New IPO pressures Junior Market

The Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange suffered more declines on Friday, ahead of the opening of the Regency Petroleum IPO on Monday, with the Market Index falling 61.65 points to 3,871.96, some 127 points below the close on Wednesday, ahead of the release of the IPO information.
The recent decline is mild compared with the fall after the announcement of the Trading climbs on the JSE US dollar market Dolla IPO, of just over 330 points, with the market slipping from 4,357.81 points to 4,027.35 the day before the issue opened and in the case of One on One, the market dropped 327 points. In both cases, prices started rebounding strongly on the day the issue opened and continued for some time after.
In Friday’s trading, the volume of stocks exchanged declined 75 percent, with the value down 81 percent from activity on Thursday, with 42 securities trading down from 46 on Thursday and ended with 17 rising,17 declining and eight closing unchanged and Blue Power closed at a 52 weeks’ low of $2.67.
A total of 8,983,578 shares were exchanged for $21,220,946, down sharply from 35,681,537 units at $109,696,406 on Thursday. Trading averaged 213,895 shares at $505,261 compared with 775,686 units at $2,384,704 on Thursday. The month to date averaged 290,620 units at $799,120 compared with 296,406 stock units at $821,279 on the previous day. October closed with an average of 264,407 units at $832,036.
ONE on ONE Educational led trading with 3.03 million shares for 33.7 percent of total volume, followed by JFP Ltd with 1.62 million units for 18.1 percent of the day’s trade and Future Energy Source with 711,415 units for 7.9 percent market share.
The PE Ratio, a measure of computing appropriate stock values, averages 11.8. The PE ratios of Junior Market stocks incorporate ICInsider.com projected earnings for companies with financial year end that falls between November this year and August 2023.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows five stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and four with lower offers.
At the close, Caribbean Cream declined 14 cents to $3.86, with just 275 shares crossing the exchange, Dolla Financial shed 21 cents in closing at $3.29 after an exchange of 211,171 units, Dolphin Cove popped 10 cents to $13.60, with 1,682 stock units crossing the market. EduFocal gained 13 cents in ending at $2.45 while exchanging 499,211 stocks, Everything Fresh fell 19 cents to close at $1.50 after the trading of 81,824 shares, Express Catering advanced 23 cents to $4.80 in switching ownership of 3,880 stock units. Fontana climbed 69 cents to close at $8.79 with 84,037 units changing hands, Iron Rock Insurance lost 30 cents in ending at $2.30 after trading 50,391 stocks, Jetcon Corporation rose 11 cents to $1.19, with 121,266 shares passing through the market. KLE Group dropped 30 cents to $1.70 with a transfer of 5,500 stock units, Lasco Distributors popped 19 cents to $2.89 with investors transferring 8,900 stocks, Lasco Financial dipped 24 cents to $2.71 in exchanging 4,462 units. Lasco Manufacturing declined 10 cents in closing at $3.80 after 49,808 units passed through the market, Limners and Bards rallied 27 cents to end at $2.67 with an exchange of 22,035 shares, but only after hitting a 52 weeks’ intraday low of $2.30, Lumber Depot fell 22 cents to close at $2.23 after a transfer of 72,446 stocks. Main Event declined $1.45 to end at $8.55, with 104,679 stock units changing hands, Medical Disposables shed 15 cents in ending at $5.35, with 1,090 shares clearing the market, Paramount Trading dipped 37 cents to $1.52 after exchanging 51,208 units and Tropical Battery increased 12 cents in closing at $2.50 as investors exchanged 581,061 stock units.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.