Junior Market big fall

The Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange suffered a sharp drop on Tuesday with after a few stocks plunged to trigger the market circuit breaker midway through the trading session Market Index dived 81.24 points to settle at 3,684.54, with the volume of stocks traded declining 37 percent and the value 35 percent lower than on Monday with trading in 45 securities compared with 46 on Monday and ended with 18 rising, 17 declining and 10 closing unchanged.
Investors traded 5,857,959 shares for $14,377,145 compared with 9,252,473 units at $22,159,172 on Monday.
Trading averaged 130,177 shares at $319,492 down from 201,141 shares at $481,721 on Monday, with a month to date average of 137,727 units at $337,388 compared to 139,009 units at $340,427 on the previous day. April closed with an average of 266,661 units at $2,583,503.
Image Plus Consultants led trading with 702,194 shares for 12 percent of total volume followed by ONE on ONE Educational with 671,187 units for 11.5 percent of the day’s trade and EduFocal ended with 535,960 units for 9.1 percent market share.
The PE Ratio, a measure of computing appropriate stock values, averages 11.3. The PE ratios of Junior Market stocks are computed using the last traded price in conjunction with ICInsider.com’s projected earnings for the financial years ending between November 2023 and August 2024.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows nine stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and four with lower offers.
At the close, Access Financial declined $2.75 to end at $23, with 300 shares clearing the market, AMG Packaging gained 26 cents to close at $2.93 as investors traded 69 units, Caribbean Assurance Brokers rallied 6 cents to close at 1.95, with an exchange of 504,227 stock units, Consolidated Bakeries climbed 38 cents to $2.55, with 169,493 stock units changing hands. EduFocal fell 25 cents to $1.80 after a transfer of 535,960 units, Elite Diagnostic dipped 22 cents to close at $2.35 with an exchange of 6,017 shares, Everything Fresh rose 7 cents to $1.68 after an exchange of 59,051 stock units, Fontana popped 13 cents to end at $8.78 as investors exchanged 54,699 stocks.
Future Energy Source advanced 8 cents in closing at $4.18 in switching ownership of 130,653 stocks, General Accident rose 7 cents and ended at $5 and closed with an exchange of 35,460 shares, Honey Bun dropped 17 cents and ended at $6.30 with 1,000 stock units changing hands, Indies Pharma popped 30 cents to close at $3.30 with shareholders swapping 376,908 units. Jamaican Teas rose 11 cents to $2.20, with 235,583 shares crossing the market, Jetcon Corporation shed 10 cents in closing at $1.05 after 61,822 stock units crossed the market, KLE Group climbed 19 cents to $1.81 with investors transferring a mere 24 stocks, Knutsford Express lost 90 cents to end at $10.50 after an exchange of 28,229 units. Lasco Distributors lost 23 cents in closing at $2.40 with an exchange of 230,350 units, Lasco Manufacturing fell 25 cents to $3.90 with a transfer of 20,269 stock units, Limners and Bards declined 22 cents and ended at $2.23 as 12,000 stocks passed through the market. Main Event rose 69 cents to close at $13.19 in trading 50 shares and Stationery and Office Supplies dropped $1.30 to end at $14.20 in an exchange of 500 units.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise