JSE surges to new record close – Monday

The Jamaica Stock Exchange main market continues to reach new highs for the year as investors continue to focus their attention on main market stocks and leaving their Junior Market siblings to play second fiddle.
At the close on Monday, the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index jumped 3,297.34 points to a record close of 483,631.36 and the JSE Index surged 2,996.42 points to yet another record close of 440,482.91.
At the close market activity, on the main and US markets, the prices of 12 securities advanced, 16 declined and 9 traded firm, as a total of 37 securities traded, compared to 33 on Friday. Market activity ended with 77,902,533 units for $226,722,040, in contrast to 96,408,959 units valued $1,106,187,077 on Friday.
Wigton Windfarm led trading with 74 million units or 95 percent of total main market volume, Grace Kennedy closed with 1.84 million shares changing hands equating to 2.4 percent of total trades, followed by Victoria Mutual Investments with 416,503 stock units and less than one percent of the day’s trades.
The market closed with average of 2,360,683 units valued $6,870,365, in contrast to 3,213,632 shares valued at $36,872,903 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 1,508,699 shares, with a value of $12,537,308, compared to 1,430,601 shares, with a value of $13,110,955 previously. May closed with an average of 2,248,261 units at an average of $12,751,529 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 9 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 closing with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Barita Investments rose 30 cents and closed at $43.80, trading 10,872 shares, Caribbean Cement dropped 80 cents to close at $79.10, with an exchange of 13,557 shares, Carreras dropped $1.05 to conclude trading of 120,555 units at $7.75, Eppley dived $1.40 to $12 in trading 7,500 shares. Jamaica Broilers finished trading 33,000 units with a fall of $ 2.25 to end at $33.75, Jamaica Producers traded 78,931 shares and rose $2 to close at $27, JMMB Group added $1 trading 73,874 shares to end at $39, Kingston Wharves dived $5 to close at $65, trading 8,937 stock units, Mayberry Investments fell 50 cents, trading 78,393 shares at $8.25. Mayberry Jamaica Equities fell 90 cents to end at $11.20, with 84,460 shares changing hands, PanJam Investment climbed $1 to conclude trading of 37,270 shares at $95. Pulse Investments rose 33 cents to close at $2.98, trading 24,500 shares. Salada Foods traded 205 shares after rising $1.50 to close at $34, , Sagicor Group traded 18,082 units with a rise of 50 cents to close at $48.50, Scotia Group climbed $1.25 to close at $53.50, with an exchange of 172,626 shares and Seprod lost $1.98 to end at $48, in trading 99,522 shares.
Trading in the US securities market resulted in 7,144 units valued at over US$8,587 changing hands. Market activity ended with JMMB Group 6% preference share closed at US$1 trading 3,244 units, JMMB Group 5.75% settled trading of 2,500 shares at US$2, Margaritaville Turks exchanged 100 units at 25 US cents and Proven Investments traded 1,300 units in closing at 26 US cents. The JSE USD Equities Index declined 0.23 points to close at 189.11.