Thursday, 20th June 2013 | Right on the heels of the Lasco group participating in the Mayberry Investor forum on Wednesday. trading picked up in all three stocks with Mayberry doing the bulk of the trading, many of them crosses. Early in the trading session attempts were made to trade as high as $18  for both Manufacturing and Distributors but were cancelled later as the price exceeded the limitation set by the exchange in a day. So dominant was the Lasco trading that of 132 transactions, the three companies accounted for 48 while JMMB accounted for 17.

Junior’s down | Nine stocks traded in the junior market, with 5 increasing in price and 3 falling. Lasco Manufacturing gained $1.80 to close at $15.80 as 1,891,055 of its shares traded at a value of $29.8 million. Lasco Distributors closed up $2.30 at $15.30 as 905,219 of the company’s shares traded, valued at $13.63 million. Lasco Finance traded as high as $11.25 but closed at $10.10 as 248,561 units traded, valued at $2.65 million. Blue Power moved up $1 to close at $10 as 215,987 of the stock traded, valued at $2.24 million.

Caribbean Producers lost 5 cents while trading 1.077 million units to close at $1.95. The bulk of the buying took place at $1.50 with Mayberry being the main buyer. Some investors are viewing reports in the press that a listed company is faced with import duty violation as being negative for the company and profits, thus the sell-off which started yesterday.

Advances positive | Trading elsewhere was moderate with just a total 5.42 million shares trading at a value of $56.6 million. The advance decline ratio moved back into the positive once more but not as strong as on Wednesday, with 7 stocks advancing in price versus 5 that declined.

The all Jamaica index climbed by 522.95 points (Wednesday 343.29) to close at 90,562.68, the market main index closed at 88,297.86 up 297.05 (Wednesday 194.99) points and the junior market gained 22.95 points in closing at 769.78 driven by the price movement of the Lasco shares.

Main Market | Hardware & Lumber put on 50 cents to close at $4.35 on low volume. Grace traded 8,120 shares as the stock closed at $60.05 and as the stock gained $1.05 today toad to the $1.50 gained on Wednesday. Kingston Wharves gained 25 cents to close at $8 as just 5,500 shares traded.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice market indicator shows that bids for 6 stocks were higher with the junior market accounting for 4, as 3 stocks (two from the junior market) had offers that were lower than their last selling price.

Wednesday, 19th June 2013 | The local market recovered some of the losses it suffered yesterday which flowed mainly from crosses that Mayberry did for a number of stocks. In today’s trading, National Commercial Bank traded 2.976 million units at a value of $61.1 million of which Mayberry crossed $2.8 million for in house purposes at a value for $57.5 million.

Advances positive | Trading elsewhere was moderate with just a total 4.19 million shares trading at a value of $71.6 million. The advance decline ratio moved back into the positive once more with 12 stocks advancing in price versus 7 that declined.

The all Jamaica index climbed by 343.29 points to close at 90,039.73, the market main index closed at 88,000.81 up 194.99 points and the junior market was down 6.89 points in closing at 746.83.

Main Market | Jamaica Producers gained $2.65 to close at $20.70 as just 2,000 of its shares traded. Grace traded 3,000 shares as the stock closed at $59 and was up $1.50. Barita Investments lost 50 cents to close at a 52 weeks low of $2.50 as just 4,000 shares traded.

Juniors down | Six stocks traded in the junior market with 3 increasing in price and 2 falling. Blue Power moved up 14 cents to close at $9 but the bulk of the stock changed hands at $10.15 and the bid was at $9.10 at the end of trading, which suggests more price gains ahead. This activity comes on the heels of the announcement of results, which showed a 121 percent jump in profits for the year ended April. Lasco Distributors closed down 75 cents at $13 as 58,306 of the company’s shares traded. Lasco Manufacturing gained 25 cents to close at $14 as 15,144 of its shares traded. Caribbean Producers lost 20 cents while trading 47,175 units to close at $2 but the offer price was at $1.75 at the close with 134,822 units on offer.

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 3 stocks that had offers lower than their last selling price. The Indicator points to more market gains ahead but gains could be moderate as the market awaits new information for it to continue the rally that started in April.

Tuesday, 18th June 2013 | Mayberry Investments crossed 66,553,514 Supreme Ventures shares valued at $193,005,191, which they traded for in house purposes. In the process, they sold a few thousand to the market. The trade was one of many such large transactions that the brokerage company put through the market, helping to swell the level of trading above recent days. Many of the crosses resulted on lower prices as the main indices fell by 635.15 points (0.72%) to close at 87,805.82, the All Jamaican Composite declined by 1,118.19 points (1.23%) to close at 89,696.44 and The Junior Market Index advanced by 9.20 points (1.24%) to close at 753.72.

MIL crosses | There was trading in 31 companies, as 121,374,405 units changed hands valued at $329,186,751. The Mayberry trades dominated the following stocks: Berger Paints which traded 2.62 million units, closing 4 cents down at $2.41, Cable & Wireless 37.46 million units closing off a cent at 17 cents, Caribbean Producers with 4.64 million shares down 15 cents at the closing price of $2.20, Gleaner with 644,000 units down 4 cents to close at $1.16, Montego Bay Ice 132.177 units down 5 cents to close at $17.95, Pan Jamaican investments with 115,846 units valued at 6.11 million as the stock price slipped $4.60 closing at $51, Scotia Investments 227,000 units with the price dropping by $1.50 to close at $26.50. Mayberry crosses also dominated in the junior market with the three Lasco companies in addition to the large block of Caribbean Products.

Other stocks to trade in fairly sizeable volume are Carreras which traded 176,486 units at a value of $10.2 million as the stock lost $1.50 to close at $57, Grace Kennedy, 356,794 units between $57.50 and $60 before closing at $57.50 as investors expended $20.7 million on the company’s shares. Sagicor Life with 631,700 units, Scotia group with 304,000 units as it closed at $21.57 off 3 cents on Mondays last traded price.

Price Changes | Other stocks to record noted price changes include: Blue power closed at an all-time high of $8.86 up 16 cents and closed with a bid of $8.90, Carreras lost $1.50, Desnoes and Geddes lost 20 cents closing at $4.90, Grace shed 50 cents on the day, Lasco Distributors lost 15 cents to close at $13.75 Lasco Manufacturing gained 98 cents in closing at $13.75, NCB gained 80 cents at a $21 close.

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 4 coming from the junior market and 2 stocks that had offers that were lower than their last selling price.

Monday, 17th June 2013 | Today was give back day for some of the gains generated last week as advancing stocks just barely outnumbered declining stocks with 2.24 million units traded for a valued of $18.8 million trading.

The main indices gave up all that they gained on Friday and more by the end of trading with blue chip stocks shedding the most in value. Carreras closed at $58 having lost $1 and so did NCB that lost $0.80 to close at $20.20 with 7,598 shares trading. JMMB lost 83 cents to close at $8.03 while trading 18,400 shares. Grace traded 114,298 shares as the stock closed at $58 and $1 down and Pan Jamaican Trust lost on $1.40 to $55.60 with 5,676 shares changing hands. Sagicor Investments closed up 39 cent at $16.50 as 7,096 shares traded.

Investors looking for yields picked up 250,089 JMMB 8.75 preference shares at $3.20 and 321,000 Proven 8 percent preference shares at $5.09.

Index falls | The all Jamaica Index closed down 719.52 points and ended at 90,814.63 points. The main market index is down 408.70 points and closed at 88,440.97.

Juniors down | The junior market index gained 15.14 points to close at 744.52 with only 5 stocks trading in this segment of the market. Blue Power fresh from 121 percent jump in profits for the year ended April posted a 5 cents increase as it traded 132,900 shares up to $8.70. Lasco Distributors closed up $1.39 at $13.90 as 116,000 of the company’s shares traded. Lasco Financial Services traded 270,440 units and closed at $10 up 10 cents on the day. Lasco Manufacturing did not trade but had a bid that was higher than the last traded price. Access did not trade but is poised to go higher as there has been little or no selling in the stock to meet demand but had a bid that is higher than the last traded price.

Advances positive | The advance decline ratio was far less positive today than on Friday with the previous trading day as 10 stocks advanced and 8 declining compared to Friday when 17 stocks advanced and 4 declined.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows that bids for 7 stocks were higher with 1 stock that had an offer that was lower than their last selling price. The Indicator points to more market gains ahead but it is most pronounced in the junior market, which has the higher number of bids over last traded price than the main market.

Friday, 14th June 2013 | Scotia Investments bought 4.18 million units and Mayberry bought 1 million shares of Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) in today’s trading as the stock remains the dominant trader for a few days as it traded 5.22 million shares between $8.85 and $9 before closing at $8.85 up 25 cents for the day. So dominant was the JMMB trade that Carreras with 70,000 shares cost $4.07 million was the closet to it. Scotia Investments who bought some for in house purposes has been buying for the unit trust portfolio managed by them, IC Insider has been reliably informed.

Index Climbs | The all Jamaica Index closed up 324.39 points and ended at 91,534.15points. The main market index closed up 209.73 points and closed at 88,849.67. The Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator, points to more market gains ahead.

Carreras closed at $58 having lost $1 and so did NCB which lost $1 to close at $21 with 917 shares trading. Scotia Group lost 44 cents to close at $21.56 while trading 100,703 shares. It was 75 cents up on Grace trading 13,000 shares as the stock closed at $59 and $2 up for Scotia Investments which closed at $28 with just 1,100 shares trading and Pan Jamaican Trust put on $1.50 to $57 with 16,350 shares changing hands.

Juniors down | The junior market index slipped again in Friday’s trading by 3.43 points to close at 729.38 even as only one stock traded down in price with 5 stock advancing in this segment of the market but Lasco Manufacturing’s 73 drop cents did the damage. Lasco Manufacturing close at $12.77 with 135,136 units.  Lasco Distributors moved up by 44 cents to close at $12.51 while trading 222,412 shares. Lasco Financial Services traded 370,079 units between $9.50 and closing price of $9.90.

Advances positive | The advance decline ratio was even more positive today than yesterday with 17 stocks advancing and 4 declining on a day when 7.2 million shares changed hands with a value of $65.8 million.

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

Wednesday, 12th June 2013 | While there were only 5 stocks traded on the junior market yesterday, today’s activity resulted in 11 stocks traded. With the exception of Blue Power that traded at an all time high of $8.65, up 64 cents for the day, as 52,315 units traded, price movement in the junior market was generally moderate. The overall stock market seems to have lost some of the recent sparkle as investors seem to have priced in a fair bit of the improved results of companies or adjusted for the undervaluation of others. The market may just be consolidating for awhile before moving in a major way again. This is worth watching.

Dolphin Cove traded 800,000 units to be the largest trade in the junior market and second largest trade for the day for the overall stock exchange. The stock closed at $8.45, a 52 weeks high. Sagicor Life traded 2,011,745 units as the stock closed at $9.01, having traded between $8.80 and $9.01.

Grace Kennedy traded up $1 to at $59 while trading 23,167 units. Lasco Distributors closed at $13.50 up 50 cents with a volume of 19,297 units trading. Lasco Financial Services lost 29 cents to close at $9.70 on small volume. Carib Cement traded as high as $1 in early trading but closed at $0.90. Consolidated Bakeries traded 58,750 shares at $1.15, in continuation of recovery from the sharp sell off when the company released poor full year results earlier this year. Lasco Manufacturing traded firm at $14.10 with 101,610 units changing hands.

The various market indices inched up a bit except the cross listed and US dollar indices where there was no traded stock. The advance decline ratio remains positive with 11 stocks advancing and 6 declining, on a day when 4.1 million shares changed hands with a value of $34.7 million.

At the end of trading, bids for 8 stocks were higher and no stock had an offer that was lower than their last selling price.

Tuesday, 11th June 2013 | Only 5 stocks traded in the junior market today with AMG Packaging closing up 22 cents at $4.40 while trading 24,937 units. Lasco Distributors closed at $13 off 74 cents for the day as it traded 14.900 units. General Accident traded 149,954 units at $1.92 and Lasco Manufacturing was flat for the day in trading 28,750 units at $14.

In the main market, Grace Kennedy traded 1.17 million units between $58 and $58.75 before closing at $58, down $1. Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 706,000 units between $8.65 and $8.75 but closed at $8.65. Sagicor Life saw 319,000 shares swapping hands at $9 down 43 cents for Monday. Proven preference shares traded 1.336 million units at $5.09, National Commercial Bank closed up 30 cents at $19.50 at the close as 70,310 shares traded. Pan Jam rose 40 cents to close at $55.50. Seprod gained 39 cents to reach $15 at the close. Carreras traded 95,696 units while closing at $59 after loosing $1, the stock closed with its offer at $58.95. D&G had trading in 93,941 units at the closing price of $4.95 and at the end of trading there were 365,955 units with a bid at the closing price of $4.95.

In the end 4,502,486 shares traded for a value of $94.58 million as 23 stocks changed hands as 9 stocks registered price gains and 8 recorded declines. At the end of the day, bids for 2 stocks were higher and 5 stocks had offers that were lower than their last selling price

All the indices except the US dollar index where there was no trades and the junior market that slipped less than a point recorded moderate increases on the day.

Monday, 10th June 2013 | Probably the most noted features of Monday’s trading was the continued strong positive advance decline ratio which started in the first week in April. At the end of the day, the indication from the bids and offers suggest further gains ahead with bids for 11 stocks being higher and only 1 stock had the offer that was lower than the last selling price.

A total of 3,390,391 shares valued at $22,151,233 traded, on a day when 24 stocks traded with 11 gaining and 4 declined in price continuing a strong advance decline ratio that has been present throughout May and now into June.

Trading was on the light side as only Jamaica Money Market Brokers exceeded the million share mark with 1.5 million units valued at $13 million. Caribbean Creams traded 613,481 units and Caribbean Producers 420,613 units were the other volumes of note.

Price movements were moderate with National Commercial Bank gaining 20 cents to close at $19.20, Sagicor Life closed at $9.43 up 3 cents and Scotia Group up 50 cents to close at $22, having traded as high as $23 during trading.

Access Financial Services reached a new all time high of $8.10 as well as Blue Power which closed at $8.10.

Stocks to watch

• Access
• Blue Power
• Consolidated Bakeries
• JMMB
• Sagicor Investments