Insurance premium financer, Eppley jumped again in the early morning session on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, to add $69.24 to the $75.76 gained on Monday as 160,000 units of the stock traded at $650 to record a gain of almost 29 percent in two days. The trade took place as the company announced that up to 487,703 new ordinary shares priced at $650 each will be made available to ordinary stockholders on the record date for the issue, on Friday 6 May 2016.
Eppley has 796,249 ordinary shares issued currently. The amount traded represents 20 percent of the issued shares. NCB Capital; Markets bought 41,716 units with the rest being crossed by Mayberry for clients.
Berger Paints traded 132,384 shares to gain 10 cents to $4.10 and was the only one other security trading over 100,000 shares. Honey Bun trading just 2,000 shares hit a new high of $18.
After 77 minutes of trading, on Tuesday, the average volume traded amounts to 25,536 units per active stock, compared to an average of 19,944 units in the mid-morning session on Monday. Notwithstanding the low volume, the main market indices record gains but the junior index declined.
Trading resulted in activity in 20 securities, accounting for 638,410 shares changing hands as 13 stocks gained and 6 declined.
The market saw the all Jamaica Composite Index gained 387.32 points to 170,888.73, the JSE Market Index rose 346.33 points to 153,846.84, the JSE combined index ended with a rise of 230.74 points to 164,768.46 and the junior market index eased 8.83 points to 2,150.50.
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.
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
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.”
JSE ends April positively – 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.