Wednesday, 30th October 2013 | Trading remained low on the Jamaica Stock Exchange with 1,231,072 units changing hands valued at $8,642,067 with the number of stocks advancing at 8 versus those 4 that declined. The main market index shed 35.94 points to end at 81,639.52; the all Jamaica index closed at 79.338.15 down by 63.23; the junior market index ended at 742.56 off by less than a point.

Main Market | Carreras traded just 6,007 units and gained 96 cents to close at $40. Gleaner posted 18,150 units at $1.11; Grace Kennedy chipped in with 71,100 units to close down $1.20 at $53.70; Jamaica Broilers exchanged 27,425 units up 24 cents at $4.50; Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 22,662 units to close at $8.12; Kingston Wharves had 27,000 units changing hands at $5.60 up two cents; Mayberry Investments had 78,641 units trading down 15 cents at $2; National Commercial Bank sapped 26,138 units in closing up 35 cents at $18.35; Sagicor Life 94,880 units traded firm at $8.10; Scotia Group Jamaica traded 26,090 units to close unchanged at $20.

Proven Investments 8% preference stock traded 292,600 units while closing firm at $5.09.

Junior Market | Trading in the junior market saw Blue Power trading 6,934 units to close firm at $9.28; Caribbean Flavours trading 7,882 units firm at $2.55; Caribbean Producers delivered 15,136 units to close unchanged at $1.99; Dolphin Cove traded 20,248 units at $8; Lasco Distributors traded 146,580 units to close up a cent at $1.46; Lasco Financial Services closed unchanged at $1.15 with 67,644 shares changing hands and Lasco Manufacturing put in60.600 units to close firm at $1.45.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the bid-offer indicator is showing a market that is moving sideways for a while, with bids for 8 stocks being higher and 6 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

Tuesday, 29th October 2013 | The main indices show the Jamaica Stock Market falling sharply but there was a big improvement in the number of stocks advancing versus those that declined, from 5 and 15 on Monday to 4 advancing and 7 declining on Tuesday.

Unlike Monday, when the main indices climbed, the main market index was down 987.61 to 81,675.46 and the all Jamaica index closed at 79.401.38 down by 1,737.69, the junior market index also reflecting low investors’ interest sat at 743.05, a decline of 9.98.  The amount invested in the market dropped to a low of just $10.8 million while trading only 2.7 million shares.

Main Market | The level of trading was low in both the junior and main markets with only the preference share segment showing any serious volumes as Berger Paints saw trading in 10,000 units to close at $2.16; Desnoes & Geddes had 38,690 shares changing hands as it traded firm at $4.50; Gleaner had trading in 54,350 units at $1.11; Jamaica Broilers 16,522 units traded up 4 cents to close at $4.26. Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 18,600 units at $8.1;, Kingston Wharves 17,226 units traded at $5.58; Mayberry Investments traded 89,821 at $2.15; Sagicor Life had just 9,000 units trading at $8.10; Scotia Group exchanged 28,864 units to close at $20 for a 10 cents gain while Scotia Investments saw just 11,800 unis going for $26.01 and Supreme Ventures 122,000 units went for $2.55.

In the preference segment, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% traded 134,500 units firm at $3 followed by Proven Investments 8%, 1,308,314 units, down a cent at $5.08.

Junior Market | Trading in the juniors was low as Access Financial Services put in a nice little volume of 55,000 units at $8.29, down by 11 cents; Blue Power Group lost some altitude, by 22 cents in trading 9,753 units to close at $9.28 while newly listed Caribbean Flavours figured with 9,860, as it closed down 10 cents at $2.55. Lasco Distributors put in a good volume of 700,703 units to close at $1.45 being down by 4 cents and Lasco Manufacturing 68,300 units cost $1.45 each at the end of trading.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator is showing a market that is moving sideways for a while, with bids for 5 stocks being higher and 4 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

Monday, 28th October 2013 | The main indices climbed today on the Jamaica Stock Exchange but there was a big negative signal with the number of stocks advancing versus those that declined by 5 to 15.

The main indices climbed with the main market index closing up 508.35 to 82,663.07 and the all Jamaica index closed at 81,139.07 up by 894.43, the junior market index, also reflecting low investors interest, sat at 753.03, a decline of 6.75. The amount invested in the market remained low with trading of 3.92 million shares valued at $28.17 million.

Main Market | The level of trading was low in both the junior and main markets with only the preference share segment showing any serious volumes as Carreras had 125,650 units changing hands to close firm at $40; Ciboney traded 1,480,598 units at 5 cents, up 2 cents at the end of trading. Desnoes & Geddes had 135,885 shares changing hands at $4.50 down 2 cents; Jamaica Broilers had 12,704 units traded to close firm at $4.22; Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 13,095 units firm at $8.12; National Commercial Bank traded just 3,600 shares at $18, down 45 cents; Proven Investments US dollar based ordinary shares traded 299,471 units and the price was unchanged at just under 12 US cents; Sagicor Investments had just 11,371 units trading at $15.66; Scotia Group exchanged 704,433 units to close at $19.90 for a 10 cents fall.

In the preference segment. Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% traded 42,000 units at $3 followed by Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.5% which traded 460,000 units at $2 and Proven Investments 8%, 243,460 units at $5.09.

Junior Market | Trading in the juniors was low as General Accident traded a volume of 20,000 units at $1.61, down by 9 cents. Caribbean Flavours had a volume of 21,355 units as it closed down 5 cents at $2.65; Lasco Distributors put in a volume of 88,910 units to close at $1.49 down by a cent and Lasco Manufacturing 154,369 units cost 4 cents less at $1.46 at the end of trading.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator is showing a market that is moving sideways for a while, with bids for 5 stocks being higher and 6 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

Image courtesy of Photokanok/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Friday, 25th October 2013 | Eppley traded for the first time in Friday’s trading with 5,300 units at $380 each as it traded up $3 from the IPO price of $377. The stock was listed on July 29, 2013 on the junior market and failed to trade before today even though there was a bid at $400 that lasted a few days.

Even as the JSE Market Index and the all Jamaica index climbed at the end of trading there was no excitement on the last day for the week as the trading level was well down to just 1,287,639 shares valued at a mere $8.4 million as only 17 companies participated in trading.

The JSE Market Index climbed 175.04 to close at 82,154.72 and the all Jamaica index climbed 307.99 to close at 80,244.64 and the junior market index was up 11.13 to 759.78.

There were 8 stocks advancing in price to 4 that declined, but this does not tell the full story. At the end of trading, there were 5 junior market stocks that were offered below their last traded price and only 1 that had a bid above the last sale, a negative indicator for this market. The main market was more positive with 5 stocks with bids higher than the last traded price and only 1 with an offer below. The latter was Mayberry, which has not had a strong bid in recent months with the offer price now at $2.15 versus a last sale of $2.50.

Main Market | In main market activity, Caribbean Cement saw trading in just 7,000 but the price moved up 33 cents to $2.40 while Carreras traded 26,958 units to close at $40 up 50 cents; Grace Kennedy traded 13,930 units at $55; Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 21,475 shares to close at $8.12, up 2 cents; Scotia Group traded 18,047 shares, down 50 cents in closing at $20; Supreme Ventures 516,479 units resulted in a final price of $2.55 down by 5 cents and Proven Investments 8% saw trading in 465,000 units and closed firm at $5.09.

Junior Market | In another day of low trading in the junior market, only shares of 6 companies traded but General Accident Insurance, which had a small volume of 7,400 units closed at $1.70 up 10 cents; Lasco Distributors exchanged 31,618 units to close firm at $1.50; Lasco Financial Services traded 140,600 units firm at $1.17 and Lasco Manufacturing 15,000 at $1.50 up 10 cents.

The three Lasco companies are expected to release results by early next week. Also due out by next week are Mayberry, Grace and Hardware & Lumber.

Thursday, 24th October 2013 | After nearly three weeks of stock prices taking a beating, there are some embryonic signs that sentiments may be on the mend, but even this may not be a certainty with an across the board low level of trading with few exceptions. Company results will be released in earnest in the upcoming weeks and will help to signal the direction of the market for the remainder of the year, with good results helping and bad ones pressuring it.

Trading volume on Thursday picked up with 18 million shares valued at $82,975,931 with Jamaica Broilers, Jamaica Producer, Radio Jamaica Scotia Group and Proven 8% traded relatively large volumes. There was trading in stocks of 24 companies with 6 declining and 4 advancing, pulling the indices down, with the main market index falling 324.67 to 81,979.68, the all Jamaica down by 571.26 to 79,936.65 and the junior market by 2.67 to close at 748.65.

Main Market | Trading in this market resulted in Carreras seeing 43,621 units changing hands as the price dropped by 50 cents to close at $39.50; Grace Kennedy 1,570 units helped pulled the price down to $55.01, a fall of 50 cents; Jamaica Broilers found buyers for 3,003,729 shares with a value of $12.6 million as the price closed at $4.18 for a one cent gain; Jamaica Producers put in 789,256 units valued at $14.4 million and closed firm at $18.25; National Commercial Bank 46,778 units helped the price down by 4 cents to end at $18.45. Pan Jamaican Investment exchanged 10,000 units firm at $48.01; Radio Jamaica had a big day with 7,978,985 units valued at $10.5 million as the price closed at unchanged at $1.30; Sagicor Life had a small volume of 16,135 units as it closed unchanged at $8.10; Scotia Group had a nice volume of 999,919 units valued at $20 million as it closed firm at $20.50 and Scotia Investments exchanged 88,955 units mostly at $26.50 but closed at $28, up $1.99.

Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% exchanged 1,100,000 units unchanged at $2, and the 8.75% preference shares enjoyed a day with trading of 667,000 units at $2.99. Proven Investments 8% traded 2,792,919 unit firm at $5.09.

Junior Market | Trading in the junior market was low with Caribbean Flavours changing 18,000 units to close firm at $2.70; General Accident Insurance 374,329 units to end at $1.60; Lasco Distributors only 6,700 units at $1.50; Lasco Financial Services a mere 8,800 units at $1.17 and Lasco Manufacturing with 406,212 units down by 5 cents to $1.40.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed some improvement with bids for 4 stocks being higher and 3 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

Wednesday, 23nd October 2013 | The local stock market has a history of slow days when there are government bond offers and today was no exception with a Treasury bill offer closing during the day.

On a very slow day on the Jamaica Stock Market, trading took place for 2,225,824 shares valued at $13,557,822 as most of the market indices declined marginally, with the Main Market index falling 16.36 to close at 82,304.35, while the all Jamaica index closed at 80,507.91 as it fell by 28.79 and the junior market index inching down by 3.25 to 751.32. There was trading in stocks of 22 companies, with 2 rising, 9 falling and 11 remained unchanged.

Main Market | Carreras exchanged 22,355 units to close firm at $40; Grace Kennedy 36,411 units changed hands, closing down 75 cents at $55.51; Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded just 3,650 units to close down 40 cents at $8.10; Pan Jamaican Investment traded 20,000 units to close at $48.01; Sagicor Investments exchanged 337,696 units and closed at $15.99, down a cent. Sagicor Life saw 55,000 units trading to close at $8.10, down 9 cents; Scotia Group only exchanged 14,748 units to close firm at $20.50.

Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference shares traded 486,600 firm at $2 and Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference shares traded 558,000 units, closed up 10 cents at $3.

Junior Market | Trading in the junior market saw Caribbean Cream with 500,000 units changing hands to close firm at $1.02, Dolphin Cove put in only 2,000 shares as the price closed down 62 cents at $8. General Accident Insurance swapped just 35,600 shares and closed down a cent at $1.61 followed by Lasco Distributors 20,000 units closing firm at $1.50. Lasco Financial traded 19,500 units at $1.17 while Lasco Manufacturing had 48,200 units that traded firm at $1.45 and Paramount Trading put through 37,810 units to close at $3.30 up 25 cents.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed improvement in market sentiment over Tuesday’s reading with bids for 4 stocks being higher and 3 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price. The junior market had 3 stocks with offers that were lower than the last selling price and bid for just 1 that was higher.

Tuesday, 22nd October 2013 | On a very slow day on the Jamaica Stock Market, trading took place for 5,766,814 shares valued at $21,261,844 as most of the market indices enjoyed a rare ‘up’ day with the Main Market index gaining 514.60 to close at 82,320.71, while the all Jamaica index which closed at 80,536.70 fell by 905.44. The junior market, which has held up well in the past weeks saw the index inching up by 0.73 to 754.57. There was trading in stocks of 26 companies, with 11 rising and only 3 falling and 15 remained unchanged.

Main Market | Trading in the main market was subdued on the first trading day after the holiday close on Monday. In trading Carreras exchanged 49,207 units to close firm at $40; Desnoes & Geddes, which closed at $5 on Friday, closed today at $4.50 as 40,000 units changed hands; Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 523,000 to close firm at $8.50; National Commercial Bank had only 9,457 units as the price closed up 50 cents at $18.50 but the stock is still weak. Salada Foods traded 13,588 units unchanged at $8.50; Scotia Group only exchanged 30,651 units to close at $20.50 an increase of 50 cents; Supreme Ventures had a big day with 1,395,754 units to close at $2.60 off by a cent and Proven Investments 8% preference, put in 743,000 units at $5.09.

Junior Market | Trading in the junior market saw Access Financial changing ownership of 56,579 units as the price closed firm at $8.40; Blue Power traded 24,918 units and closed at $9.50 for an increase of 22 cents; Caribbean Cream saw 414,165 units changing hands to close firm at $1.02; Caribbean Producers put in a big volume of 2,289,981 as the price closed firm at $2.08 as General Accident Insurance  swapped just 14,400 shares at $1.61 followed by Lasco Distributors 31,800 units which closed firm at $1.50. Lasco Manufacturing had 31,400 units that traded firm at the close at $1.45 and Paramount Trading put through 37,810 unit to close at $3.30 up 25 cents.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed slight deterioration in market sentiment over Friday’s reading with bids for 3 stocks being higher and 7 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price. Interestingly, the junior market had 6 stocks with offers that were lower than the last selling price and no bids that were higher.

Image courtesy of watcharakun/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Friday, 18th October 2013 | The second week of big declines ended on Friday with another day of slippage for the two main market indices. Reports from the brokerage community have confirmed to IC Insider that Lascelles Superannuation Fund is liquidating the equities they hold for some noted companies that has caused prices to decline. It was tough week as the Jamaica stock market declined just about every day, a continuation from the sharp decline of the week before,

In a very slow day on the Jamaica Stock Market, trading took place for 14,927,180 shares valued at $131.3 million as the market indices saw another day of decline in the Main Market index of 268.90 to close at 81,806.11, while the all Jamaica index which closed at 79,631.26 fell by 473.13. The junior market has held up well in the past weeks but saw the index inching down by 0.92 to 753.84. There was trading in stocks of 26 companies, with 6 rising and 9 falling and 14 remained unchanged.

Trading resulted in Carreras exchanging 12,025 at $40, up 50 cents; Desnoes & Geddes 86,166 to close up 50 cents at $5; Grace Kennedy 106,549 units but fell to $55.65, off by $1.36; Jamaica Broilers had strong volume of 8,017,062 but at a depressed prices to close at $4.17, up 7 cents; Jamaica Producers 106,100 units resulted in a 25 cents price cut to close at $18.25; Mayberry Investments 22,804 units resulted in the price closing firm at $2.50; National Commercial Bank had a good volume of 3,994,816 units but ended  firm at $18; Pan Jamaican Investment Trust had only 16,350 units to close at $48.01, down 10 cents; Scotia Group 505,270 units closing firm at $20; Scotia Investment traded 2,502, lost 49 cents to close at $26.01; Seprod 323,036 units to close firm at $13 and Proven Investments 8% preference 1,083,600 units firm at $5.09.

Junior Market | Access Financial Services had a small volume of 2,258 but closed at $8.40 up 12 cents; Caribbean Cream still struggling to move above the listing price of the IPO earlier in the year had 38,140 units closing at $1.02, up 2 cents; newly listed Caribbean Flavours exchanged 258,997 closed firm at $2.70; Lasco Distributors had 25,320 units to close firm at $1.50; Lasco Financial Services 157,900 units resulted in a closing price of $1.13, a decline of 5 cents; and Lasco Manufacturing lost ground with 90,700 units in closing at $1.45 down 5 cents.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed slight improvement in market sentiment over Thursday with the bids for 3 stocks being higher and 5 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

Thursday, 17th October 2013 | In a very slow day on the Jamaica Stock Market. Trading took place for 5,330,792 shares valued at $73,871,824 as the market indices saw another day of decline in the Main Market index of 393.47 to close at 82,075.01 while the all Jamaica index which closed at 80,104.39, fell by 692.31. The junior market index bucked the general of trend of a weak market and moved up by 5.96 to 754.76. Only stocks of 22 companies traded, with 6 rising and 7 falling.

Main Market | Carreras, which has been under relentless selling pressure from July, saw trading in 37,087 units with a value of $1,477,645 and closed at $39.50 gaining $1.50 in the process; Jamaica Money Market Brokers had 500,000 units changing hands at $8.50 with value of $4,248,000. The stock traded on the Trinidad Stock Exchange earlier in the day as high as J$11.20 and seems poised to move higher in coming days. National Commercial Bank traded 611,451 units with a value of $10,428,958 to close at $18 up $1.25; Sagicor Life had 307,190 units valued at $2,527,187 to close at $8.20; Scotia Group 2,548,259 shares to traded was valued at $50,968,068 and closed down 50 cents at $20. Reports from the market is that a pension fund is liquidating their assets and could be the cause of the decline in some of the prices over the past two weeks rather than a general weakness in the market.

Proven Investments 8% preference shares traded 439,900 units with a value of $2,239,091 to close at $5.09.

Junior Market | Blue Power traded 8,966 units to close firm at $9.28; Caribbean Cream traded 52,436 units at $1; Caribbean Flavours traded 420,746 units to close at $2.70, up by 12 cents; Lasco Distributors exchanged 24,500 units to end at $1.50; Lasco Financial Services traded 18,897 units and closed at $1.19 while Lasco Manufacturing exchanged 330,233 units to close at $1.50.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed continued weak sentiment with the bid for only 1 stock being higher and 6 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.