shares changing hands and Proven Investments traded 55,988 share at 20 US cents.
Eppley adds $69 in early trading – Tuesday
Insurance premium financer, Eppley jumped again in the early morning session on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, to add $69.24 to the $75.76 gained on Monday as 160,000 units of the stock traded at $650 to record a gain of almost 29 percent in two days. The trade took place as the company announced that up to 487,703 new ordinary shares priced at $650 each will be made available to ordinary stockholders on the record date for the issue, on Friday 6 May 2016.
Eppley has 796,249 ordinary shares issued currently. The amount traded represents 20 percent of the issued shares. NCB Capital; Markets bought 41,716 units with the rest being crossed by Mayberry for clients.
Berger Paints traded 132,384 shares to gain 10 cents to $4.10 and was the only one other security trading over 100,000 shares. Honey Bun trading just 2,000 shares hit a new high of $18.
After 77 minutes of trading, on Tuesday, the average volume traded amounts to 25,536 units per active stock, compared to an average of 19,944 units in the mid-morning session on Monday. Notwithstanding the low volume, the main market indices record gains but the junior index declined.
Trading resulted in activity in 20 securities, accounting for 638,410 shares changing hands as 13 stocks gained and 6 declined.
The market saw the all Jamaica Composite Index gained 387.32 points to 170,888.73, the JSE Market Index rose 346.33 points to 153,846.84, the JSE combined index ended with a rise of 230.74 points to 164,768.46 and the junior market index eased 8.83 points to 2,150.50.
JSE sharp jump to start May – Monday
Trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Monday ended with sharply reduced volumes compared the levels traded on Friday and in recent weeks and months, with 37 securities changed hands, accounting for only 1,377,118 units valued at a mere $23,284,334, in all market segments. The junior market accounted for 534,047 shares valued at $3,394,975 as 15 stocks in the overall market gained, 12 declined including 8 of the stocks rising and 3 declining, from the junior market.
At the close of trading there were 2 new 52 weeks’ closing highs in the junior market.
The JSE Market Index rose sharply by 3,461.33 points to end at 153,500.51. The all Jamaica Composite Index surged 3,871.05 points to 
close at 170,501.41 and the JSE combined index jumped 4,179.76 points, to close at 164,537.72.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 14 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
At the end of market activities, Berger Paints traded 3,200 shares at $4, Cable & Wireless lost 2 cents and closed at $1.35 in trading 160,020 units, Caribbean Cement traded 7,498 shares but the price fell by 6 cents to close at $26.50, Carreras fell 50 cents while trading 6,000 shares, to close at $62.50. Rebranded Gleaner Company, 1834 Investments, gained 16 cent to close at $1.15 in trading only 833 shares, Jamaica Broilers had 14,350 units changing hands, to close at $14.15. JMMB Group fell by 50 cents in trading 6,250 shares to close at $9.50, Kingston Wharves traded just 1,000 shares to close with a gain of 85 cents at $11.15,
Mayberry Investments traded 32,088 shares but gained 10 cents to close at $3.40. National Commercial Bank declined by 50 cents while 20,586 shares traded, to close at $40.50, Pan Jamaican closed at $88 with 2,616 shares changing hands. Radio Jamaica traded 34,500 shares and climbed 5 cents to close at $1.20, Sagicor Group fell 10 cents to end with 5,705 shares changing hands at $22.40, Scotia Group closed with a rise of 50 cents, to end at $30.50 while 491,344 units changed hands. Scotia Investments closed with 8,374 shares trading with a gain of 50 cents to $26, Seprod ended with 19,777 units trading with a loss of $1.30 at $15.60 and Supreme Ventures fell 6 cents and closed at $5 with 9,000 shares changing hands.
Slow trading in morning session – Monday
Trading in the early morning session on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, after 85 minutes of trading, 
on Monday, the average volume traded amounts to 19,944 units per active stock, compared to an average of 657,664 units traded in the mid-morning session on Friday. Notwithstanding the low volume the market indices record strong gains.
By just under one and a half hour of trading a total of 28 securities accounting for 558,419 shares changed hands as 10 stocks gained and 7 declined.
The market saw the all Jamaica Composite Index gained 1,413.41 points to 168,043.77, the JSE Market Index rose 1,263.82 points to 151,303.00, the JSE combined index ended with a rise of 1,612.99 points to 161,970.95 and the junior market index gained 42.97 points to 2,107.82.
Post budget stock growth seen
Gary Peart, Chief Executive of Mayberry Investments.
Jamaican stocks declined since reaching record levels between January and early February, ahead of the general elections held in late February, but Gary Peart, Chief Executive officer of Mayberry Investments expects the price of Jamaican stocks to continue to grow in 2016 after the completion of the 2016/7 budget debate.
The local stock market doubled in 2015 and reached a peak earlier in 2016, declined in the run up to and after the general election. The All Jamaica Index closed on a high of February 4, at 183,366.39 points, gaining 9.6 percent for the year but declined to 170,638.70 on the day of election, on February 25, since then it has fallen further as low as 164,504.76 on April 21 and now sits at 166,630.36 just below the 2015 close of 167,363.25.
The junior market that peaked at 2,357.20 points on January 12 for an increase of 31 percent since December, declined as low as 1,762.87 on April 7, 
with some recovery since, to close at 2,064.85 on the last trading day of April and is up compared to the 1,791.05 points the market closed out 2015 at.
According to Peart, in an executive commentary on Mayberry’s March 2016 quarterly report, things should change after the current budget presentation.
According to Peart, “Despite the reduced enthusiasm from investors as the market awaits the outcome of the 2016/2017 budget, we believe that the confidence in the market will continue and the volumes and transaction levels in the equities market will grow as the equity market continues to outperform fixed income securities investments. The Government has committed to keeping the incentives for the Junior Stock Exchange in place and we consider this a positive move for achieving growth in the economy whilst increasing investors’ returns.”
Watch their money not their words
Natalia Gobin-Gunter Chairman and Deputy Managing director inserting name strip to indicate listing of Key Insurance on the junior market.
The survey findings of carried out amongst Jamaica’s business executives, show wild swings in their views on current conditions since the start of the data in 2005, while the index of future business conditions was far more predictive of actual business developments. The attached chart shows this up quite clearly. Other findings of the survey also points out that the top management of the various companies were was off the mark when it came to inflation, interest rates and the rate of exchange of the local dollar. One of the clearest measures to test what the executives say and do, is a comparison of the sentiments on business conditions and the performance of the stock market.
When it came time for the business community to put their money where their mouth is, it turned out to be vastly different from what they were saying in the Business Condition Survey. One measure of the business community’s bet on the future, is shown in the attached graph. The graph shows future expectations are is much more aligned with future business conditions than with current ones.
What the business sector did, reflected itself in a much smoother monthly movement than what they said about the future. When it comes to money, the stock market reflects what people are doing with their money as opposed to what they say. The chart shows the movement in the all Jamaica Composite Index, plotted against the two business surveys published by the country’s central bank.The movement of the stock market seems a better predictor of future expectations, than the surveys, as shown by the smoother movement of the stock market compared with the sentiments data. What is also true, is that the future expectations and the stock market movements are fairly closely aligned with each other.
JSE ends April positively – Friday
Mayberry Investments traded 17.65m shares on the JSE on Friday.
The JSE Market Index that plummeted sharply by 2,934.82 points on Thursday, recovered just 527.92 points on Friday to end at 150,039.18. The all Jamaica Composite Index gained 590.41 points on Friday but in contrast to the drop of 3,282.21 points on Thursday as it closed at 166,630.36 and the JSE combined index that dived 2,789.11 points on Thursday enjoyed a slight increase by 94.38 points, to close at 160,357.96. The decline in the movement in the main market on Friday, breaks the four consecutive trading days that the indices gained prior to today out turn.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 21 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
At the end of market activities, Berger Paints gained 10 in trading 2,472 shares at $4, Cable & Wireless lost 2 cents and closed at $1.37 in trading 349,000 units, Caribbean Cement traded 83,248 shares but the price fell $1.44 to close at $26.56, Carreras rose 50 cents while trading 16,265 shares, to close at $63. Rebranded Gleaner Company, 1834 Investments, gained 1 cent to close at 99 cents in trading 101,900 shares, Jamaica Broilers had 25,000 units changing hands, to close with a loss of 35 cents at $14.15. Jamaica Stock Exchange traded 5,000 units and declined by $1, to close at $21, Kingston Wharves traded 21,644 shares to close at $11.15, with a loss of 5 cents, Mayberry Investments traded 17,650,039 shares but fell 2 cents to close at $3.30.
National Commercial Bank gained $1.20 while 180,965 shares traded, to close at $41, after the company released improved results for the March quarter, Pan Jamaican lost $1 to close at $88 with 4,860 shares changing hands. Radio Jamaica traded 94,200 shares and climbed 7 cents to close at $1.15. Sagicor Group gained 45 cents to end with 12,844 shares changing hands at $22.50, Scotia Group closed with a loss of $1, to end at $30 while 10,421 units changed hands, Supreme Ventures gained 1 cent and closed at $5.06 with 160,489 shares changing hands. Proven Investments closed with 8,677 ordinary shares trading at 20 US cents and JMMB Group 6% preference share ended with 62,630 units trading with a loss of 5 cents at $1.10.
Mayberry 17m trade – Friday
Mayberry Investments dominated trading with 17,605,039 shares but the price declined to $3 in 
the mid-morning session on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. Other trades of import are Lasco Distributors with 684,917 units at $7.20 and Lasco Financial Services 422,346 units at $3.
After 90 minutes of trading, on Friday, the average volume traded amounts to 657,664 units per active stock, compared to an average of 149,862 units traded in the mid-morning session on Thursday. A total of 30 securities accounting for 19,729,923 shares changed hands as 7 stocks gained and 11 declined.
The market saw the all Jamaica Composite Index gained 623.18 points to 166,663.13, the JSE Market Index rose 557.22 points to 150,068.48, the JSE combined index ended with a rise of 116.53 points to 160,380.11 and the junior market index declined 39.14 points to 2,064.26.
Where are Gleaner’s Q4 results?
I get the impression that the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) no longer balances shareholder interests with listed companies’ interests. Here’s what I mean.
1. Duke Corporation (PriceWaterHouse) failed to pay the Scotia Group’s dividend on April 15th, and claimed that they notified the public via print and electronic media on April 14th. They further claim that they notified the JSE at the same time. Up to today, no such notice has appeared on the JSE website.
2. Supreme Ventures announced a directors’ meeting for April 28th to consider a dividend payment. Despite the JSE rules requiring companies to inform the public of the result of such meetings, with 48 hours, so far, nothing has appeared on the JSE website about it.
3. Gleaner should have published 2015 results up to December, but chose to change their financial to March 31st (i.e. 5 quarters for 2015). No problem, but does that change eliminates their responsibility to publish information for the quarter ending December 2015? What could possibly justify shareholders being kept in the dark about the company’s financial information from October 2015 to March, 2016 – which will not be seen until the end of May, 2016?
A concerned investor.
IC Insider’s Comments
Your views are well founded. For example the issue of the non-reporting of Gleaners December quarterly result was discussed with the stock exchange. The RMOD department gave some flimsy excuse for not requiring it. The JSE rules require either audited accounts within 60 days of the year-end or quarterly report within 45 days of each quarter. Since Gleaner had shifted the year-end then the rules require that they must submit the quarterly to December within 45 days. Discussions were also held with the General Manager of the exchange who agreed that the quarterly is required. To date shareholders are still in the dark on the financial data. Why the Gleaner never saw it wise to keep their shareholders informed by releasing the data, is a big puzzle. After all, other companies in the past that changed year-ends have release the 4th quarter results. As recently as December, last year Access released theirs having changed their year-end to March.
There seems to be a failure in the system to appreciate that the maintenance of the integrity of the system is paramount to protecting investors while at the same time sending a clear message that the system works and can be relied on. Quite a bit of what is allowed to take place is inimical to the growth and development of the capital market.