Wednesday, 31 July 2013 | The Jamaica market closed today with stocks of 26 companies trading as a volume of 3,441,374 valued at $23.9 million traded. Only 5 stocks advanced to 10 declining as all the indices with trading lost altitude.

The day brings to an end a month when for every week there were net declines in the market, which is a carryover from June when only one in 4 weeks recorded a net gain. The results of companies now being released will have a telling impact on prices over the next several weeks. The signs are there. Grace which posted a 41 percent increase in the second quarter results moved back up today in price, Lasco Manufacturing lost its zest with a 10 percent decline in profits while Lasco Financial with a 50 jump in first quarter profits looks as if it will go higher.

Trades of note Main Market | The all Jamaica Index shed 247.46 points to close at 86,625.92 and the JSE market index fell by 140.64 to close at 86,063.98.

Cable & Wireless traded 643,455 units between 14 cents and 15 cents but closed at 14 cents. Carreras was again dominant in the market with a volume of 171,767 units valued at $8.6 million. Desnoes & Geddes chipped in with 126,748 units and closed at $4.70, the same as Tuesday’s last selling price. Grace Kennedy saw $7.6 million being expended on 135,000 shares as the stock regained yesterday’s loss by putting on $2.90 to close at $56.50 in response to the strong second quarter results. Jamaica Broilers had just 52,971 units trading and closed at $5. Mayberry enjoyed a day of trading when 332,000 units crossed the exchange at $2.60. Sagicor Life gained 40 cents to close at $9 with 66,145 units changing hands. Supreme Ventures traded 80,250 units closed at $2.90 and lost 10 cents in the process. National Commercial Bank and Scotia Group traded relatively light volumes and their closing prices were stable.

Junior market | 9 stocks in the junior market traded with 3 advancing and 3 declining. Lasco Manufacturing traded 1 million units and closed at $1.45 losing 15 cents in the process. Lasco Distributors traded 256.900 units and closed at $1.50 while Lasco Financial traded 148,186 shares gained just 4 cents to $1.60. General Accident had 270,446 shares changing hands and closed at $1.96.  No other major trades took place.

Eppley shares that were listed on Monday is yet to have a bid and offer to date.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows that bids for  an elevated 8 stocks were higher with 2 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

Results ticker | Paramount Trading released audited results to May showing profit of $73,348,356 versus $53,374,640 in 2012 after tax. Carreras suffered a major reversal in its fortunes with a major drop in profit after tax for the first quarter to June this year, which is down by 40 percent to $485 million compared with the same quarter last year $806 million.

Barita Investments showed vastly improved numbers for the June quarter with profits up with $98.899 million compared to $48.46 million. The results swung the loss for the year to date at the end of the second quarter to a profit at the end of the latest quarter.

Salada Foods reports lower profit in the June quarter than for the same period last year. Profit came in at $42 million after tax and $95.4 year to date versus $52.49 and $106.6 respectively.

Tuesday, 30th July 2013 | Crosses was the order of the day on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. The number and value of shares trading on market was filled with crosses done mainly by Pan Caribbean, leading the stocks of 28 companies to trade with a pumped up volume of 24,917,651 valued at $310.7 million. There were 9 stocks advancing and 13 declining which is an improvement on Monday when only 4 stocks had price advances and 14 declined.

Main market trades of note | The all Jamaica Index shed 489.39 points to close at 86,873.38 and the JSE market index lost 278.14 to close at 86,204.62.

Carreras traded 1,393,327 for a value of $71,652,396 and closed at $51.30 losing 21 cents, Desnoes & Geddes traded 6,787,525 valued $32,345,202, Jamaica Broilers 6,023,761 valued at $29,998,805, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 2,227,588 valued at $18,032,274 as the stock closed at $8.50 up 49 cents, Jamaica Producers 1,569,960 valued at $30,001,936 as the price gained 10 cents to close at $19.11, National Commercial Bank traded 3,149,543 with a value of $61,035,799 as the stock closed at $19.06 down 44 cents, Pan Jamaican Investment Trust 300,458 valued at $15,500,707 with 39 cents being shaved from the price which closed at $51.11, Scotia Group 2,220,944 units valued at $47,061,328, gaining 15 cents to close at $21.30.

Grace Kennedy traded 41,130 units and fell to a $53.60 at the close, off $2.40 on the same day the group reported a 40 percent jump in profits in the latest quarter to June and 20 percent for the six months period but after trading had closed.

Jamaica Stock Exchange ordinary shares traded for the first time since the company was listed but in the form of ordinary shares. Subsequent to the recent IPO, the stock traded at $3.25 up 40 cents on the IPO price with just 2,218 shares. Sagicor Investments lost 50 cents as it closed at $18 and Sagicor Life closed down 41 cents at $9 both with small volumes.

Junior market | 9 stocks in the junior market traded as the index moved up moderately by 4.89 to 806.04.

Trading continue to be dominated by the three Lasco companies followed by General Accident which traded 95,092 units to close $1.92 and Caribbean Producers traded 54,000 units to close $2.03. Blue Power chipped in with 34,199 units valued at $342,073 and closed at $10, a loss of 40 cents. Lasco Distributors traded 112,266 shares and closed up 4 cents to $1.50, Lasco Financial traded 131,516 shares and was up 10 cents to $1.60, and Lasco Manufacturing traded 318,315 shares and closed down a cent to $1.60.

Eppley shares which were listed on Monday has shown no signs that it will trade any time soon as there are no bids nor offer in the market for the stock.

Proven Investment Preference shares traded 196,000 units valued at $1 million. There was no trading in the ordinary shares which are quoted in US dollar.

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 2 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

Monday, 29th July 2013 | Trades on the Jamaican stock market amounted to 4 million units with a value of $97.18 million of which Grace Kennedy accounted for more than 25 percent of the volume and $65 million of the total value of trading.

There were only 4 stocks advancing stocks while 13 declined as 25 companies participated in trading. All the indices with price movements lost value as the junior market lost the most with a 2.75 percent decline. The rest of the indices fell by less than a half of one percent.

Main market trades of note | The all Jamaica Index shed 359.38 points to close at 87,362.77 and the JSE market index fell by 204.26 to close at 86,482.76.

The Carreras sell off continues as investors sold another 362,919 units, down to $51.51 as the stock closed with the last traded price at $51.70 and the total value traded $18.73 million. Today’s trading seems to leave $51 exposed as the next price barrier. Thereafter it looks like $50 is next, but the demand at that price is not great. Other than Grace Kennedy which traded 1.16 million shares, others to post good volumes were Desnoes & Geddes, traded 284,557 units while closing at $4.77, Jamaica Broilers 121,465, trading at $5, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 129,000 between $8 and $8.10 and closing at $8.10, National Commercial Bank 59,326 as the stock closed at $19.50 down 6 cents, Scotia Group 195,392 and closed at $21.15 off by 5 cents.

The ordinary shares of Jamaica Stock Exchange is yet to trade since last week’s listing, the stock now has a bid at $3.25 and an offer at $3.45.

Junior market | Eppley shares that was the subject of an IPO last week was listed today, the fastest such listing since the junior market started. There were no trades nor buyers or sellers positioning to trade so far.

Nine stocks traded, with 6 declining and none gaining as the index fell 22.62 to 801.15. The three Lasco companies released results for the first quarter to June, with Lasco Distributors recording profit gains of 21 percent to reach $164.7 million. The stock traded a low volume of 174,127 units to close at $1.50, off just a cent. Lasco Financial recorded 50 percent gain in profit to reach $39.35 million. The stock traded 253,450 units and lost 8 cents to close at $1.52. Lasco Manufacturing reported profit decline of 10 percent in recording profit of $138.75 million. KLE Group lost a further 29 cents as the stock closed at $2 as only 1,000 units traded, a new low.  General Accident traded 142,265 units at $1.93 and Caribbean Producers 56,768 units at $2.03.

Proven Investment Preference shares traded 411,400 units valued at $2.1 million, there was no trades of the ordinary shares which are quoted in US dollar.

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.

Friday, 26th 2013 | The market cooled off today as only the stocks of 21 companies traded, resulting in a volume of 5,305,431 valued at $35.1 million. There were 8 stocks advancing and 6 declining. The prices of two stocks reached all-time highs and two others made a 52 weeks high by the end of the day.

Main Market trades of note| The all Jamaica Index shed 650.92 points to close at 87,772.15 and the JSE market index fell by 369.94 to close at 86,687.02.

Carreras traded 152,000 shares as the price closed at $52, off 25 cents from the last traded price on Thursday. Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) traded 1 million shares and lost 49 cents to close at $8 after trading as high as $8.50. National Commercial Bank after posting 92 cents earnings for the June quarter and $2.76 for the fiscal year to date, traded only 31,600 units to close at $19.56 after trading up to $20. Currently, the supply of this stock is limited. Pan Jamaican Investment Trust traded 19,600 units at $52, up 49 cents for the day. Scotia Group (SGJ) with a volume of 135,000 shares, traded between $21.11 and $21.50, the stock closed at $21.20 with no change in the last selling price. Supreme Ventures climbed 9 cents to $3.10, a 52 weeks high, with 176,000 shares trading.

The Jamaica Stock Exchange ordinary shares, the subject of an initial Public offering (IPO) in early July, was listed on Tuesday, is yet to find a compromise price for a willing buyer or seller. The stock closed the week with a bid of $3 for 97,000 shares and an offer at $3.45 by the same broker, Stocks & Securities the sponsoring broker for the IPO, which was priced at $2.85.

Junior market | 8 stocks in the junior market traded with the index moving up by 7.52 points to 823.77. The coming week could be telling for this market with the three Lasco companies releasing results on Monday. Access Financial Services gained 40 cents as 2,100 units changed hands to close at an all-time high of $9. AMG Packaging lost 25 cents while trading 3,900 units to close at $4. Dolphin Cove traded 20,500 units to close at a 52 weeks high of $9.10, gaining 40 cents for the day.  Lasco Financial moved up to an all-time high of $1.60, gaining 15 cents for the day while trading 380,206 shares. At the close, there was 1 million shares on offer at $1.60. Lasco Manufacturing traded 788,400 shares lost 10 cents to close at $1.60.

Proven Investment Preference shares traded 2.2 million units valued at $11.38 million, while there was no trading in the ordinary shares which are quoted in US dollars.

Market intelligence | Earnings season has begun for the second quarter results and are likely to impact trading over the next few weeks and could well impact stocks for the rest of the year.

Results dates | On Thursday, National Commercial Bank (NCB) released results that could encourage buying of the stock. On Friday Mayberry released their’s, after trading closed. Monday is the day all three Lasco companies are expected to release figures for the first quarter. These are important as they will send a message about likely 2014 earnings since there have been no new profit figures to positively guide investors for the new fiscal year about valuation of the stocks. Sagicor Investments and Grace Kennedy are also expected to release their results by the end of the coming week.

Cable & Wireless remains under pressure with offers in excess of 28.7 million shares at 15 cents overwhelming what little demand there is for the stock. The demand has not changed much for the last three weeks as the supply is barely being eaten away. Desnoes & Geddes is stuck for the time between $4.65, where there are a few good bids, and $5.18 where a 1 million shares are on offer. Offers below $5.50 seems to have dried up for Jamaica Broilers; bidders who exposed their hands are not yet very aggressive, with bids mostly below $4.50. There are however, a few offers between $7.67 and $5.40, the next is at $13.50 for 800,000 units.

JMMB supply and demand seem fluid presently with some selling at $9 and under. At the end of trade on Friday, there were only 428,000 units of NCB on offer between $20.99 and $35 against 1.3 million units of bids from a low of $10 to $19.55. A bid for 4,549,573 Radio Jamaica shares at $1.23 remains in the system with very moderate supply. Supply of Sagicor Life is just over 300,000 units up to $15, demand is over 2 million above $7, SGJ has 876,000 shares on offer between $21.20 to $21.25 and $33, and demand for 1.17 million units from $14 to $21.12. Scotia Investment has limited demand and a few more offers close to the trading price but there are 6 million units on offer at $30. Supreme Ventures has only two offers amounting 22,400 units and good demand from $2.75 to $3. Carreras still has selling but there are still investors prepared to buy above $50 but those could be taken out in the coming week depending on exactly how much selling there still is.

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

Thursday, 25th July 2013 | It was another big day on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Thursday as stocks of 29 companies traded of which 10 stocks advanced and 10 declined as focus continued in main market shares and the juniors played second fiddle on a day when 14 million shares traded valued at $419 million.

The junior market index along with the US dollar index declined marginally and the main market and all Jamaica indices put on a few hundred points.

Trades of note Main Market | The all Jamaica Index gained 318.84 points to close at 88,373.07 and the JSE market index moved up by 181.21 to close at 87,056.96.

The major volume of shares traded include Carreras 6,429,852 for a value of $335,630,891which closed at $52.25, Desnoes & Geddes 1,555,217 valued at $7,362,606 with a closing price of $4.70, Gleaner Company 375,398 costing $1.18 with a value of $442,970, Grace Kennedy 150,694 valued at $8,453,933, Jamaica Broilers Group 1,701,351 amounting to $8,572,488, Jamaica Money Market 711,882 at a value of $6,041,743, National Commercial Bank 368,314 at $19.51 valued at $7,221,190, Scotia Group 1,575,654 valued for $34,255,608 closing at $21.20, off 30 cents, Scotia Investments 247,115 closing price $26.5 and valued $6,538,197, Jamaica Producers with 105,483 at $19.35 costing $2,035,822.

Hardware & Lumber traded 75,000 and the stock closed at a 52 weeks high of $4.60 an increase of 60 cents in response to the good six months results. Pan Jam lost 49 cents to close at $51.51 on small volume, Pulse Investments closed at 94 cents, a 52 weeks low as it dropped 66 cents.

Junior market | Stocks of 8 junior market companies traded on Thursday with moderate volumes and price changes. Lasco Distributors traded 127,650 shares valued at $192,752 and closed at $1.51 down 9 cents, Lasco Financial traded 149,500 shares valued at $214,648 and dropped 5 cents to close at $1.45.

Lasco Manufacturing traded 118,900 shares valued at $202,130 and closed up a cent at $1.70, Caribbean Producers traded 45,000 units at $2.05, and Access Financial Services traded 11,000 units at $8.50. KLE Group traded down again to a low of $2.29 down 31 cents for the day. The stock is now down 36% percent from the IPO price of $3.60.

Proven Investment Preference shares traded a small volume of 4,200 shares and the price held firm.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows that bids for 9 stocks were higher with none having offer that was lower than their last selling price

Wednesday, 24th July 2013 | Scotia Investments did some big trades on Wednesday in Carreras Limited as the brokerage house executed three large trades in the stock on behalf of clients. The first lot of 3,907,474 at $52.25 valued at $204,165,517, the second lot of 3,792,847 also at $52.25 valued at $198,176,256 and 2,347,297 units at $52.25 with a value of $122,646,268.

The stock lost 26 cents in trading. The Carreras’ trades were by far the largest on a day when 18.85 million units traded with a value of $613.65 million on the market. In spite of the negative news about the smoking ban and its impact on the company’s profits, there are still bids buy the stock at close to today’s selling price and about 350,000 units have bids from $51 and above. The total trading in Carreras shares amounted to 10.159 million units at a value of $520.8 million.

Advancing stocks climbed to 14 versus 6 that declined, 11 had no price change at the end of the day. In spite of the positive advance decline ratio the indices all declined except the US dollar index which rose marginally.

Main Market | The all Jamaica Index fell 101 points to close at 88,054 and the main market index fell 57.40 points to close at 86,875.75.

Scotia Investments was also the dominant broker in the trading of National Commercial Bank stock as $23.7 million was expended on the trading of 1.2 million shares as the stock closed at $19.50. They were also the major traders in Scotia Group which had trading in 890,000 shares valued at $19 million as the stock closed at $21.50 and gained 30 cents for the day. Jamaica Broilers had a big day, posting a volume of 3.57 million units at a value of $17.8 million as Scotia Investments played a big role in trading the stock. Jamaica Producers traded 158,600 units and closed at $19.20 up 19 cents. Pan Jam gained 50 cents on small volume to close at $52. Sagicor Investments gained $1.97 and closed at $18.50 as 5,000 shares traded, Scotia Investments gained 49 cents in continuation of the see sawing between $26 were there is demand ad $26.50, as 33,947 shares changed hands. Hardware and Lumber stock responded to the improved results released yesterday. In today’s trading the stock closed at $4 with 5,000 units trading but bids have now come in where there were none before for days.

Jamaica Stock Exchange ordinary shares have still not traded after two days of listing but there is a bid of $3 posted for just over 97,000 units which is above the issue price of $2.85.

Proven Investment ordinary shares which are quoted in US dollars traded  1.2 million units valued at US$140,640, the stock lost a fraction of a cent to close at 11.72 US cents.

Junior market | 11 stocks in the junior market traded with Lasco financial reaching a new all-time high at $1.50, the closing price as 203,000 units traded. At the end of December last year, the stock was trading at $4.90 or 49 cents based on the stock split hence the price has gained more than 200 percent in the process.  Lasco Distributors traded 205,600 units to close at $1.42 but traded as high as $1.53 on the day, Lasco Manufacturing chipped in with 243,899 units to close at $1.69 down from $1.80 on Tuesday. Mayberry bought out the 100,000 Blue Power stocks that were on offer at $10.50 for in house purposes, the stock is up 47 cents on the day, leaving only two small offers at $11 and $13.

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

Tuesday, 23 July 3013 | Trading levels have slowed in the junior market as the three Lasco companies that have had frenetic trading since the beginning of June have seen demand taper down after a 10 for one stock split. Trading on the market took place in 26 companies as 2.5 million units traded at a value of $23 million on a day when 8 stocks advanced to 4 declining with 14 traded without a change in price at the end of the trading session.

Junior Market | Nine stocks traded in the junior market, Lasco Financial Services closed at a new all-time high of $1.46 as only 62,700 shares traded. Lasco Distributors traded 413,120 shares and closed at $1.52, up 10 cents and Manufacturing closed at $1.80 up 17 cents with 180,178 units. Paramount traded 119,412 units at $3.30 with no change in the price.

Carreras traded 100,650 units valued at $5.3 million as the stock closed at $52.51, the same closing price as Monday. Grace had 90,530 units changing hands at a value of $5 million, closing at $56. JMMB closed up 49 cents at $8.50 with 407,496 units and absorbed $3.46 million in the process. Jamaica Producers lost 99 cents to close at $19.01 with just over 9,000 units traded. National Commercial Bank traded 39,170 units, closed up 45 cents at $19.50. Sagicor Life chipped in with 56,000 units, all traded at $9, the same price as the close on Monday. Scotia Group traded 93,000 units at $21.20 costing $2 million.

IPO listing | Jamaica Stock Exchange ordinary shares which was listed today, did not trade but the stock had bids for 149,000 at the offer price of $2.85 and an offer at $3.26 to sell 20,000.

The bid offer indicator has just one stock with a bid higher than the last selling price and 2 lower.

Company results | The quality of company results will have a telling effect on the market going forward. At the end of today’s trading Hardware & Lumber released impressive profits which are up strongly over 2012 as well as up strongly on the first quarter of this year. The improvement should encourage more interest in the stock.

Monday, 22nd July 2013 | In today’s activity on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, stocks of 26 companies traded, accounting for 4.7 million units, valued at $39 million. The advance decline ratio remained tilted in favour of declining stocks with 11 declining and 5 advancing as all the major indices with trades declined marginally by less than 35 points.

Two stocks closed at 52 weeks high with one of them at a record new closing high. Attention in the market switched from the juniors to the main market, as the bulk of activity took place in this segment of the market.

Trades of note Main Market | Carreras traded 75,871 units valued at $4 million between $52.81 and the closing price of $52.51, losing 34 cents on the day, the stock has found some support at this level. Gleaner Company traded 1,069,000 shares at $1.16 the same price as Friday. Grace Kennedy traded 83,670 units at $56 valued at $4.7 million. Jamaica Money Market traded 809,500 units between $8.50 and $8 as the stock closed at $8.01, Seprod traded 1.049 million shares and closed at $14.75 losing 25 cents for the day.

Junior market | 9 junior market stocks traded as the price of 4 fell to 1 increase. Activity was low keyed as seen by the levels of trading. Lasco Manufacturing was the volume leader in the segment but it only traded 259,420 units valued at $437,700, Lasco Distributors was the second largest trade with 237,000. KLE Group chipped in with 100,000 units at $2.60. Price changes were moderate in this segment of the market. Lasco Financial closed at a new all-time high at $1.42, up 3 cents with only 10,800 shares trading.

Proven Investment Preference shares traded 659,000 units valued at $3.35 million as there seems to be continued interest in these shares.

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 1 stock having offers lower than their last selling price.