Friday, 27th September 2013 | The standoff between buyers and sellers continued at the Jamaica Stock Exchange with only 17 stocks trading on a day when there were 5 stocks advancing to 2 that declined. The all Jamaica Index closed down 229.56 at 83,992.98 while the JSE composite market index closed at 84,285.07m off by 130.47 and the junior market fell by less than a point at 761.81.

On another trading day that was not very active, a total of 3,304,133 shares traded valued at only $12,213,637 as trading was dominated by Lasco Distributors with 1,446,912 units and Proven Investments 8% 930,915 units.

For the week, the market recorded a decline for the two market indices and the junior market had a slight increase. However, investors should not be fooled by the declines as the supply of stocks is low in many cases and the moving average technical indicator is flashing positive signals for the period ahead.

Main Market | The number of stocks with meaningful volume in the market were not many. However, Gleaner Company put in a volume of 60,000 as it traded firm at $1.18; Jamaica Broilers Group had only 16,254 units with the price closing at $4.90 gaining 10 cents in the process; Jamaica Producers Group traded firm at $18.25 with 20,086 shares; Kingston Wharves dropped 89 cents to $6.01 as 7,000 shares changed hands; National Commercial Bank had one of the more buoyant trading session in recent weeks with 170,697 as the price gained 60 cents to close at $19.50; Scotia Group exchanged just 1,190 units at $21 for an increase an of 21 cents. Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% traded 205,000 firm at $3 with a value of $615,000 and Proven Investments 8%, 930,915 units traded firm at $5.09 for a total value of $4,738,357.

Junior market | Only stocks of 3 companies traded with Caribbean Producers trading 33,812 units firm at $2.10; General Accident Insurance, fresh from announcing a second interim dividend for the year, put in one of its better days with 385,896 units and closed at $1.80, up 10 cents and Lasco Distributors had a good day with 1,446,912 but closed down 6 cents to $1.44.

Market intelligence | There are limited supplies for a number of stocks. For example, National Commercial Bank has buying around the $18.50 level as buyers try to get the stocks as cheaply as possible, but there is not much selling below $24. With less than 400,000 units on offer at the end of trading on Friday, the market is thin for the stock. For Scotia Bank, some buying is around the $20-21 mark and selling mostly around $22.50 to $24. Sagicor Life has only 6 offers for less than 130,000 units between $9 and $11 while buying is between $8 to 8.50. There is good support for Pan Jamaican Investment at $48 as the stock retreated in price in recent days. Jamaica Broilers seems to have come in for some selling during the week with the price falling to the $4.60 level, while supply has increased just above $5 and demand has pulled back below $4.80.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed the market consolidating with bids for 6 stocks being higher and 6 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

Thursday, 26th September 2013 | Jamaica’s stock market may have improved measured by gains in today’s trading but there seems a standoff between buyers and sellers as sellers are asking prices that are generally higher than the current selling prices that buyers have been pulling in the past week or two.

Trading was slow with stocks of only 18 companies trading and just 2,444,915 units valued at $11,342,355 changing hands. The advanced decline ratio was positive at 7 to 3 as the main indices rose. The main index climbed by 292.73 to close at 84,415.54; the all Jamaica index, the best indication of the local market activity, rose 515.05 to 84,222.54 and the junior market index rose 3.56 to close at 762.70. Daily trading suggests a weak market but there are undercurrents that suggest otherwise. Watch the technical indicators, therein lies the true story and critical one is flashing bull signal.

Main Market | In today’s trading Carreras exchanged 10,870 units at $47.20 up 20 cents; Caribbean Cement 16,829 units cost $2.10 each a reduction of 10 cents; Gleaner Company’s 100,000 units resulted in a closing price of $1.18, down by a cents; Kingston Properties changed 30,000 units as the stock closed firm at $4.50; while Scotia Group chipped in with 140,959 units as the price closed firm at $21 and its subsidiary Scotia Investments added 62,192 units to the total at $26.50 each for an increase of 24 cents. National Commercial Bank lost 40 cents as the price closed at 18.60 after trading earlier at $9 but only 3,279 units changed hands.

Junior market | Access Financial Services 26,000 $8.50, up 22; Caribbean Producers traded 30,000 units firm at $2.10; Lasco Distributors 76,365 changed hands to close at $1.50 up by 2 cents and Lasco Financial Services participated with 1,137,554 and closed firm at $1.20.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed that there were bids for 7 stocks being higher and 3 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

Wednesday, 25 September 2013 | Trading picked up on Wednesday, but not if market activity is measured by the amount of money passing through the market. There were however, trading in stocks of 31 companies compared to just 27 on Tuesday as 3,193,450 shares valued at only $13,415,065 traded. 7 of the stocks trading increased in price to 8 that fell and the indices also reflected the narrowness by just moving very moderately by less than 40 points for each.

Main Market | On a slow day of trading Berger Paints put through 78,470 at a $2.26, unchanged for the day; Caribbean Cement had 26,125 units trading firm at $2.20; Gleaner Company had 35,416 units trading at 3 cents more at the end of the day at $1.20; Grace Kennedy had only 2,270 and closed at $54, off $2.50; Jamaica Broilers contributed just 35,000 and closed firm at $4.80. Jamaica Stock Exchange ordinary traded 7,000 units to give back the 15 cents which it gained on Tuesday to close at $2.85, the IPO price. National Commercial Bank chipped in with 99,456  shares to close up 47 cents to end at $19. Pan Jamaican Investment posted 6,354 and lost 52 cents to close at $50; Sagicor Life Jamaica contributed 17,687 units and closed firm at $8.50; Scotia Group Jamaica 37,918 shares moved the price by 44 cents to close at $21 and Seprod lost 50 cents when it traded 1,237 units at $13.50. Proven Investments 8% put in a volume of 1,478,040 at a firm $5.07 for a value of $7,523,097.

Junior market | Jamaican Teas traded 27,897 units firm at $4; Lasco Distributors chipped in with 13,770 units at $1.48 and Lasco Financial Services had a good day with 1,268,569 units as it closed firm at $1.20.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator was not strong as it showed bids for 4 stocks being higher and 3 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

Tuesday, 24th September 2013 | In a day which saw 11 st0cks advancing in price to 5 declining, the indices hardly moved unlike Monday when they fell sharply. Trading activity continues to be low with 6,371,632 shares trading at a value of $19.6 million.

Berger Paints activity accounted for 135,514 shares trading and closing  firm at $2.26; Cable & Wireless had 1,022,030 units changing hands firm at 18 cents; Caribbean Cement put in 66,493 units $2.20, losing 20 cents in the process; Gleaner Company had 70,000 shares trading firm at $1.17;  Jamaica Stock Exchange ordinary shares traded 333,300 units to close at $3 up 15 cents; National Commercial Bank only had 16,771 units changing hands as the price closed at $18.53, up a cent; Sagicor Life put in 33,000 units and closed at $8.50; Scotia Group had 72,325 units at $20.56 and gained a cent; Supreme Ventures had a good volume of 2,094,840 which closed at $2.60, up 4 cents; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% which has been trading more frequently in the past few weeks, put in 341,000 units today to close firm at $3 and Proven Investments 8% had a volume of 1,487,710 units valued at $7.4 million , closed firm at $5.07.

The junior market trading was sparse and only 4 stocks posted any volume to write about. General Accident Insurance traded 82,446 shares firm at $1.65; Honey Bun 39,000 shares traded firm at $3.41; Lasco Financial Services traded 496,643 units to close at $1.20 up 2 cents and Lasco Manufacturing 24,250 to close at $1.59.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed that there were bids for 8 stocks being higher and 4 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

Image courtesy of Photokanok/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Monday, 23rd September 2013 | At 12:57pm, just 3 minutes before Monday’s trading ended, Jamaica Money Market Brokers sold 8,000,000 of JMMB stock at $8 each valued at $64,000,000 to NCB Capital Markets on behalf of clients. In addition, another 200,000 units were sold bringing the total value traded for the stock to $65.6 million. The trade helped to push the trading level up and saved the day from otherwise very low trading activity in which 9,951,701 shares traded at a value of $78,173,197. Eight (8) stocks declined on the day to just 2 that inched up slightly as stocks of 21 companies traded.

Main market | A 27 cents drop in Desnoes & Geddes brought the stock back to $4.50; there was a 48 cents fall in National Commercial Bank price to $18.52; a 50 cents drop for Sagicor Life; 24 cents off in Supreme Ventures to $2.56 and 8 cents off in Scotia Group to $20.55 were the main contributors to the 1,165.45 drop in the all Jamaica Index to 83,768.42 and a 662.38 decline in the main market index to 84,157.44.

Berger Paints traded 17,721 units firm at $2.26; Carreras saw 16,000 units trading to close firm at $47.50; Desnoes & Geddes lost 27 cents in trading 21,400 with the price ending at $4.50; Mayberry Investments exchanged 44,231 units at $2.60 with no price change from Friday.

National Commercial Bank Jamaica traded 34,272 units at $18.52; Sagicor Life Jamaica chip in with 23,200 at $8.50; Scotia Group Jamaica had a decent volume of 238,545 units and closed at $20.50; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% 102,000 units firm at $3; Proven Investments 8% traded 640,000 units firm at $5.09. Proven Investments had trading in 100,000 ordinary shares at US11.51 cents.

Junior market | The junior market index slipped 4.23 off the index to close at 753.60. Caribbean Producers 213,848 shares firm at $2.10; Dolphin Cove 12,000 shares traded firm at $8; Jamaican Teas traded 64,497 units at $4, down 20 cents; Lasco Distributors exchanged 17,023 at the start of the company’s 25 anniversary celebration at $1.45 but was off by 5 cents at the close and Lasco Financial Services traded 186,536 to close at $1.18 down 3 cents.

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

Friday, 20th September 2013 | The Jamaica Stock market bounced back on Friday after three days of declines as 5,298,523 units changed hands at a value of $27,073,392 with 7 stocks advancing in price to 6 declining.

The all Jamaica Index moved up by 673.98 to close at 84,933.87 and the Main market index was up 383.05 to 84,819.82 recovering most of the decline from Thursday. The recovery was not enough to stop the week from being down as the indices fell sharply from the start of the week to Thursday. The junior index declined once more since a small increase on Monday being off 5.52 to close the week at 757.83, the lowest since June 19 and a decline from 840 points on July 9.

The fall in the market this week along with the fall in the value of the Jamaican dollar against the US dollar may be sending negative signals to investors. However, the technical indicators point to a strong market ahead as the ‘golden cross’ is in full effect for the junior market and is well on the way for the main market with the 120 day moving average in the process of crossing through the 200 days moving average. Against this back ground, the market seems to be consolidating before moving up again.

Main Market | Trading was dominated by Jamaica Money Market Brokers and Jamaica Broilers Group with relatively large volumes. Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 1,000,000 units for a value of $8,000,000 and closed up 50 cents at $8 and Jamaica Broilers Group exchanged 1,568,140 units valued at $7,527,072 to close at $4.80 for a 5 cents gain. Elsewhere, Carreras put in a volume of 12,000 shares and closed at $47.50 down $1.49 on the day; Desnoes & Geddes 1,000 traded to close at $4.77 as the price gained 22 cents; Gleaner Company traded 60,000 and closed firm at $1.17; National Commercial Bank with 27,541 units closed at $19 for 33 cents gain; Sagicor Life Jamaica chipped in with 17,624 units and closed at $9 for 78 cents gain; Salada Foods had 200,000 shares changing hands firm at $8.50 with a value of $1,700,000; Scotia Group Jamaica 108,128 valued at $2,273,673 and closed at $20.58, down 51 cents and Supreme Ventures traded 44,107 shares at $2.80 for a 10 cents gain.

Juniors | Blue Power traded 160,000 units and absorbed most of the supply on the market as the priced closed at $9.90 for a 62 cents gain; Caribbean Cream traded 214,593 units, closed at 90 cents an all-time low, off by 13 cents; General Accident Insurance 65,000 units traded mostly at $1.75 but in late trading the price fell to $1.65, off by 12 cents at the end. KLE Group traded 14,460 units firm at $1.61, the trade sucked out the small amount of the stock that was on the bid, exposing the stock for a further fall in the price. Lasco Distributors had a fairly good volume of 986,896 units as the price closed firm at $1.50; Lasco Financial Services exchanged 313,667 units to close at $1.20, down 4 cents and Lasco Manufacturing traded 41,680 units firm at $1.45.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had deteriorated and showed that there were bids for 4 stocks being higher and 1 stock with an offer lower than their last selling price.

Thursday, 19th September 2013 | The advance decline ratio continues to be biased towards declining stocks in today’s trading. In the end, there were 8 stocks that declined to 10 that fell. 9,505,609 units traded valued at $24,622,649, including 1.5 million preference shares with a value of $7.5 million. The main market index fell by 389.16 to close at 84,436.77, the all Jamaica Index was down by 684.73 to 84,259.89 and the junior market was off 1.71 to 763.35.

The biggest movers were Grace Kennedy that gained back $2.48 from yesterday’s fall to close at $56 with 6,330 units trading and Carreras traded up 99 cents $48.99 with 39,187 units.

Cable & Wireless had a decent volume of 5,127,215 units trading up 1 cent t0 close at 18 cents; Jamaica Broilers 322,396 units resulting in a 25 cents drop in the price to $4.75; Jamaica Money Market exchanged 162,815 units to close at $7.50 down 50 cents; National Commercial Bank Jamaica exchanged just 37,500 units at $18.67 for a 2 cents increase; Sagicor Investments Jamaica contributed 10,812 units firm at $16.55; Sagicor Life saw their price moving down with 40,000 to $8.22 off 78 cents at the close and Scotia Group Jamaica lost 18 cents when the price closed at $21.09 with 40,000 units.

Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.50% traded 13600 units at $3.51, a decrease of 19 cents; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% traded 152,973 units firm at $3 and Proven Investments 8% had 1,372,000 shares exchanged firm at $5.09.

Access Financial Services 8,046 units resulted in a closing price of $8.28; AMG Packaging had 63,763 units exchanging hands firm at $4; Caribbean Producers had trading in 157,984 units as the price closed at $2.10; Lasco Distributors chipped in with 20,604 units as the price closed firm at $1.50; Lasco Financial Services had another large trade on Thursday as 1,176,747 changed hands, closing firm at $1.25.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed that there were bids for 3 stocks being higher and 3 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price. This indicator has weakened and combined with the advance decline ratio for the past few weeks is pointing to a fluid market that requires some catalyst to move it decisively.

Image courtesy of watcharakun/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Wednesday, 18th September 2013 | The Jamaica Stock Market was easy on Wednesday as there were little change in the indices except the Junior market index was down 12.60 to 765.06. Advancing and declining stocks were almost even at 7 to 8 and 15 had no price change at the end of trading. Trading levels were once more low with 8.2 million units being exchanged for $27.6 million, with the preference shares accounting for $5.8 million of the amount traded.

Main Market | Carreras is trying to recover but supply is placing pressure on the stock but it traded 5,913 at $48 as it gained 40 cents at the close. Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 622,917 units valued at $5,271,675 as the price closed at $8 after trading as high as $8.45 for most of the day; Mayberry Investments put in 55,000 units with the price closing holding firm at $2.65; National Commercial Bank chipped in with 55,677 units with the price closing firm at $18.65; Sagicor Investments 34,865 units closed at $16.55; Sagicor Life put in 201,800 to close at $8.50 down 50 cents after trading most of the day at $9; Scotia Group traded 23,699 units with the price closing at $21.27 down by 3 cents; Scotia Investments 10,550 units closed at $26.50 down 50 cents; Infrequently traded Seprod put in a volume of 3,00,227 units as the price closed at $14, an increase of $1.00; Supreme Ventures lost 15 cents at the close at $2.56 with 10,000 units changing hands; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% exchanged 1,383,131 units at $3 valued at $4,149,393 and Proven Investments 8% traded 330,939 at $5.09 valued at $1,684,480.

Junior market | AMG Packaging traded 37,428 units with the price closing firm at $4; Consolidated Bakeries contributed 110,445 units to the total traded with the price closing $1.22 down 12 cents; General Accident Insurance exchanged 133,881 $1.77, up 2 cents; Jamaican Teas traded 17,715 units with the price closing firm at $4; Lasco Distributors saw a large volume of 2,000,000 units trading with the price closing at $1.50 unchanged valued at $3,000,000 as just one trade took place; Lasco Financial Services accounted for 2,554,481 units with the price closing firm at $1.25 valued at $3,193,101 and Lasco Manufacturing saw 262,311 units trading with the price closing at $1.45 down 10 cents.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed that there were bids for 6 stocks being higher and 3 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.