Juniors near all-time high

Activity on the Junior Market closed with 6 securities trading and ending with 680,118 units changing hands valued at $867,840. The JSE Junior Market Index declined 25.07 points to close at 811.00, with the price of 3 stocks advancing and 4 declining, two stocks reached new 52 weeks high, with one hitting an all-time high.
The index is just 29 points from the all-time high of 840.18 reached in July 2013, this level is likely to be history once the Lasco companies report earnings, which should be the end of May, based on past reporting time frame. With nearly a third of the market closing with bids ahead of the last traded price, the all-time high should be easily taken out in a matter of days. The junior market is lagging the gains of the main market Jamaican stocks with gains of just 14 percent in 2015 and 33 percent from the low of July 2014, compared to 26 percent for the Main market and 39 percent respectively.
At the close of the market, there were 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 2 with lower offers. The junior market ended with 3 securities closing with no bids to buy and 9 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.Stocks trading in the junior market are, AMG Packaging with 37,855 shares at $3, Cargo Handlers with 3,700 units at a new all time high of $20.11, after putting on 1 cent, Caribbean Producers had 501,000 shares trading at $3.10 with a gain of 10 cents, with the offer at the close, was $2.99 to buy 100,000 units. Lasco Distributors with only 1,285 shares trading, closed at $1.43, Lasco Financial Services had 134,913 units trading and ended at $1.30 with a gain of 10 cents and Lasco Manufacturing traded just 1,355 shares with a gain of 14 cents to $1.35, for a new 52 weeks’ high.