Junior Market loses altitude

Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange was dominated by falling stock prices on Monday with all the 49 list securities trading up from 46 on Friday as the volume of stocks traded declined by22 percent, with the value exchanged being 19 percent lower than on Friday and leading to prices of 10 stocks rising, 29 declining and 10 closing unchanged.
A total of 15,746,039 shares were exchanged for $40,681,154 versus 20,295,875 units at $50,102,944 on Friday.
Trading averaged 321,348 shares at $830,228 down from 441,215 units at $1,089,194 on Friday with the month to date average of 214,342 stock units at $547,976 compared to 205,980 stocks at $525,918 on Friday, the previous day. Trading in December averaged 333,420 units at $925,533.
Image Plus Consultants led trading with 7.81 million shares for 49.6 percent of total volume followed by Fosrich with 2.48 million units for 15.7 percent of the day’s trade and Regency Petroleum with 896,948 units for 5.7 percent market share.
At the close, the Junior Market Index shed 24.95 points to close at 3,968.96.
The PE Ratio, a measure of computing appropriate stock values, averages 12.5. The PE ratios of Junior Market stocks use ICInsider.com projected earnings for the financial year ending that falls between November 2022 and August 2023.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows three stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and four with lower offers.
At the close, Access Financial dropped $1.39 to end at $22.11 with a transfer of 2,512 shares, Cargo Handlers advanced $1.76 to $13.40 after trading 181 stock units, Caribbean Cream popped 60 cents to $3.80 in an exchange of 500 units. Dolphin Cove fell $1.52 to $13.68 after 226,485 stocks passed through the market, EduFocal fell 16 cents to $2.23 with the swapping of 86,766 stocks, Express Catering lost 10 cents to settle at $5.40 with an exchange of 10,208 shares. Fosrich shed 11 cents in closing at $3.54 with 2,478,099 stock units changing hands, Honey Bun rose 50 cents to $7.52 after 8,438 units crossed the market, iCreate lost 7 cents after ending at $1.71 trading 277,134 shares. Image Plus Consultants shed 20 cents to close at $2 as investors exchanged 7,813,398 stocks, as low as $1.90, Indies Pharma advanced 25 cents to $2.95 with a transfer of 98,685 stock units, ISP Finance dropped 40 cents in closing at $28 after switching ownership of 51 units. JFP Ltd lost 10 cents in ending at $1.62 with 157,396 stock units changing hands, KLE Group fell 19 cents to $1.71 with the swapping of 1,689 shares, Lasco Distributors dipped 15 cents to end at $2.58 as investors exchanged 27,760 stocks. Lasco Financial gained 24 cents to close at $2.84 with a transfer of 31,621 units, Lasco Manufacturing shed 39 cents in closing at $4.16 after exchanging 8,420 units, Lumber Depot gained 16 cents in ending at $2.46 after trading 136,511 stock units. Main Event dipped 30 cents to $9.10 in switching ownership of 41,568 shares, MFS Capital Partners declined 12 cents to close at $2.85 with an exchange of 533,814 stocks, Paramount Trading rallied 13 cents to close at $2.33 after clearing the market with 2,652 stock units and Tropical Battery lost 8 cents to settle at $2.41 after a transfer of 340,762 shares.
In the preference segment, CAC 2000 9.5% preference share fell 14 cents to $1.02 in trading 2,970 units.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.