Friday, 27th September 2013 | The standoff between buyers and sellers continued at the Jamaica Stock Exchange with only 17 stocks trading on a day when there were 5 stocks advancing to 2 that declined. The all Jamaica Index closed down 229.56 at 83,992.98 while the JSE composite market index closed at 84,285.07m off by 130.47 and the junior market fell by less than a point at 761.81.
On another trading day that was not very active, a total of 3,304,133 shares traded valued at only $12,213,637 as trading was dominated by Lasco Distributors with 1,446,912 units and Proven Investments 8% 930,915 units.
For the week, the market recorded a decline for the two market indices and the junior market had a slight increase. However, investors should not be fooled by the declines as the supply of stocks is low in many cases and the moving average technical indicator is flashing positive signals for the period ahead.
Main Market | The number of stocks with meaningful volume in the market were not many. However, Gleaner Company put in a volume of 60,000 as it traded firm at $1.18; Jamaica Broilers Group had only 16,254 units with the price closing at $4.90 gaining 10 cents in the process; Jamaica Producers Group traded firm at $18.25 with 20,086 shares; Kingston Wharves dropped 89 cents to $6.01 as 7,000 shares changed hands; National Commercial Bank had one of the more buoyant trading session in recent weeks with 170,697 as the price gained 60 cents to close at $19.50; Scotia Group exchanged just 1,190 units at $21 for an increase an of 21 cents. Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% traded 205,000 firm at $3 with a value of $615,000 and Proven Investments 8%, 930,915 units traded firm at $5.09 for a total value of $4,738,357.
Junior market | Only stocks of 3 companies traded with Caribbean Producers trading 33,812 units firm at $2.10; General Accident Insurance, fresh from announcing a second interim dividend for the year, put in one of its better days with 385,896 units and closed at $1.80, up 10 cents and Lasco Distributors had a good day with 1,446,912 but closed down 6 cents to $1.44.
Market intelligence | There are limited supplies for a number of stocks. For example, National Commercial Bank has buying around the $18.50 level as buyers try to get the stocks as cheaply as possible, but there is not much selling below $24. With less than 400,000 units on offer at the end of trading on Friday, the market is thin for the stock. For Scotia Bank, some buying is around the $20-21 mark and selling mostly around $22.50 to $24. Sagicor Life has only 6 offers for less than 130,000 units between $9 and $11 while buying is between $8 to 8.50. There is good support for Pan Jamaican Investment at $48 as the stock retreated in price in recent days. Jamaica Broilers seems to have come in for some selling during the week with the price falling to the $4.60 level, while supply has increased just above $5 and demand has pulled back below $4.80.
IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed the market consolidating with bids for 6 stocks being higher and 6 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.
