Junior Market at 13-month high up 11.3% YTD

The Junior Market Index rose sharply on Thursday to the highest close in over 13 months since the market index ended at 2,942.84 on February 24, last year. The market index grew appreciably at the close, gaining 46.29 points to close at 2,941.25, surpassing the elusive 2,900 mark for the seventh time since the last week of February to be up 11.3 percent year to date.
A total of 36 securities traded against 35 on Wednesday and ended with 20 rising, eight declining and eight remaining unchanged. The average PE Ratio ended at 16.7 based on ICInsider.com’s forecast of 2020-21 earnings.
Investors traded 5,513,842 shares for $19,693,968 from 6,442,104 units at $19,769,570 Wednesday.  Lasco Manufacturing led trading with 36.7 percent of total volume in exchanging 2.02 million shares, followed by Lumber Depot with 18.1 percent in trading 999,321 units and Jamaican Teas 9.6 percent with a transfer of 531,015 units.
Trading averaged 153,162 units at $547,055 in contrast to 184,060 at $564,845 on Wednesday. The month to date averaged 235,664 units at $670,892, compared to 245,801 units at $686,107 on Wednesday. February closed with an average of 365,365 units at $881,118.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows three stock ended with bids higher than their last selling price and four with lower offers.
At the finish, AMG Packaging rose 5 cents to $1.80 with an exchange of 800 shares, CAC 2000 jumped $1.80 to $9.90 with 1,417 units changing hands, Caribbean Assurance Brokers climbed 45 cents to $2.32 with 200,000 stocks passing through the market. Caribbean Cream gained 5 cents to close at $4.85 with 255 shares traded, Caribbean Producers advanced 18 cents to $3.23 with a transfer of 54,591 units, Dolphin Cove rose 14 cents to $9.21 with an exchange of 1,278 stocks. Everything Fresh increased by 21 cents to $1.09 with 44,132 stock units changing hands, Fosrich gained 10 cents to close at $5.25 with 45,400 shares passing through the market, Indies Pharma advanced 30 cents to $3.30 with 116,705 stocks traded. Iron Rock Insurance jumped 30 cents to $3.30 with the transfer of a single unit, ISP Finance dropped $5.04 to $20 with an exchange of 1,400 shares, Jamaican Teas increased 15 cents to $3.24 with 531,015 stocks changing hands. Lasco Distributors slipped 5 cents to $3.70 with 43,656 units passing through the market, Lasco Financial rose 6 cents to $2.69 with 51,951 shares traded, Lasco Manufacturing climbed 17 cents to $4.40 with a transfer of 2,020,846 stock units. Lumber Depot advanced 13 cents to $2.61 with 999,321 units changing hands, Paramount Trading rose 14 cents to $1.45 with 1,000 stock units traded and Stationery and Office Supplies gained 5 cents to close at $4.60 with 7,899 shares crossing the exchange.

Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.