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.
