Tuesday, 17th September 2013 | In today’s trading, advancing stocks were overtaken by declining stocks 8 to 4 leading to a decline in all active indices. Trading levels were once more low with 6 million units being exchanged for $23 million. Preference shares accounted for $5.1 million of the amount traded. The all Jamaica index fell 297.39 to 84,897.19; the main market index was off 169.03 to close at 84,798.97 and the Junior market index was down 1.82 to 777.66.

Main Market | In trading Barita lost 23 cents to close at $2.27 with only 250 units; Cable & Wireless traded 394,815 at 17 cent down a cent; Carreras posted 7,082 shares to close at $47.60 down 5 cents; Caribbean Cement accounted for 65,799 units as it closed at $2.40 down 30 cents; Grace Kennedy put in 12,626 as the price dropped big time by $3.23 to close at $53.52; Jamaica Broilers Group saw 119,448 being exchanged at $5 at the close; Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 510,000 valued at $4 million as the price remained firm at $8; National Commercial Bank 41,659 units were exchanged firm at $18.65 at the close; Sagicor Life Jamaica 423,000 units crossed hands firm at $$9; Scotia Group 52,670 traded to close firm at $21.30; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% traded 267,000 firm at $3 and Proven Investments 8% traded 840,000 firm at $5.09.

Junior Market | On a day of high volumes in the junior market, Access Financial Services put in a healthy volume on Tuesday of 206,353 units valued at $1.7 million as the price closed at $8.35 an increase of 7 cents; Caribbean Producers put in 232,300 units to close at $2.10 off by 5 cents; Consolidated Bakeries exchanged 56,829 units firm at $1.35; General Accident Insurance had 161,642 units changing hands at $1.75 down 2 cents at the close. Lasco Distributors traded 826,639 at $1.50 up 5 cents; Lasco Financial Services put in a good volume of 1,692,047 units valued at $2.1 million as it traded firm at $1.25 while Lasco Manufacturing 91,880 units traded up 5 cents to close at $1.55.

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 2 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price. This is the same level as on Monday and shows a bias to more price gains ahead.

Image courtesy of Photokanok/FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

Friday, 13th September | Trading picked up from the highly depressed level of the previous three days resulting in stocks of 31 companies trading but the indices, with the exception of the junior market, all fell. The main market index closed at 84,893.83 declining by 465.72, the all Jamaica index fell 819.45 to close at 85,064.08 and the junior market picked up 5.62 to 787.49. A total of 3,460,048 units traded on the market valued at $25,713,143. There were 9 stocks declining to 5 that recorded price gains.

Main Market | Cable & Wireless traded 513,649 units firm at 18 cents; Caribbean Cement saw trading in 56,200 units at $2.65 as it lost 13 cents; Carreras delivered 35,803 units to new owners as the price closed at $47.70 down 80 cents; Grace Kennedy had just 16,000 units crossing the floor at $56.75 as the price lost 24 cents; Jamaica Broilers Group exchanged 30,642 at $5.10, down 10 cents; Investors moved 47,172 of Jamaica Money Market Brokers shares through for a $8 close, down 40 cents.

In the case of National Commercial Bank 95,452 units changed hands at $18.61 for a 1 cents gain; Sagicor Life Jamaica added 240,925 units to daily total at $9 at the close, the same price as yesterday’s close. Scotia Group put in a nice volume of 713,922 at $21.20, the price dropped 31 cents while Scotia Investments had only 3,600 trading but it gained 99 cents to close at $28; Supreme Ventures ventured into the market with 32,636 at $2.70 at the end of trading as it put on 15 cents for the day. Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference shares traded 626,916 units firm at $3 and Proven Investments 8% preference traded 666,150 firm at $5.09.

Junior market | Trading in the junior market was very light with only 333,022 units changing hands. KLE Group traded 29,769 units Firm at $1.61, Lasco Distributors traded 23,970 units at $1.50 up 5 cents and Lasco Manufacturing traded 235,580 firm at $1.60.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had bids for 9 stocks being higher and 2 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

Thursday, 12th September 2013 | It was another day dominated by Cable & Wireless with 13.798 million unit trading at 18 cents. The market closed with the price of 9 stocks climbing and 11 declining, the latter in stark contrast to Wednesday when only two were down.

Stocks of 29 companies were active as the volume amounted to 15.79 million units with a value of only $10.44 million. While the indices showed promising signs before the close of trading, in the end there was moderate movement with the all Jamaica Index rising by 49.32 to close at 85,883.53 and the main market index closed at 85,359.55 up 28.03, for the fifth straight days of gains. On the other hand, the junior market index slipped by 1.34 to 781.87.

Carreras traded 12,323 units and closed at $48.50, up 85 cents on the day as the price tries to make a slow recovery from the $45 mark it fell to recently. Desnoes & Geddes traded 500,000 units $4.55 for an a 5 cents increase; National Commercial Bank traded a mere 18,822 to close at $18.60 up 5 cents; Kingston Wharves lost 91 cents while trading 16,652 to close at $6; Sagicor Life exchange 47,866 units and closed at $9 up 49 cents; Scotia Group 62,745 units to close at $21.51 off 19 cents at the close. Supreme Ventures traded 162.342 to close at $2.55, down 25 cents.

JMMB 8.75% preference shares had 202,673 units trading firm at $3 and PROVEN 8% exchanged 195,500 units at $5.09.

Junior Market | Access slipped 22 cents to land at $8.28 cents but only with 2,731 shares trading. Blue Power Group had another fairly good day with 40,000 trading to close firm at $9.28; infrequently traded C2W Music put in a big volume of 155,000 units at 97 cents down 3 for the day, a new all time low; Caribbean Cream had 100,000 units exchanged at $1.03 up a cent at the close; Caribbean Producers had 20,287 units changing hands firm at $2.10; General Accident Insurance put in 44,350 units at $1.8,up 5 cents; Jamaican Teas lost 20 cents to close at $4 with 29,837 shares changing hands; Lasco Distributors 70,014 $1.45, up 5 cents; Lasco Financial Services 108,150 down 5 cents to $1.25 and Lasco Manufacturing accounted for 136,163 firm at $1.60.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator was showing signs of a fluid situation for the market with bids for 8 stocks being higher with 6 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

Wednesday, 11th September 2013 | With just $7.4 million spent on stocks, Wednesday marked the worse trading day since April 25, a day when only $3.074 million worth of trading took place. Thanks to Proven Investments, it wasn’t the worse day for the year as 1.068 million of the company’s shares valued at $5.43 million crossed the floor.

The market closed with 8 stocks climbing and only 2 down as only stocks of 22 companies were active for a volume of 8.3 million units. At the end of trading, the all Jamaica Index rose by 473.29 to close at 85,834.21 and the main market index closed at 85,331.52 up 268.99, these increases are the fourth straight days of gains. The junior market index slipped by 2.94 to 783.21.

Cable & Wireless came in for increased interest not seen since the strong trading prior to the release of the June quarterly results as it traded 5,755,007 at 17 cents; Carreras seems to be gaining more and more buying interest as traded 31,130 at $47.65, up by 64 cents and so did Caribbean Cement with 327,540 shares, which closed at $2.78 up 28 cents after trading as high as $2.87. Desnoes & Geddes traded 29,200 units to close at $4.51; Grace chipped in with 7,000 units closing at $56.99, up 24 cents; Pan Jam had 11,324 units trading at 15 cents off at $51.05. Scotia Investments price was up 50 cents to $27.50 with 20,205 units. Supreme Ventures price moved up 25 cents to close at $2.80 with only 3,500 units.

Junior market | AMG Packaging traded 50,571 firm at $4; Blue Power 50,000 units at $9.28 the same price as the day before; Caribbean Cream traded 20,518 units firm at $1.02; Caribbean Producers traded 15,000 firm at $2.10; Consolidated Bakeries exchanged 64,290 and the price remained firm at $1.40. Lasco Distributors put through 207,000 units at the last selling price as on Tuesday at $1.40, so too did Lasco Financial Services that exchanged 53,317 units at $1.25 and Lasco Manufacturing had a good day with 414,655 units to close at $1.60, same price as the day before.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator was showing signs of a fluid situation for the market with bids for 9 stocks being higher with 6 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

Tuesday, 10th September 2013 | In slow and light trading session only 2 million shares worth $12,374,368 traded as 25 companies had activity on the second day of the week. The main indices gained marginally while the junior market fell marginally as 6 stock increased in price and 6 declined.

Main Market|  Carreras is finding support around the $47 level and exchanged 14,000 and closed at $47.01 up a cent at the end of the day. Caribbean Cement regained 30 cents that it recently lost as it closed at $2.50 with only 1,000 shares. Desnoes & Geddes 55,000 firm at $4.50; Gleaner Company swapped 81,637 without change at $1.17; Grace Kennedy exchanged 110,000 at 56.75 off 25 cents; Jamaica Broilers Group saw 105,319 trading up to $5.30 gaining 20 cents at the end. Jamaica Money Market delivered 55,259 at $8.40 down 10 cents. Mayberry Investments accounted for 346,095 units and closed firm at $2.60, while Scotia Group had just 25,881 trading at $21.70 for a 39 cents gain.

Junior Market | In today’s trading the junior market, AMG Packaging traded 44,688 firm at $4; Blue Power Group 19,652 units closed at $9.28 off 12 cents; Caribbean Producers 160,000 units closed firm at $2.10; Consolidated Bakeries 5,000 units traded firm at $1.40; Dolphin Cove gained $1 to close at $9 based on 5,000 shares; Lasco Distributors 340,300 units closed at $1.40, down 9 cent; Lasco Financial Services 350,429 units closed at $1.30 down 10 cents and Lasco Manufacturing 242,231 units at $1.60, a 5 cents decrease.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator remains strong on Tuesday with bids for 9 stocks being higher and 5 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

Monday, 9th September 2013 | The stock market recorded positive moves in the three main indices on the first trading day of the week as Pan Caribbean Financial Services crossed 1,794,816 valued at $38,947,507 and 205,184 units valued at $4.45 million of Scotia Group Jamaica at $21.70 each in early trading. In the end, Scotia Group Jamaica traded 2,085,241 valued at $42.23 million, the price closed at $21.30 off 19 cents in a very slow day’s trading.

The Main Market Index closed at 85,010.18 up 169.49, the All Jamaica Index ended at 85,268.80 for an increase of 298.22 and the Junior Market Index seems to be closing in the 800 points level once more with a rise of 6.91 to end at 791.58. The market closed as 22 stocks traded with 3,350,127 units changing hands at a value of $50.4 million.

Jamaica Broilers gained 10 cents to $5.10 but with only 5,000 units, eyes will be out for this stock on Wednesday as the company is expected to release results for the first quarter of the new fiscal year on Tuesday. Based on the last quarter of the 2013 fiscal year when profits jumped by 114 percent, expectations are that this latest quarter to July should be up strongly primarily based on results from the ethanol operations.

Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 332,375 units valued at $2.8 million as the price closed firm at $8.50 and Sagicor Life saw only 38,550 shares trading $8.51 for a 1 cent gain. Pan Jam Investments Trust lost 22 cents in a continued sea saw of price movements over several days. Scotia Investments which is back up at over J$32 in Trinidad today, lost 50 cents on the JSE to close at $27 but only 1,000 units traded.

Junior Market | The Junior Market seems to be holding out for a while as investors sense when the market will start to factor in the next set of interim results and starting buying ahead of the release of the results staring in late October. In today’s trading, Access Financial Services 99,250 units traded firm at $8.38; Blue Power Group 14,918 units closed at $9.4 an 11 cents increase; Caribbean Producers 58548 units closed at $2.10; Consolidated Bakeries 21,030 units traded firm at $1.40; Lasco Distributors 147,971 units closed at $1.49, down a cent; Lasco Financial Services 14,450 units closed at $1.40 up 10 cents and Lasco Manufacturing 83,288 units at $1.65 a 5 cents increase.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator has strengthened on Monday compared to Friday with bids for 10 stocks being higher with 5 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

Friday, 6th September 2013 | Advancing stocks outpaced declining ones for the 4th day running, but volumes remain low even as supplies continue to dwindle for many of the more popular issues. The main indices climbed at the end of trading with the all Jamaica index up 434.93 to 84,970.58 and the main market index up 247.20 to 84,840.69. While the main market indices closed at the second highest levels for the week, the junior market index slipped marginally by 1.74 to 784.67. Investors traded 5.76 million units valued at $30.73 million on a day when 24 stocks traded, 9 stocks advanced to 4 that declined in price.

Post Carreras’ annual general meeting, which was held on Wednesday, buying came in for the stock as it traded 112,924 units valued at $5,262,988 and closed at $47 up $1.50; Caribbean Cement commenced the rebound on Friday with 571,692 units valued at $1,257,722 trading up by 17 cents to close at $2.20; Grace Kennedy did not trade much with 29,204 units valued at $1,645,283 as the price remained firm, at $57; Jamaica Money Market Brokers was the day’s big trade with 2,017,957 units valued at $17,116,815 as the price closed up 49 cents, to close at $8.50. Kingston Wharves added 66,755 to the total and closed firm at $7, the stock seems to be under some selling pressure. Mayberry Investments, 88,385 units resulted in a 5 cents gain as it closed at $2.65. National Commercial Bank continues the fight to move forward as there is a decent gap between buyers and sellers with just 27,255 changing hands to close at $18.55. Sagicor Life chipped in with 59,727 units as the price closed at $8.50 up 23 cents; Scotia Group Jamaica participated in the low volume that traded with just 19,859 units as the price closed at $21.50 for a gain of 24 cents while its sub, Scotia Investments, exchanged a mere 14,494 units but closed up $1.30 at $27.50. Proven Investments 8% accounted for 834,650 trading firm at $5.09 as $4.25 million was invested in it.

Junior Market | The market had good participation from 7 stocks as 8 stocks traded on the final trading day of the week. Caribbean Cream exchanged 343,901 units as the price closed firm at $1.02; Caribbean Producers, fresh from recent full year results which showed a big jump in the last quarter’s earnings is gaining some traction resulting in 214,000 units trading with the price moving up 8 cents to $2.11 at the close; Consolidated Bakeries chipped in with 16,360 units to close firm at $1.40; General Accident 160,632 units resulted in a 2 cents fall in price at the end of trading to $1.75; Lasco Distributors 44,960 units traded but closed at $1.50 off by 10 cents while Lasco Financial Services had a busy day with 1,009,433 units trading as the price gave up 5 cents at the close $1.30 at the end. Lasco Manufacturing 69,386 units as the price gained 5 cents at $1.60 at the end.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator has weakened somewhat and shows that bids for 5 stocks were higher with 4 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

Thursday, 5th September 2013 | The main market indices fell on Thursday as the junior index moved up with 11 stock prices gaining to 6 that fell as 2,761,996 units traded valued at $16.1 million continuing a light period of trading for a number of days since August. The all Jamaica index fell 313.07 to 84,535.65, the Main index was down 177.94 to close at 84,593.49 and the junior market index gained 6.24 to close at 786.41.

Barita Investments seems to be attracting a little interest as it traded 18,156 at $2.50 while Caribbean Cement Company could have bottomed as it traded 121,158 units to close at $2.03 an increase of 3 cents; Gleaner Company logged 605,000 units at a firm price of $1.20; Jamaica Money Market Brokers kicked in with a strong 1,140,850 units as the price closed 1 cent up at $8;  Jamaica Stock Exchange 11,000 units resulted in a 5 cent drop to the IPO price of $2.85; Kingston Wharves traded 13,400 firm at $7; National Commercial Bank still struggling to move forward traded 117,295 shares at $18.55 up 5 cents; Pan Jamaican Investment Trust accounted for 13,415 units and closed at $51.42; Scotia Group Jamaica made good with 41,757 units and closed at $21.26 a gain of 6 cents while Seprod contributed 20,000 units at $13.

Access Financial Services had 100,000 shares being exchanged as the price closed at $8.38 up 18 cents; Consolidated Bakeries chipped in with 26,916 units to close at $1.40 down 5 cents; Cargo Handlers was up $1 to $14, a new all-time high.

General Accident Insurance traded 56,000 units at $1.77 for a 6 cents gain as Lasco Distributors 47,420 units traded firm at $1.50; Lasco Financial Services 109,450 units closed at $1.40 down 2 cents and Lasco Manufacturing 35,475 units with the price closing at $1.65 up 2 cents.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows that bids for 6 stocks were higher with 2 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.