Trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Monday ended with sharply reduced volumes compared the levels traded on Friday and in recent weeks and months, with 37 securities changed hands, accounting for only 1,377,118 units valued at a mere $23,284,334, in all market segments. The junior market accounted for 534,047 shares valued at $3,394,975 as 15 stocks in the overall market gained, 12 declined including 8 of the stocks rising and 3 declining, from the junior market.
At the close of trading there were 2 new 52 weeks’ closing highs in the junior market.
The JSE Market Index rose sharply by 3,461.33 points to end at 153,500.51. The all Jamaica Composite Index surged 3,871.05 points to 
close at 170,501.41 and the JSE combined index jumped 4,179.76 points, to close at 164,537.72.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 14 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
At the end of market activities, Berger Paints traded 3,200 shares at $4, Cable & Wireless lost 2 cents and closed at $1.35 in trading 160,020 units, Caribbean Cement traded 7,498 shares but the price fell by 6 cents to close at $26.50, Carreras fell 50 cents while trading 6,000 shares, to close at $62.50. Rebranded Gleaner Company, 1834 Investments, gained 16 cent to close at $1.15 in trading only 833 shares, Jamaica Broilers had 14,350 units changing hands, to close at $14.15. JMMB Group fell by 50 cents in trading 6,250 shares to close at $9.50, Kingston Wharves traded just 1,000 shares to close with a gain of 85 cents at $11.15,
Mayberry Investments traded 32,088 shares but gained 10 cents to close at $3.40. National Commercial Bank declined by 50 cents while 20,586 shares traded, to close at $40.50, Pan Jamaican closed at $88 with 2,616 shares changing hands. Radio Jamaica traded 34,500 shares and climbed 5 cents to close at $1.20, Sagicor Group fell 10 cents to end with 5,705 shares changing hands at $22.40, Scotia Group closed with a rise of 50 cents, to end at $30.50 while 491,344 units changed hands. Scotia Investments closed with 8,374 shares trading with a gain of 50 cents to $26, Seprod ended with 19,777 units trading with a loss of $1.30 at $15.60 and Supreme Ventures fell 6 cents and closed at $5 with 9,000 shares changing hands.
US$8m more FX bought than sold – Monday
Trading in the Jamaican foreign exchange market saw dealers purchasing US$8 million more than they sold on Monday. The rate of the local dollar continue to be eroded against the critical US dollar. The Jamaican dollar also declined against the Pound but gained against the Canadian dollar.
The market closed with dealers buying the equivalent of US$55,574,036 and selling US$47,693,027, in contrast to US$33,671,447 purchased and US$25,438,235 sold on Friday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$52,708,850 compared to US$30,487,529 on Friday, as the buying rate for the US dollar rose 20 cents to close at $122.57. A total of US$44,797,667 was sold versus US$24,056,712 on 
Friday with the selling rate rising 3 cents to $123.18. The Canadian dollar buying rate dropped 99 cents to end at $94.17 with dealers buying C$1,249,836 and selling C$810,992, at an average rate that slipped 5 cents to $97.48. The rate for buying the British Pound fell 65 cents to $175.25 for the purchase of £1,251,371, while £1,451,992 was sold, as the rate jumped $2.53 to $179.55.
At the end of trading, the selling rate for Euro, climbed $1.72 to close at J$141.05, from Friday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$140.16 for a rise of $3.18 from Friday’s rate. 
The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded amounts to US$115,775 being bought, while US$137,203 was sold.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest traded rates for the Jamaican dollar against the main currencies on Monday are, a fall of $2.63 in the lowest selling rate of the US dollar to end at $100.03, a rise of $2.10 in the lowest selling rate of the Canadian dollar to $89.30 and a decline of $4.40 in the lowest selling for the British Pound to end at $167.80.
6 TTSE stocks trade – Monday
Trading ended with just 6 active securities changing hands on Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Monday with 1 stock gaining, 4 declining while 1 remained unchanged as trading as selling pressure continues in the market. Trading ended with 57,196 shares valued at $589,600 changing hands..
The Composite Index declined by 0.56 points to close at 1,124.67, the All T&T Index eased 1.11 points to close at 1,797.89 and the Cross Listed Index remained at 59.97.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 5 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling prices and 12 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Trinidad and Tobago NGL gained 1 cent, to close at $19.53 with 4,452 shares trading.
Losses| Clico Investment Fund traded 10,500 units at $22.50 after shedding 10 cents, Guardian Holdings had 1,144 shares changing hands, to end 1 cent lower at $12.99, Massy Holdings lost 50 cents to close at 52 weeks’ low of $51 with 2,480 shares changing hands and Trinidad Cement traded 36,683 shares to end with a loss of 1 cent, at $3.35.
Firm Trades| JMMB Group closed at 58 cents with 1,937 shares changing hands.
Eppley jumps $76 on Monday
Eppley jumps sharply to close at a new high of $580.76
At the close, there were two 52 weeks’ highs with 14 active securities trading, with 8 advancing and 3 declining. Volume traded is just 534,047 shares valued at $3,394,975, while 4 stocks closed with bids higher than the last selling prices and 3 ended with lower offers.
At the end of trading in a market, Caribbean Cream traded 19,811 units and fell 15 cents to end at $4.20, Caribbean Flavours had 104,812 shares changing hands at $8.50, Consolidated Bakeries gained 10 cents in trading 40,000 shares to close at $1.35, Dolphin Cove had 16,144 shares changing hands at $12.50. Honey Bun rose 75 cents to end at a 52 weeks’ high of $17.95 with 500 shares trading.
Iron Rock Insurance traded at $3.40 at the close while 4,000 shares changed hands, with a gain of 5 cents, Jamaican Teas traded 1,817 shares and gained 1 cent to end at $4, Jetcon Corporation ended at $2.90 while 66,153 units traded. Key Insurance traded 5,300 shares but gained 30 cents to end at $2.80, Lasco Distributors fell 10 cents and ended at $7.50 with 213,679 shares trading, Lasco Financial gained 25 cents to close at $3.40 with 25,585 shares changing hands. Lasco Manufacturing rose $1.05 to close at $4.60 with 27,458 shares trading and tTech ended with 8,688 units changing hands to end with a loss of 30 cents at $4.15.
Slow trading in morning session – Monday
Trading in the early morning session on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, after 85 minutes of trading, 
on Monday, the average volume traded amounts to 19,944 units per active stock, compared to an average of 657,664 units traded in the mid-morning session on Friday. Notwithstanding the low volume the market indices record strong gains.
By just under one and a half hour of trading a total of 28 securities accounting for 558,419 shares changed hands as 10 stocks gained and 7 declined.
The market saw the all Jamaica Composite Index gained 1,413.41 points to 168,043.77, the JSE Market Index rose 1,263.82 points to 151,303.00, the JSE combined index ended with a rise of 1,612.99 points to 161,970.95 and the junior market index gained 42.97 points to 2,107.82.
Post budget stock growth seen
Gary Peart, Chief Executive of Mayberry Investments.
Jamaican stocks declined since reaching record levels between January and early February, ahead of the general elections held in late February, but Gary Peart, Chief Executive officer of Mayberry Investments expects the price of Jamaican stocks to continue to grow in 2016 after the completion of the 2016/7 budget debate.
The local stock market doubled in 2015 and reached a peak earlier in 2016, declined in the run up to and after the general election. The All Jamaica Index closed on a high of February 4, at 183,366.39 points, gaining 9.6 percent for the year but declined to 170,638.70 on the day of election, on February 25, since then it has fallen further as low as 164,504.76 on April 21 and now sits at 166,630.36 just below the 2015 close of 167,363.25.
The junior market that peaked at 2,357.20 points on January 12 for an increase of 31 percent since December, declined as low as 1,762.87 on April 7, 
with some recovery since, to close at 2,064.85 on the last trading day of April and is up compared to the 1,791.05 points the market closed out 2015 at.
According to Peart, in an executive commentary on Mayberry’s March 2016 quarterly report, things should change after the current budget presentation.
According to Peart, “Despite the reduced enthusiasm from investors as the market awaits the outcome of the 2016/2017 budget, we believe that the confidence in the market will continue and the volumes and transaction levels in the equities market will grow as the equity market continues to outperform fixed income securities investments. The Government has committed to keeping the incentives for the Junior Stock Exchange in place and we consider this a positive move for achieving growth in the economy whilst increasing investors’ returns.”
Watch their money not their words
Natalia Gobin-Gunter Chairman and Deputy Managing director inserting name strip to indicate listing of Key Insurance on the junior market.
The survey findings of carried out amongst Jamaica’s business executives, show wild swings in their views on current conditions since the start of the data in 2005, while the index of future business conditions was far more predictive of actual business developments. The attached chart shows this up quite clearly. Other findings of the survey also points out that the top management of the various companies were was off the mark when it came to inflation, interest rates and the rate of exchange of the local dollar. One of the clearest measures to test what the executives say and do, is a comparison of the sentiments on business conditions and the performance of the stock market.
When it came time for the business community to put their money where their mouth is, it turned out to be vastly different from what they were saying in the Business Condition Survey. One measure of the business community’s bet on the future, is shown in the attached graph. The graph shows future expectations are is much more aligned with future business conditions than with current ones.
What the business sector did, reflected itself in a much smoother monthly movement than what they said about the future. When it comes to money, the stock market reflects what people are doing with their money as opposed to what they say. The chart shows the movement in the all Jamaica Composite Index, plotted against the two business surveys published by the country’s central bank.The movement of the stock market seems a better predictor of future expectations, than the surveys, as shown by the smoother movement of the stock market compared with the sentiments data. What is also true, is that the future expectations and the stock market movements are fairly closely aligned with each other.
JSE ends April positively – Friday
Mayberry Investments traded 17.65m shares on the JSE on Friday.
The JSE Market Index that plummeted sharply by 2,934.82 points on Thursday, recovered just 527.92 points on Friday to end at 150,039.18. The all Jamaica Composite Index gained 590.41 points on Friday but in contrast to the drop of 3,282.21 points on Thursday as it closed at 166,630.36 and the JSE combined index that dived 2,789.11 points on Thursday enjoyed a slight increase by 94.38 points, to close at 160,357.96. The decline in the movement in the main market on Friday, breaks the four consecutive trading days that the indices gained prior to today out turn.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 21 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
At the end of market activities, Berger Paints gained 10 in trading 2,472 shares at $4, Cable & Wireless lost 2 cents and closed at $1.37 in trading 349,000 units, Caribbean Cement traded 83,248 shares but the price fell $1.44 to close at $26.56, Carreras rose 50 cents while trading 16,265 shares, to close at $63. Rebranded Gleaner Company, 1834 Investments, gained 1 cent to close at 99 cents in trading 101,900 shares, Jamaica Broilers had 25,000 units changing hands, to close with a loss of 35 cents at $14.15. Jamaica Stock Exchange traded 5,000 units and declined by $1, to close at $21, Kingston Wharves traded 21,644 shares to close at $11.15, with a loss of 5 cents, Mayberry Investments traded 17,650,039 shares but fell 2 cents to close at $3.30.
National Commercial Bank gained $1.20 while 180,965 shares traded, to close at $41, after the company released improved results for the March quarter, Pan Jamaican lost $1 to close at $88 with 4,860 shares changing hands. Radio Jamaica traded 94,200 shares and climbed 7 cents to close at $1.15. Sagicor Group gained 45 cents to end with 12,844 shares changing hands at $22.50, Scotia Group closed with a loss of $1, to end at $30 while 10,421 units changed hands, Supreme Ventures gained 1 cent and closed at $5.06 with 160,489 shares changing hands. Proven Investments closed with 8,677 ordinary shares trading at 20 US cents and JMMB Group 6% preference share ended with 62,630 units trading with a loss of 5 cents at $1.10.
More FX bought than sold – Friday
Trading in the Jamaican foreign exchange market saw dealers purchasing US$8 more than they sold on Friday, with trading levels back to normal, compared to over US$120 million dollar changing hands on Thursday. The rate of the local dollar saw a very slight erosion, climbing to $123.15 for the selling rate of the US dollar. The Jamaican dollar declined against the Canadian dollar and gained against the Pound.
The market closed with dealers buying the equivalent of US$33,671,447 and selling US$25,438,235, in contrast to US$123,767,068 purchased and US$123,055,349 sold on Thursday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$30,487,529 compared to US$120,456,040 on Thursday, as the buying rate for the US dollar fell 53 cents to close at $122.37.
A total of US$24,056,712 was sold versus US$120,998,074 on Thursday with the selling rate rising 1 cent to $123.15. The Canadian dollar buying rate jumped $1.24 to end at $95.16 with dealers buying C$1,262,941 and selling C$580,684, at an average rate that rose 51 cents to $97.53. The rate for buying the British Pound fell 83 cents to $175.90 for the purchase of £1,478,725, while £475,362 was sold, as the rate dropped $2.70 to $177.03.
At the end of trading, the selling rate for Euro, rose 10 cents to close at J$139.34, from Thursday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$136.98 for a rise of 88 cents from Thursday’s rate. 
The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded amounts to US$76,225 being bought, while US$238,349 was sold.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest traded rates for the Jamaican dollar against the main currencies on Friday are, a rise of $9.16 in the lowest selling rate of the US dollar to end at $102.66, a fall of $1.50 in the highest buying rate of the Canadian dollar to $97.50 and a decline of $2.80 in the lowest selling rate to end at $87.20. A rise of $4.20 in the lowest selling rate to $172.20 for the British Pound.
Trading picked up on TTSE – Friday
Witco traded at a new high on the TTSE.
The Composite Index declined by 1.14 points to close at 1,125.23, the All T&T Index eased 2.47 points to close at 1,799.00 and the Cross Listed Index advanced by 0.03 points to end at 59.97.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 6 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling prices and 9 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Sagicor Financial Corporation gained 3 cents and closed with 33,285 shares valued at $582,378 changing hands, at $7.13, Point Lisas rose 4 cents to end at $3.94 with 212 shares changing hands. Trinidad Cement rose 1 cent to close $3.36 with 597,415 shares valued at $2,006,665 changing hands and West Indian Tobacco traded 361 shares to close at 52 weeks’ high of $126.35 after rising 5 cents.
Losses| Clico Investments Fund traded 208,749 shares and lost 10 cents, to end at $22.60, Guardian Holdings had 30,265 shares valued at $393,447 changing hands, to end 25 cents lower at $13.
Massy Holdings lost 71 cents to close at 52 weeks’ low of $51.50 with 5,083 shares changing hands and Republic Financial Holdings declined by 1 cent to close at $108.99, with 25 shares changing hands, at a 52 weeks’ low.Firm Trades| Ansa Merchant Bank traded 200 units at $39.50, Firstcaribbean International Bank traded 5,035 shares to end at $6.52, Grace Kennedy traded 9,064 shares at $5.15, National Enterprises closed with 182 shares changing hands at $11.35. Scotia Investments closed with 2,500 shares trading at $1.62 and Trinidad and Tobago NGL traded at $19.52 with 270,538 shares valued at $5,280,915 changing hands.
