The Jamaican dollar lost further ground against the US dollar and the Pound sterling but gained against the Canadian dollar in Friday’s trading. The selling rate for the US dollar was up by a cent to $111.37 as a total of US$41 million was bought by dealers and $38.8 million was sold. 
The rates for the Canadian dollar settled at $100.50 buying and $101.74 selling and the Pound traded at $184.56 buying with the selling rate ending at $187.20.
Trading levels on the market on Friday were above Thursday’s as dealers bought the equivalent of US$44,386,802 compared to US$26,366,025 on Thursday and sold the equivalent of US$41,450,934 versus US$27,249,283. Trading activity led to the local currency losing ground against the US dollar and the Pound Sterling but it was mixed against the Canadian dollar.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$41,028,885 compared to US$20,697,117 on Thursday as the buying rate for the US dollar rose 24 cents to $111 and sold US$38,828,427 versus US$23,213,516 on Thursday with the rate closing up by a cent at $111.37.
The Canadian dollar buying rate fell by 30 cents to end at $100.50 with dealers buying C$1,211,058 and selling C$973,786 with the rate falling 29 cents to end at $101.74.
The Pound closed at $184.56 for the purchase of £1,052,437 as the rate fell 90 cents while £343,895 was sold with the rate climbing by 50 cents to $187.20.
Other currencies bought amounted to the equivalent of US$511,612 while selling accounted for the equivalent of $1,154,906.
Highs & Lows| The highest buying rate for the US dollar rose 25 cents to $112 but the lowest buying rate remained unchanged at $90.18, the highest selling gained 53 cents to $116.09 and the lo
west selling rose by $18.32 to $108.50.
The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar fell 15 cents at $101.90, the lowest buying rate increased by 37 cents to $80.47 but the highest selling rate inched up 1 cent to $103.79 and lowest selling rate was up by 45 cents to $96.95.
The highest buying rate for the Pound gained 20 cents to $187.50 while the lowest buying rate remained unchanged at $148.28. The highest selling rate declined by 51 cents to $190.65 while the lowest gained $1.30 to $179.95.
Dear Sir. I respect your learned opinion and analysis in financial matters. In this regard, kindly advise if possible as to your views on Lasco Financial, Distributors and Manufacture. Do you believe that these stocks are likely to perform well in the short, medium and/or longterm. The prices have declined compared to when I bought them and I am concerned about the potential for further decline as the dollar continues to devalue. Should I just cut my losses and sell and convert to FX.
Thanks.
Jason thanks for your enquiry. As you will see our BUY RATED list contains these three stocks. Here are our views. first off the local stock market tends to go down around May until last June or July. This is not cast in stone, just a tendency. One reason for it is that investors get the full information as to what companies did last fiscal year and a glimpse for the new year. In the case of the three Lasco companies they have just reported their full year results. The distributorship earning is the most encouraging of the three and looks like it will probably do better than the other three in the short to medium term. It will also benefit from the Salada Foods distribution which started this year as well as from the expanded production to come from the expanded Manufacturing company’s operation. The information suggest that the next set of results should possibly show growth over that of 2013.
Lasco Financial seems poised for good things but big marketing spend last fiscal year kept profits down as they went for more market share. it does look as if they will be spending on the world cup promotions which could build business but may also keep profits pressured some what.
Manufacturing seems cheap at $1 baring in mind the impact that the factory expansion is likely to have on both sales and profits ultimately. short term they will have to pick up interest costa and depreciation on the completed factory but will enjoy cost savings and ultimately increased profits.
at this stage one need to be careful of converting to FX at this stage as the big move in the FX trade could be over. You may have to hold for awhile but I would think that the investment will pay off in the medium term. more so in the case of financial and distributorship during 2014. I would want to see he Q1 results for Manufacturing before jumping.
it is my view that the market overall is undervalued but investors will need to be patient and the payoff is likely to huge for those who wait, afterall the gains to be reaped elsewhere is not likely to be all that great to cause one to jump and possibly miss the gains ahead.
hoping that you have success in whatever you do.
Jason what did you do. I just posted the response on the web site so others can see.