Wednesday, 17th July 2013 | In Wednesday’s trading on the Jamaican Stock Exchange, the advance decline ratio remained even as 8 stocks advanced and 8 declined as trading took place in the stocks of only 20 companies. The trading resulted in 9.129 million units valued at $21.2 million changing hands as 2 stocks reached an all-time high, one closed at a 52 weeks low and only one closed at an all-time high at the end of trading.

Main Market | The all Jamaica Index gained 212.18 points to close at 87.749.76. The JSE market index was up by 120.52 to close at 86,702.61.

Carreras’ stock declined to $53.75 off 75 cents as it traded 54,578 units. Grace Kennedy gained 79 cents to close at $58 in trading 23,118 shares. Sagicor Life traded 260,00 shares as high as $9, the stock closed at $8.55 up by 5 cents, National Commercial Bank (NCB) closed down 40 cents to $19.10 while trading just 49,500 shares. Jamaica Money Market put on 40 cents to close at $8.50 with only 200 units trading. Scotia Investments dropped 50 cents on 1,500 units and closed at $26.01.

Junior market | The junior market index fell by 11.07 points to 803.39. Caribbean Cream traded 434,800 shares and closed down firm at $1.06. Lasco Distributors traded 6.34 million shares and closed down 6 cents to $1.45. Lasco Financial closed at $1.39 while trading 324,288 units. Lasco Manufacturing traded 1.07 million shares to close up at $1.70. Blue Power traded 7,500 shares and gained 30 cents to close at $10.30.

IC bid-offer Indicator | The Investor’s Choice bid-offer market indicator, shows that bids for 5 stocks were higher with 2 stocks having an offer lower than their last selling price.

Tuesday, 16th July 2013 | Caribbean Cream was the dominant trade today as 121.14 million units were crossed by Stock & Securities for a client in two blocks of 60.5 m units each. All traded at $1.10 for a total consideration of $133.26 million. At the time of the prospectus, Scoops Unlimited was shown as owning 121,141,801 units and this would have been the block that was traded and put into two new hands. The other dominant trade was National Commercial Bank which traded 1 million units at a value of $20.15 million. The stock traded up 44 cents on the day to close at $19.50.

A total of 30 companies traded 124 million stocks with a value at $172.67 million for the day. The advance decline ratio was exactly even with 7 stocks advancing and 7 declining. The indices declined sharply as Scotia Group dropped sharply on the day.

Trades of note Main Market | The all Jamaica Index gave up what was gained yesterday and more, as the index shed 2,310.88 points to close at 87,537.58 points. The JSE market index lost 1,312.62 points to close at 86,582.09 as Carreras traded 13,280 shares between $53.90 and $54.50. The stock closed off 87 cents at $54.50. Scotia Group traded 597,000 units and lost 92 cents to close at $21.08. Jamaica Producers lost 50 cents to close at $19.50 on 56,000 units, Pan Jamaican put on 39 cents to close at $51.50 while trading 5,000 shares.

Junior market | 12 stocks in the junior market traded as most of the stocks recorded moderate increases and the junior market index moved up by 7.03 points to 814.46. Caribbean Cream, fresh from its first quarterly report to the stock exchange which showed improved profit in the last quarter to May, traded 121.145 million units and closed at $1.06. AMG Packaging traded 200,000 units but remained firm at $4. 25, Blue Power traded 38,172 units to close at $10. Lasco Distributors has struggled to hold the higher prices it recently traded at and fell back to $1.50 while exchanging 155,517 shares. Lasco Financial is doing a little better having traded at a new all-time high during the day at $1.41 but closed at $1.40, the same close as Monday’s, as 227,500 units changed hands. Lasco Manufacturing traded 190,288 shares and gained a mere cent up to $1.66.

Market intelligence | The Cable & Wireless stocks on offer are now down to under 29 million shares at 15 cents. Gleaner has over 1.24 million units on the bid at $1.16 but there are 6.4 million units on offer at $1.50. RJR still has a bid for 4.9 million units that was at $1.23 and has seen the bid moved to $1.30.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows that bids for 5 stocks were higher with 2 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

Monday, 16th July 2013 |  The all Jamaica Index climbed 1,673 points to close at 89,848.46 points as Scotia Group traded as high as $23.84 — the major factor pushing the index. However, the stock closed trading at $22, the same closing price as Friday, which suggests there could be a major correction in the upward move on Tuesday.

The JSE composite index closed at 87,894.71, up 950.57. Scotia was not the only stock to affect the indices as trading was low at only 5.9 million shares valued at $22 million. Sagicor Investments put on $1 to close at $18 and only traded 1,500 units. Carib Cement put on 20 cents as 4 million shares traded at $1 each for a total sum of $4 million. Scotia Investments put on 50 cents to close at $26.51 and Seprod put on 49 cents to close at $15 both with very insignificant volumes. Scotia Group was mostly gobbled up by Scotia Investments who traded 533,000 shares for a value of $12.65 million.

The advance decline ratio was slightly in favour of advancers with 9 advancing and 8 advancing.

Junior market | Junior market activity has cooled for the time being as 7 stocks traded with moderate price moves except for a 69 cents drop in Access Financial Services as the stock closed at $8.36 with 10,000 shares trading. Lasco Financial traded and closed at an all-time high of $1.40 cents, the volume traded was 59.700 units. Lasco Manufacturing traded as high as $1.70 but could not hold as the 653,878 shares landed the last selling price at $1.65. The junior market slipped again to 807.43 down 8.61 points.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows a weakening in market momentum with bid for only 1 stock higher than the last selling price and one stock having an offer lower than the last selling price.

Friday, 12 July 2013 | In Friday’s activity, stocks of 26 companies traded 8.5 million units valued at $53.32 million, quite a bit more than Thursday’s $30 million. The advance decline ratio remained even as the prices of 9 stocks each moved up and down. All the indices that had actively traded stocks posted moderate gains by the end of trading. There were no changes in US dollar cross listed indices and no trades taking place in these stocks. Proven Investments Preference shares was the most dominant traded with 4.91 million shares worth $25 million.

Trades of note Main Market | The all Jamaica Index put on 468.82 points to close at 88,174.96 and the JSE market index moved up by 266.31 to close at 86,944.14. Sagicor Life, which accounted for1.185 million shares valued at $10.14 million, was the other dominant trader with the stock trading between $8.50 and $8.60 before closing at $8.50. The bulk of the shares were crosses executed by Pan Caribbean Financial Services. Scotia Group traded 223,000 shares valued at $4.885 million as the stock closed the day at $22, up 90 cents. Pan Jamaican Investment Trust traded 53,705 shares valued at $2.77 million between $51.11 and $52 but closed unchanged at $51.11. Grace Kennedy traded down $2.29 at $57.21 as 81,350 units traded valued at $4.79 million.

Junior market | 7 stocks in the junior market traded as 3 advanced and 3 declined. Blue Power traded 216,016 units valued a $2.18 million as the stock traded between $10.10 and $10.15 before closing at $10.10. At the close there were 100,000 Blue Power shares on offer at $10.50. Lasco Distributors traded 476,710 shares between $1.55 and $1.60 but closed at $1.55 off 5 cents. Lasco Manufacturing traded 807,469 units between $1.60 and $1.70 and closed at $1.66 and Lasco Financial traded up 5 cents to close at $1.35 with 138,800 units. Paramount closed at $3.50 up 20 cents with only 5,000 shares trading. There was no stock on offer at the close. KLE Group closed at $2.60, an all-time low, as 30,000 shares traded off by 10 cents.

Market intelligence | Lasco Distributors has 1.14 million units on offer at $1.60 with a bid for 1,740 units at $1.55. Good support is at $1.40. Lasco Manufacturing and Lasco Financial seem to have limited supply. Cable & Wireless selling continues, but the sellers seem to be holding out for prices at 14 cents or more as the amounts offered at 15 cents remain at 29 million shares. There has been very little change since last week while the quantities for the few bids that are in have not increased much. Desnoes & Geddes has 1 million shares on offer at $5.18 along with 200,000 at $5 as reasonable demand is at $4.70. RJR still has a bid at $1.23 for 4.9 million units, there has not been much change to the supply. Good support exists for Sagicor Life at $8.40, while supply is limited below $9.30. Carreras support is pretty good at $53.50 and more bids have come in for the stock near to $54 as supply of the stock declines.

Grace Kennedy’s supply of 700,000 units at $61 still remains as a barrier for upward price movement for the time being as demand has declined sharply leading to the fall in the price today. The price could fall more unless Grace’s buy-back program kicks in as there is very few serious bids in for the stock close to the recent selling price. There are good bids in the market for JMMB’s stock between $7.85 and just over $8, decent supply is listed at $10.50 and above. Scotia Group supply is surely on the decline with some supply above $22. Scotia Investments sold today in Trinidad for the equivalent of $30.19 with the price there looking as if it will move up further as investors in that market look for income generating assets. At the present price, the stock would be yielding 6 percent in a market where long term yields are under two percent.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market indicator shows that bids for 6 stocks were higher with 1 stock having an offer lower than the last selling price. This is the strongest this signal has been since the last week of June, an indication that the market could be resuming the upward momentum in the days or weeks ahead.

Insider Trades | A related party to Mayberry Investments Limited purchased a total of 995,602 of the company’s shares during the period July 4 – 9, 2013 and a person connected to a senior officer of Trinidad Cement Limited purchased 108,000 of the company’s shares on July 8, 2013. These could be two bullish indicators for the shares of these two companies.

Thursday, 11th July 2013 | Sagicor Life was the dominant stock in Thursday’s trading as 1.59 million units with a value of $13. 49 million were traded by Sagicor Investments in crosses that saw the stock dip to $8.45. Next in volume was junior market listing, Lasco Financial, with 5.46 million units trading between $1.30 and $1.31 valued at $7.1 million. Over 5.3 million units were bought by Mayberry Investments on behalf of clients.

In the day’s activity, 26 stocks accounted for 10.5 million units at a value at $30.1 million. The advance decline ratio was 5 advancing to 4 declining but all the indices moved down moderately with the exception of the US dollar index and the cross listed that had no trades.

Main Market | The all Jamaica Index lost 528.73  points to close at 87,706.14 and the JSE market index fell by 300.90 closing at 86,677.83.  Jamaica Broilers traded 72,000 units to close at $5.10 down 10 cents, NCB traded 20,000 at $19.50 and D&G traded 41,600 at $5. Jamaica Producers gained 49 cents to close at $20 with small volume traded.

Junior market | 12 stocks in the junior market traded as the index closed down 9.93 points to 814.85 traded. Access Financial traded just 1,000 shares and gained 55 cents to close at an all-time high of $9.05. Cargo Handlers traded at a 52 weeks high of $13 but with just 500 units, the stock gained $2 in the process. Blue Power traded up by 15 cents to close at $10.15, just over 23,000 shares changed hands. Lasco Distributors closed down 10 cents as 543,000 shares traded at a value of $871,000 and Lasco Manufacturing fell 5 cents to $1.65 with 1.66 million shares trading at a value of $2.75 million. AMG Packaging with came out with third quarter results today showing a reduction in the latest quarter versus that of 2012, but higher nine months results than for the similar period last year, traded 187,6000 units and closed at $4.25 with no change in price. 75,000 shares that were on offer for weeks at $4.70 were sold today at $4.25 each at 11 am which seems to have been influenced by the results.

Proven Investment Preference shares traded 507,000 units valued at $2.58 million, there was no trades in the ordinary shares. There is still no stock on offer at the close as was the case yesterday. There is a bid for more than 200,000 units at US$.115 per share.

Market intelligence | Cable & Wireless selling continues, but the sellers seem to be holding out for prices at 14 cents or more as the amounts offered at 15 cents remain in excess of 29 million shares, while the few quantities for the few bids have not increased much. RJR still has a bid at $1.23 for 4.9 million units and there has not been much change to the supply. Good support exists for Sagicor Life at $8.40, Carreras support is pretty good at $53.50 and more bids have come in for the stock close to $54. Demand seems to have pulled back for Jamaica Broilers, even as the supply does not seem overwhelming. Grace Kennedy supply of 700,000 units at $61 still remains as a barrier for upward price movement for the time being. Mayberry’s sell order of Blue Power supply has fallen to 216,000 units at $10.50 as 7,400 units were traded today at that price. There are good bids in the market for JMMB’s stock between $7.85 and just over $8, decent supply is listed at $10.50 and above.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows that bids for 5 stocks were higher with 4 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price. This fluidity here is an indication of cautiousness currently in the market.

New issue IPO | Eppley limited a subsidiary of Musson Group, is the latest company to make an appeal to the public with an initial public offering contained in a prospectus just released today. The shares are clearly not for the average investors, with a price of $277 each when it opens on Monday 22 July 2013 and only 218,999 shares will be available for subscription to raise $82.6 million.  The broker is Proven Wealth Management. IC Insider will have a full assessment of this offering as well as the results for AMG Packaging.

Wednesday 10th July 2013 | The movement in the indices of the Jamaica Stock Exchange sums up the market as in the end it was neither fish nor fowl. There were very moderate shifts with the junior market slipping back from a series of days when it kept moving up to new records highs. The volume of stocks traded was 5.08 million at a value of $19.97 million, a little more than Tuesday’s $15.1 million. The advance decline ratio remained almost evenly split, with 7 declining and 8 advancing.

Main Market | The various indices all moved by less than 100 points as only the junior market and combined indices declined. In trades of note, Carreras gained $1 closing at $55 while trading 13,600 units. Grace Kennedy slipped 50 cents to close at $59.50, as 14,500 units traded. Jamaica Producers dropped 46 cents to $19.50 with 21,840 units trading.

Junior market | 10 stocks traded in the junior market with the price of 3 moving up and 4 fell. Lasco Distributors off 10 cents closed at $1.70 while trading 703,738 units and Lasco Manufacturing, which also lost 10 cents, closed at $1.70 for 1 million shares traded. Lasco Financial Services traded over a 1.1 million shares and lost 5 cents as the price settled at $1.30 for the day. Blue Power, surprisingly, traded up to $10.75 in early trading but closed at $10.00 with more than 295,000 shares trading with the stock up 1 cent. Mayberry Investments was the main buyer for their own account. General Accident traded 100,000 shares to close at $2. The only other trade of note is Access Financial which traded at an all-time high of $8.50, with 1,500 shares trading. Supply of this stock is scarce and bodes well for further gains.

Proven Investment ordinary shares, which are quoted in US dollars, traded 136,075 units at a value of US$15,462, the stock gained .001 of a cent.  Importantly, there was no stock on offer at the close.

Market intelligence | Cable & Wireless moved up by 2 cents in today’s trading, but only 65,000 shares traded, which hardly dented the supply at 15 cents which remains at over 29 million units. The demand for the stock has not changed much since Tuesday. The position with RJR with a bid at $1.23 for 4.9 million units has not changed nor has the supply. Good support exists for Sagicor Life at $8.40, Carreras support is pretty good at $53.50 and this could be the floor for the price for a while.  Demand seems to have pulled back for Jamaica Broilers with the only serious bid at $4.80. The stock traded 289,000 units and lost 5 cents to close at $5.20. Grace Kennedy supply of 700,000 units at $61 remains as a barrier for upward price movement for the time being. Mayberry’s sell order of 305,000 Blue Power stock was partially reduced as buying lowered the amount to 223,000 units which are on offer at $10.50.  There are good bids in the market for JMMB’s stock between $7.85 and just over $8 while decent supply is listed at $10.50 and above.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows that bids for 4 stocks were higher with 3 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

Tuesday, 10th July 2013 | In today’s stock market activity, 30 companies, traded 5.5 million shares valued at $15.1 million on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. The advance decline ratio was even at 8 each. Only the junior market index recorded an increase as it made the fourth record high within a week. The other indices except the US equity index which moved up 1 point, declined marginally, the cross listed stock did not trade.

Main Market | Trades of note include: Cable & Wireless traded a million shares between 13 and 14 cents; the large offer at 15 cents is now down to 29.3 million units. Carreras gave up $1 to close at $54 with 4.950 units trading. Grace Kennedy put on 50 cents and closed at $60 on very little volume. National Commercial Bank traded 80,500 shares and lost 21 cents while closing at $19.04. Scotia Group was off 90 cents to $21.10 with 25.680 shares trading. Sagicor Life traded 201,000 units and closed at $9.

Junior market | 11 stocks in the junior market traded, 3 of which closed at new all-time highs while 4 traded at new all-time high during the day. Blue Power closed up at $9.92, an increase of 81 cents as 11,530 shares traded. The focus remains on the Lasco companies as all three hit all time price highs during trading. Lasco Distributors traded 914,381 units between $1.80 and $1.85 and closed at $1.80. Lasco Finance saw more than 572,500 units changing hands between $1.30 and $1.35 and closed at $1.35 up 5 cents. Lasco Manufacturing closed up 15 cents at $1.80 while trading between $1.70 and $1.86 during trading as 961,967 units traded. Caribbean Creams traded 239,580 units at $1.03 each, General Accident chipped in with 223,645 units at $2.

Proven Investment Preference shares traded 589,390 units valued at $3 million while 10,800 of the ordinary shares traded.

Market intelligence | The supply and demand for some selected stocks reported last week has remained essentially the same so investors should pay attention for timing purposes.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows that bids for 5 stocks were higher with 3 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.