The Junior Market started the week off positively as it builds on last week’s sharp gains in adding 46.69 points to the Market Index to close at 2,521,29 and recovered 489.50 points or 24 percent from the low reached on March 18th.
Junior Market has recovered close to half of the losses in March.
At the end of the trading day, the prices of 15 securities advanced, 12 declined and six remained unchanged. The average PE ratio of the Junior Market ended at 9.3 based on 2020/21 earnings.
Trading ended with an average of 250,488 units at $605,228 for each security traded, in contrast to 771,791 units, for an average of $1,457,897 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 543,166 units valued at $816,817 and previously 451,476 units valued at $885,272. In contrast, March closed with an average of 226,230 units, valued at $542,563 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows seven stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and one with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Caribbean Assurance Brokers exchanged 26,087 shares and climbed 23 cents to close at $2.17, Caribbean Cream finished 1 cent higher at $2.82 with 5,350 units changing hands, Caribbean Producers swapped 696,817 shares, after slipping 10 cents to end at $2.40. Consolidated Bakeries shed 20 cents exchanging 12,701 stock units at $1.45, Dolphin Cove added 1 cent to close at $7.80 with 1,000 shares crossing the exchange, Elite Diagnostic traded 98,336 shares, after rising 41 cents to end at $4.51. Everything Fresh closed 5 cents higher at 95 cents, with 353,495 stock units changing hands, Express Catering gained 13 cents in trading of 256,472 units at $3.13, Fontana closed trading of 571,861 units and jumped 40 cents to end at $6.30. FosRich picked up 5 cents in exchanging 13,178 shares at $3.40, GWest finished 10 cents higher at 90 cents with an exchange of 10,000 units, Honey Bun gained 50 cents after trading 513,160 shares to settle at $6.50. iCreate finished 8 cents higher at 58 cents with the transfer of 737,372 stock units, Indies Pharma closed trading of 129,871 units and lost 1 cent to end at $2.89, ISP Finance fell 10 cents to $15.90 with the trading of a mere 6 units. Jetcon Corporation exchanged 19,078 shares and added 3 cents to close at $1.02, Key Insurance closed 50 cents higher at $3.50, with 170,430 stock units trading, Lasco Distributors climbed 4 cents to settle at $2.99 in trading 182,893.
Lasco Financial closed trading of 71,211 units and slipped 1 cent to end at $3.23, Lasco Manufacturing dropped 14 cents to $3.51, with 80,623 stock units trading, Limners and Bards closed at $2.10, having lost 10 cents with 6,000 units changing hands. Lumber Depot gained 8 cents to end at $1.13, with 1,697,016 shares changing hands, MailPac gained 10 cents in exchanging a volume leading 2,056,859 shares to close at $1.70, Medical Disposables slipped 28 cents to settle at $7.96 with 34,418 shares changing hands. Paramount Trading exchanged 12,688 shares to close at $2.20 after rising 5 cents, Stationery and Office Supplies fell 99 cents to $6.01 with 50,500 shares traded and tTech closed 75 cents lower at $3.50, with 42,063 stock units crossing the exchange.
Prices of securities trading are those for the day’s last transaction unless otherwise stated.
Republic Financial Holdings ended at $141.25, with a loss of 23 cents in exchanging 2,451 stock units. Scotiabank fell 1 cent with 5,660 units share changing hands to close at $54.99 and West Indian Tobacco declined by $2.85 to a 52 weeks’ low of $30.90, with 1,976 stock units crossing the market.
Trading in March resulted in an average of 1,146,245 units valued at $7,550,295 for each security.
MPC Caribbean Clean Energy advanced $5 to $140 after exchanging 1,512 stock units, NCB Financial Group climbed to $152.91, with gains of $2.66 with 265,789 shares changing hands. PanJam Investments fell by $2 to $76 in swapping 225,872 shares, Portland JSX shed 70 cents to finish at $7.30, with an exchange of 38,667 units, Proven Investments closed at $39.70, after rising $2.20 and trading 11,126 units. Sagicor Group picked up 81 cents to end at $48.75, in transferring 73,620 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund closed 45 cents lower at $7.25 with 81,200 stock units crossing the exchange, Salada Foods jumped $6 to $36, after exchanging 59,400 units. Seprod closed $1.50 higher to $49.50, with a transfer of 65,614 shares and Supreme Ventures gained 40 cents to end at $14.40, with 248,813 shares changing hands.
The market closed with three stocks rising and two declining. The volume of stocks passing through the market rose to 827,966 shares valued at US$14,632 compared to 651,114 shares valued at US$42,388 on Thursday.
Firm Trades│ Clico Investments swapped 9,241 stock units at $21.50, Guardian Holdings traded 4,008 units at $17.93, Massy Holdings closed at $48, with 24,651 shares changing hands. NCB Financial had 224,118 shares transferred at $7.25, One Caribbean Media ended at $6.50 after exchanging 50 units, Republic Financial Holdings closed at $141.48, with 37,572 shares crossing the market. Scotiabank traded 16,699 units at $55, Trinidad Cement exchanged 839 stock units at $1.75 and Trinidad & Tobago NGL ended at $18.75, with a transfer of 16,529 stock units.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows six stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and three with lower offers.
Lasco Financial closed trading of 116,341 units and gained 2 cents to end at $3.24, Lasco Manufacturing closed 5 cents higher at $3.65, with 149,773 stock units trading, Limners and Bards closed with 6,055 units changing hands and gained 2 cents to end at $2.20. Lumber Depot gained 1 cent to end at $1.21, trading 171,387 shares, MailPac lost 30 cents in exchanging 22,001,550 shares to close at $1.60. Medical Disposables climbed $1.74 to settle at $8.24 with 511,971 shares changing hands. Paramount Trading rose 27 cents and exchanged 616,305 shares at $2.25, the stock closed trading with 1,735,965 units on the bid at $2 with only two offers to sell, on the board amounting to 35,000 shares at $2.50 and $3. SSL Venture closed 21 cents higher at $1.06, with 9,500 stock units trading and Stationery and Office Supplies closed 11 cents higher at $7, with 62,074 stock units trading.
The JSE Market Index climbed 2,911.92 points to 380,510.48 and the JSE Financial Index adding just 0.30 points to 103.93.
Trading in March resulted in an average of 1,146,245 units valued at $7,550,295 for each security.
Jamaica Producers fell by $2.31 to $18.70 after trading 35,872 shares, Jamaica Stock Exchange shed 50 cents to close at $22.50, with an exchange of 40,317 shares. JMMB Group closed 54 cents lower to $38, in swapping 171,356 shares, NCB Financial Group declined to $150.25, with a loss of $4.74 and trading 36,785 stock units. Proven Investments added 90 cents to finish at $37.50, with 11,664 units crossing the exchange, Scotia Group climbed $1.49 to $47.99 in transferring 18,664 units, Seprod closed 50 cents higher at $48, in exchanging 25,496 shares. Stanley Motta gained 80 cents in swapping 200 units and finished at $5.80, Supreme Ventures picked up 43 cents to end at $14, with 17,488 units changing hands, Sygnus Credit Investments closed at $18.90, with gains of $1.87 trading 12,280 stock units and Wisynco Group rose 60 cents to $13.90, with a transfer of 1,360,292 shares.
Thursday gains reduced the market losses for the year, from a high of 39.3 percent in March to 26.5 percent presently. At the close of market activities, prices of 16 securities advanced, eight declined and ten remained unchanged with 34 securities changing hands. Trading resulted in an exchange of 13,283,703 units for $24,888,541 compared to 7,297,716 units at $17,298,654 on Wednesday. The average PE ratio of the Junior Market ended at 9.1 based on 2020/21 earnings.
Caribbean Assurance Brokers rose 1 cent in trading 196,792 shares to close at $2.01, Caribbean Flavours shed 50 cents trading of 139 units at $10, Consolidated Bakeries ended with an exchange of 10,000 shares, after rising 6 cents to end at $1.38. Derrimon Trading closed 7 cents higher at $1.90, exchanging 10,100 stock units, Elite Diagnostic climbed 57 cents and closed at $3.87, with 27,924 stock units changing hands, Everything Fresh ended trading with 6,009 shares, after rising 19 cents to end at 84 cents. Fontana gained 20 cents to end at $5.50 with 163,657 shares crossing the exchange, Fosrich traded of 6,000 shares, after rising 32 cents to end at $2.90, General Accident ended with a loss of 1 cent at $5.71 with 2,100 stock units changing hands. Indies Pharma ended market activity after 22,547 shares changed hands to close at $2.40 after falling 5 cents. Iron Rock Insurance closed 50 cents higher at $3, trading 18,308 stock units, Jetcon Corporation fell 11 cents in trading of 187,000 units at 99 cents, Knutsford Express closed with 5,874 shares crossing the market after rising 55 cents to end at $9.20. Lasco Distributors close with a loss of 2 cents at $2.98, swapping of 26,344 shares, Lasco Financial closed with 5,700 units crossing the market to gain 22 cents and end at $3.22, Lasco Manufacturing ended 10 cents higher at $3.60, in trading 80,700 stock units. 
Limners and Bards climbed 28 cents and exchanged 61,233 shares at $2.18, Lumber Depot added 1 cent and swapped 3,106,285 shares at $1.20, MailPac rose 14 cents in trading 8,397,683 shares to close at $1.90. Main Event closed 90 cents higher at $5, with 9,729 stock units trading, Medical Disposables ended with a loss of 5 cents at $6.50, after swapping 157,053 shares. Paramount Trading closed 8 cents higher at $1.98, with 85,812 stock units trading, SSL Venture fell 19 cents in trading of 1,000 units to close at a 52 weeks’ low of 85 cents and Stationery and Office Supplies closed with a loss of 11 cents at $6.89 after 7,200 shares changed hands.
The Jamaica Stock Exchange, US dollar market, rose by 3.2 percent with the market index climbing 6.44 points to close at 208.70, with the year to date decline being 7.7 percent. At the close of trading, the PE ratio of the market was an average of 14.5 times 2020 earnings. 
