Demand rises for Republic Financial Holdings
Strong gains in Guardian Holdings, Republic Financial Holdings and NCB Financial helped to push the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange market indices up on Thursday as trading level rose sharply.
The movement in Guardian and NCB shares followed a report that the NCB and disgruntled minority shareholders of Guardian were to meet to have discussions in an attempt to resolve concerns about the pricing of the offer. Republic gains follows strong March quarter results and pent up demand for the stock.
The market ended trading in 15 securities against 16 on Tuesday, with 7 advancing, 3 declining and 6 remaining unchanged. Market activity resulted in 1,076,127 shares valued at $20,874,283 compared to 335,799 shares at a value of $3,449,592 changing hands, on Wednesday.
At close of the market the, Composite Index the Composite Index jumped 8.29 points on Thursday to 1,234.99, the All T&T Index rose 5.67 points to 1,722.28, while the Cross Listed Index gained 1.50 points to close at 100.50.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows the market continuing to be weak as it closed with 2 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
Gains| Grace Kennedy closed with a gain of 5 cents and settled at $3.05, with 301,234 units traded, Guardian Holdings gained 70 cents and concluded trading t $16, after exchanging 372,650 shares, Guardian Media finished trading with a gain of 1 cent and ended at $65.06, after exchanging just 6 shares, JMMB Group finished trading after an increase by 1 cent and completed trading at $1.73, with 149,834 stock units changing hands, NCB Financial Group rose 20 cents and ended at $5.25, after exchanging 49,276 shares, Republic Financial Holdings finished 79 cents higher and completed trading at $102.50, with 1,209 stock units changing hands and Trinidad Cement rose 24 cents to $2.99, after exchanging 90 shares.
Losses| Ansa Mcal shed 23 cents and settled at 52 weeks’ low of $59, with 143 units, 
National Flour lost 5 cents, ending at $1.75, after exchanging 400 shares and Unilever Caribbean dropped $1.75 and ended at $32.25, after trading 1,810 shares.
Firm Traded| Ansa Merchant concluded market activity at $40, after exchanging 500 shares, Clico Investments settled at $20.20, with 3,678 units, First Caribbean International Bank ended trading at $8.89, after exchanging 1,250 shares, Point Lisas settled at $3.81, with 1,283 units, Trinidad & Tobago NGL closed at $29, with 65,343 units and West Indian Tobacco completed trading at $88.50, with 127,421 stock units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place and are in TTSE dollars.
Trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange ended on Wednesday with trading in 16 securities against 15 on Tuesday, with 3 advancing, 1 declining and 12 remaining unchanged. 
Losses| Ansa Mcal traded a mere 8 units with a loss of 56 cents to cloae at a 52 weeks’ low of $59.23.
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West Indian Tobacco stock price dropped $3.51 to end at $85 and was the main reason for a big dip in the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange index on Wednesday. 
Losses| Guardian Holdings closed with a loss of 30 cents and completed trading at $15, after exchanging 59,627 shares, Scotiabank lost 14 cents in closing at $62.51 with 148,531 units changing hands, Trinidad Cement lost 27 cents and ended trading at $2.60, with 1,600 stock units changing hands West Indian Tobacco concluded trading with a loss of $3.51 to close at $85, after exchanging a mere 150 shares.
Bearishness sentiments continued on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Tuesday, as declining stocks over powered advancing ones by a ratio of more than two to one, while 2 stocks closed at 52 weeks’ lows. 
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