The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange continues its bullish mood as trading closed with the 8 consecutive record on Tuesday, with the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index climbing 1,582.36 points to a record 316,696.32 and the JSE Index advancing 1,441.71 points to a record 288,546.16.
In the main activity, NCB Financial climbed back by $4 to close at $107 with 72,595 trading and Productivity Business traded 400 preference shares for a gain of $5 to close at a record high $105.
Berger Paints jumped 97 cents to close at $16, with 263,833 shares, this compares with the price of $10.88 that company’s majority shareholder offered, to buy out the minority shares and the company’s directors recommended as a fair value. Cable & Wireless traded 2 cents higher at $1.09, with 124,962 units, Caribbean Cement ended 50 cents higher at $28.60, with 82,419 shares, Carreras concluded trading 1 cent higher at $11.50, with 505,010 shares, 
Grace Kennedy settled 20 cents higher at $43, with 3,036 stock units, Jamaica Broilers ended with a loss of 49 cents at $18, after trading 13,309 units, Jamaica Producers finished at $16, with 5,905 stock units. Jamaica Stock Exchange traded 30 cents higher at $7, with 12,934 shares, JMMB Group closed with a loss of 50 cents at $27, trading 264,989 units, Kingston Wharves ended at $31.50, with 8,255 shares, Mayberry Investments closed with a loss of 40 cents at $4.20, with 73,720 stock units trading, 
138 Student Living ended trading 9,581 shares at $5.40. PanJam Investment settled with a loss of $1.99 at $40, exchanging 925 units, Portland JSX gained 15 cents to end at $9.15, with 1,800 stock units, Pulse Investments concluded trading with a loss of 40 cents at $1.60, with 2,750 shares changing hands, Radio Jamaica settled at $1.15, with 50,837 stock units, Sagicor Group jumped 99 cents higher to $39.99, with 18,676 shares. Sagicor Real Estate Fund settled 15 cents higher at $14.15, with 580,923 stock units, Scotia Group closed 50 cents higher at $51, with 2,453,400 units trading, Seprod closed at $30, with 38,390 shares and Supreme Ventures finished 9 cents higher at $11.99, with 763,256 stock units. In the main market preference segment, JMMB Group finished trading with a loss of 1 cent at $1.10, with 5,568,368 units.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
NCB hits record high at $110
NCB Financial surged to record high of $110 on Monday but failed to hold at this level, and closed with a fall of $4 from Friday’s close, while trading 66,239 units.
Gains in 7 securities in addition to an increase in the average price of NCB pushed the market to another record close with an increase of 1,123.42 points for the All Jamaican Composite Index, to a new record close of 315,113.96 and the JSE Index ending at a new closing high with a rise of 1,023.56 points to 287,104.45.
Trading in the main and US dollar markets ended with 22 securities changing hands, of which 7 advanced, 8 declined and 7 traded firm.
In market activity, Berger Paints rose $1.03 to $15.03, trading 88,561 shares, Cable & Wireless ended trading with a loss of 3 cents at $1.07, with 149,565 stock units, Caribbean Cement traded $1 higher at $28.10, with 354,168 stock units, Carreras finished with a loss of 1 cent at $11.49, with 173,526 stock units, Grace Kennedy closed at $42.80, with 16,111 shares. Jamaica Broilers lost 46 cents to end trading at $18.49, with 77,769 stock units, Jamaica Producers settled at $16, trading 10,675 units, Jamaica Stock Exchange ended with a loss of 30 cents at $6.70, with 75,914 stock units, JMMB Group settled at $27.50, with 75,887 shares, 
Kingston Wharves concluded trading at $31.50, with a mere 295 shares. Mayberry Investments ended 50 cents higher at $4.60, with just 300 units, 1834 Investments closed 5 cents higher at $1.40, with 84,295 shares, PanJam Investment climbed $2.49 higher to $41.99, with 28,445 stock units, Pulse Investments added 20 cents to close at $2, with 316,977 shares, Radio Jamaica traded 333,324 units at $1.15. Sagicor Group ended with a loss of 50 cents at $39, after 26,730 units changed hands, Sagicor Real Estate Fund concluded trading with a loss of $1 at $14, with 1,695 units being exchanged, Scotia Group jumped $1.42 to $50.50, with 56,422 shares, Seprod traded at $30, with 4,420 stock units and Supreme Ventures concluded trading at $11.90, with 115,550 shares. In the main market bond market NCB US 6% bond traded 19,000 units at J$131.02 after falling by 20 cents and In the US dollar market segment Proven Investments closed with 2,300 units trading at 23.5 US cents.
NCB jumps TOP 10
NCB Financial Group closed at a record $107 on Friday.
NCB Financial returned to the main market list last week, but with a jump of $16 to $107 during the week, it ii no longer in the top list.
Barita Investments traded up to $9 and is now out of the listing. Pulse Investments and Seprod replaced NCB and Barita as the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at new record high on Friday, the third consecutive week of record close, driving the All Jamaica Composite Index 313,990.54.
While the main market is making new highs, with gains of 49 percent for 2017, the junior market with gains of just 12 percent at the end of the previous week is now up 17 percent as the market moved higher for the past week helped by strong results by Paramount Trading, Express Catering and increased buying of Stationery and Office Supplies that pushed the price to $5.50 to sit at 10th spot and could well be off the list by the end of the coming week.
The Junior Market list had no movement in or out in the past week. Trading in Berger Paints shares recommenced on Tuesday, after just 6.6 million units were sold by investors in response to the buyout offer by Ansa Coatings at $10.88 per share with the price closing at $14 on Friday and seemingly poised to rise further during the coming week as investors attempted to trade it at $17 which was outside the daily price limit of 30 percent above the last price. The stock has much room to climb, with the March 2018 full year’s earnings that should hit $2.30 per share.
The main market blast well clear of resistance around 300,000 points on the all Jamaica Index and heading much higher to the next major resistance at the 360,000 points range.
At the close of Friday, the average PE ratio for the Junior Market Top stocks is at 8.1 and a PE at 7.5 for the main market TOP 10. The average PE for the overall main market trades at 13.9 and 13.8 for Junior Market, based on 2017 estimated earnings.
At the close of the week, IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 stocks now trade at an average discount of 41 percent to the average of the market for Junior Market Top stocks and 45 percent for the main market.
Market Watch| Investors should keep a keen eye for NCB, Berger, Jamaica Broiler, General Accident, Paramount Trading and Stationery and Office.
NCB trades at record $107
NCB Financial Group trades at $107
NCB Financial (NCB) surged $13 to record high of $107 while trading 26,721 units, as 10 securities gained and pushed the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index by 8,028.94 points to a record close of 313,990.54.
NCB closed with just two offers for stocks placed on the market for sale at the close on Friday for a total of 5,320 shares, an indication that supply is drying up faster that demand for the stock.
Trading in the main and US dollar markets ended with 24 securities changing hands, of which 10 advanced, 7 declined and 7 traded firm.
In the market activity, Berger Paints closed $1.50 higher at $14, with 20,799 stock units changing hands, Cable & Wireless traded with a loss of 10 cents at $1.10, with 171,802 units, Caribbean Cement ended with a loss of 90 cents to end at $27.10, with 3,910 shares, 
Carreras finished trading 30 cents higher at $11.50, with 191,102 stock units, Grace Kennedy traded 11,334 shares and gained 30 cents to end at $42.80. Jamaica Broilers ended trading 94 cents higher at $18.95, with 562 stock units, Jamaica Producers ended trading at $16, with 2,066 shares changing hands, Jamaica Stock Exchange traded at $7, with 19,850 units, JMMB Group ended trading with a loss of 10 cents at $27.50, with 159,999 stock units, Kingston Wharves rose $1.50 to $31.50, with 5,248 units, Mayberry Investments settled with a loss of 11 cents at $4.10, with 73,995 shares, 1834 Investments ended at $1.35, with 4,390 units trading, PanJam Investment ended with a loss of $1.50 at $39.50, with 12,000 stock units. 
Radio Jamaica closed 5 cents higher at $1.15, with 73,031 units, Sagicor Group ended trading at $39.50 after rising $1.50, with 71,333 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund jumped 99 cents to a new high at $15, with 3,630,842 units, Salada Foods Jamaica finished with a loss of 20 cents at $9.80, with 2,000 stock units, Scotia Group finished trading with a loss of 92 cents at $49.08, with 247,759 shares. Supreme Ventures ended trading 40 cents higher at $11.90, with 13,160 stock units changing hands. In the main market preference segment, JMMB Group finished trading at $1.11, with 417,882 stock units, In the US dollar market segment, Productivity Business traded 135,846 shares at 57.5 US cents after losing 2.5 cents and Proven Investments closed with 4,015 units trading at 23.5 US cents and JMMB Group 6% US dollar preference share traded 1,500 units at $1.10.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Moderate trading hits JSE majors
Trading on the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange was moderate on Thursday with 3,438,708 units, valued at just $30,094,508 changing hands but with the market closing at new record high.
Trading in the US dollar market saw 4 securities changing hands, resulting in 21,938 units valued at US$8,171 trading. A total of 26 securities changing hands in the main market with 9 advancing, 8 declining and 9 traded firm, leading the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index to jump 1,630.32 points to a record close of 305,961.60 and the JSE Index to gain 1,485.40 points to end at a record 278,765.62.
In the main activity, Barita Investments closed $1 higher at $9, with 29,895 shares trading, Berger Paints settled 90 cents higher at $12.50, with 3,308 shares, Cable & Wireless ended trading with a rise of 2 cents to $1.20, with 2,136,104 shares changing hands, 
Caribbean Cement ended 50 cents higher at $28, with 20,303 units, Carreras finished with a loss of 30 cents at $11.20, with 244,222 stock units trading, Grace Kennedy closed at $42.50, with 119,832 shares. Jamaica Broilers traded with a loss of 49 cents at $18.01, with 11,966 shares, Jamaica Producers closed at $16, with 10,229 units, Jamaica Stock Exchange finished trading with a loss of 20 cents at $7, after trading 1,000 shares, JMMB Group concluded trading 60 cents higher at $27.60, with 29,975 units, Kingston Wharves ended at $30, with 31,537 shares changing hands. Mayberry Investments finished at $4.21, trading 168,816 units, NCB Financial climbed by $1.50 to $94.50 while trading 13,287 units, 1834 Investments ended at $1.35, trading 2,500 units, PanJam Investment ended trading $2.40 higher at $41, with a mere 355 stock units, Portland JSX concluded trading at $9, with 4,500 shares. Radio Jamaica finished trading with a loss of 5 cents at $1.10, with 37,922 shares, 
Sagicor Group concluded trading with a loss of 50 cents at $38, with 18,876 stock units, Sagicor Real Estate Fund concluded trading 1 cent higher at $14.01, with 210,174 units, Salada Foods gained $1.50 t0 $10, with 1,000 stock units, Scotia Group finished trading with a loss of $3 to end at $50, with 203,381 shares. Seprod finished trading at $30, with 1,674 units and Supreme Ventures concluded trading with a loss of 50 cents at $11.50, with 14,502 units. In the main market preference segment, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.5% finished trading with a loss of 10 cents at $1.90, with 60,150 stock units, JMMB Group 6% preference share lost 4 cents to close at $1.10, with 63,000 shares. In the US dollar market segment, JMMB Group 6% preference share closed at US$1.11, with 2,230 shares Productivity Business traded 2,910 shares at 60 US cents and Proven Investments closed with 16,424 units trading at 23.5 US cents.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Another record close for Jamaican stocks
Rose Hall hotel a Sagicor Real Estate Fund, property. The stock closed at a new high on Wednesday.
The Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange finished at another new record close of 304,331.28 for the all Jamaica Composite Index on Wednesday. The main and US dollar markets closed with 27 securities changing hands, of which 12 advanced and 5 declined.
In the main activity, Barita Investments closed at $8, with 720 units changing hands, Berger Paints settled 10 cents higher at $11.60, with 72,142 shares, Caribbean Cement finished at $27.50, with 700 units, Carreras settled with a loss of 40 cents at $11.50, with 456,367 stock units, Ciboney Group ended with a loss of 1 cent at $0.18, with 9,835 shares traded. Grace Kennedy ended 50 cents higher at $42.50, with 7,396 units, Jamaica Broilers closed trading 50 cents higher at $18.50, with 18,060 stock units, Jamaica Producers gained 40 cents to end at $16, with 13,000 shares traded, 
Jamaica Stock Exchange ended trading with a loss of 5 cents at $7.20, with 4,000 units, JMMB Group finished trading at $27, with 180,823 units. Mayberry Investments finished trading 11 cents higher at $4.21, with 200 stock units, 1834 Investments concluded trading 10 cents higher at $1.35, with 3,110 units, PanJam Investment finished 60 cents higher at $38.60, with 485 shares, Portland JSX settled 25 cents higher at $9, with 4,760 units, Radio Jamaica ended trading at $1.15, with 688,353 stock units changing hands. Sagicor Group closed with a loss of $1.50 at $38.50, with 385,734 shares, 
Sagicor Real Estate Fund closed 75 cents higher at a 52 weeks’ closing high of $14, with 35,500 units, Scotia Group settled $1 higher at $53, trading 35,890 shares, Seprod exchanged 24,500 stock units at $30 nd Supreme Ventures ended trading at $12, with 33,492 stock units. In the main market preference segment, JMMB Group finished trading at $1.15, with 262,000 stock units, Sagicor Bank A preference share traded 1,350 units at $1.05 and the B share saw 9,000 units trading at $1.
In the US dollar market segment, JMMB Group 6% preference share finished at $1.10, with 10,000 shares Productivity Business traded 550 shares at 60 US cents, Proven Investments closed with 483,576 units trading at 23.5 US cents and Sterling Investments traded just 100 shares at a 52 weeks’ high of 12 US cents after rising 1 cent.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
JSE eating away at resistance
The JSE All Jamaican Composite Index continues to eat away at resistance around the 300,000 points levels, advancing by 2,135.19 points to close at 302,498.35 with the JSE Index following with a rise of 1,945.40 points to a record close of 275,610.21.
At the close of the market, Barita Investments closed at $8, with 7,550 stock units trading, Berger Paints finished trading 25 cents higher at $11.50, with 248,769 shares, Cable & Wireless ended trading 8 cents higher at $1.18, with 1,105,000 units, Caribbean Cement ended trading 95 cents higher at $27.50, with 8,250 units, 
Carreras closed with a loss of 10 cents at $11.90, with 151,770 stock units, Grace Kennedy ended with a loss of 75 cents at $42, trading 85,614 shares. Jamaica Broilers finished 5 cents higher at $18, with 66,650 units, Jamaica Producers settled with a loss of 40 cents at $15.60, with 2,000 shares changing hands, Jamaica Stock Exchange closed 5 cents higher at $7.25, with 1,000 shares, JMMB Group ended $1 higher at $27, with 62,554 units, Kingston Properties rose 5 cents to end at $7.20, with 160 shares. Kingston Wharves finished trading at $30, with 25,722 stock units, 1834 Investments traded 33,558 shares at $1.25, 
PanJam Investment lost 52 cents to end at $38, with 10,000 stock units, Portland JSX traded 25 cents higher at $8.75, with 5,000 units, Radio Jamaica closed at $1.15, with 2,500 shares, Sagicor Group traded 37,406 units with a gain of $1.49 to end at $40. Sagicor Real Estate Fund ended trading at $13.25, with 4,000 units, Scotia Group gained $1.02 higher to $52, with 9,271 shares and Supreme Ventures ended 15 cents higher at $12, with 51,500 stock units. In the main market preference segment, JMMB Group concluded trading at $1.15, with 747,717 stock units, and Sagicor Bank B preference share traded 9,000 units at $1and in the US dollar market segment, Proven Investments closed with 102,838 units trading at 20 US cents after slipping3.5 US cents.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Access & NCB in TOP 10
NCB Financial Group enters TOP 10
The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at new record high on Friday, the seond week in a row that it doing so and in the process the all Jamaica Composite Index broke the 300,000 mark for the first time.
While the main market is making new highs, with gains of 43 percent for 2017, the junior market with gains of 30 percent at its peak this year, is now up just 12 percent for the year to date. Access Financial returned to the Junior Market list and NCB Financial to the main market list even as the latter price moved back to $91 at the end of the week and with just 33,603 units being offered for sale.
Suspension of the trading in Berger Paints shares is expected lifted on Tuesday, October 17. At the time of this report, no information was available on the level of take up of the buyout offer for the minority of the company’s shares by Ansa Coatings. The stock that traded at $11.25 when trading was suspended, should climb with the March 2018 full year’s earnings should hit $2.30 per share.
Investors continue to switch attention from Junior Market, to main market stocks, with the latter having pierced resistance around 300,000 points on the all Jamaica Composite Index could now be heading much higher as it moves on to the next major resistance at 360,000 point range on or before the end of the year.
At the close of Friday, the average PE ratio for the Junior Market Top stocks is at 7.9 and a PE at 7.1 for the main market TOP 10. The average PE for the overall main market trades at 13.5 and 13.1 for Junior Market, based on 2017 estimated earnings.
At the close of the week, IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 stocks now trade at an average discount of 40 percent to the average of the market for Junior Market Top stocks and it remains at 47 percent for the main market.
Jamaican stocks shooting for the stars
NCB could push JSE into breakout territory soon.
The JSE All Jamaican Composite Index raced to a record close of 300,363.16 on Friday, just around resistance level.
The market seems poised to break through the above level sooner than later.
This resistance is a short term one, going back to 2014, when the market started to move up within the channel shown in the accompanying chart. The market made a number of attempts to break out but was constrained by the upper resistance line. It is now making the second attempt to do so within a month and could finally do that, this coming week if NCB Financial makes its final attempt to really move higher in line with its fundamentals, with full year results that should at least reach $9 per share and the announcement of a big final dividend payment, just a few weeks away. Supporting the upward move is the shortage of the stock with only 33,603 units offered for sale at the close of the market on Friday. At the same time the stock trades in Trinidad at J$100.
Th all Jamaica Composite Index trades jsut at resistance and is itching to break out of the channel going back to 2014.
The market decisively broke through the long term resistance of 280,000 points, starting in Mid-September. The resistance line can be traced back to late 1994 and the then 2015 peak, signaling that a big move is ahead as there are no major resistance until the 360,000 market and then 505,000 depending on the pace of the market move.
The technical indicators point to a market that is clearly heading higher with the fundamentals lending support to the technical. The all Jamaica Composite Index has decisively broken through the long term resistance of 280,000 points, starting in Mid-September and heading to higher highs.
The fundamental factors include and growing economy, interest rates that are declining, low inflation, business and consumer confidence that are at record highs, employment on the rise, construction, tourism and the mining sectors growing and likely to have some direct impact on listed companies.
The market decisively broke through the long term resistance of 280,000 points, starting in Mid-September and now has no long term barrier to push much higher.
Bank leading is climbing well above the rate of inflation a good indicator for pickup in economic activities. Government fiscal operations are running with a surplus currently. The wayward Jamaica dollar seems to be tamed with the currency now at a slightly lower value than at the end of 2016. Importantly, there are few areas that can now compete well with the stock market.
Also supporting the rise higher is the fact that the average PE ratio of the main market is over 13, with the top half selling at 16.5, with more than half of the market priced 11 times and below, suggesting big gains ahead for underpriced stocks. The list includes big capitalized stocks such as Caribbean Cement, Grace Kennedy, Jamaica Broilers, JMMB Group, Sagicor Group, NCB Financial and Scotia Group.
Banks push JSE to new high – Friday
Stocks surged higher, at the close of trading on the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Friday with the market ending at record closing levels as JMMB Group NCB Financial and Scotia Group record strong gains, pushing the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index to a record close of 300,363.16.
Trading on the main market ended with 22 securities changing hands, 7 advanced, 6 declined and 11 traded firm with 4,504,312 units valued at $68,391,852 compared to 94,545,441 units valued at $1,119,081,050 on Thursday. In the US dollar market 425,898 units traded for a value of US$102,239 for two securities.
In market activity, volumes are those trades for the day and the closing prices are those at which the last trade took place. At the close on market activity, Barita Investments ended trading with a loss of $1 at $8, with 40,452 stock units trading, Cable & Wireless finished at $1.10, with 42,361 units, Caribbean Cement settled 54 cents higher at $26.55, with 3,000 shares, Carreras closed at $12, after 462,635 stock units changed hands, Grace Kennedy closed with a loss of 5 cents at $42.75, with 12,005 shares. Jamaica Broilers ended with a loss of 5 cents at $17.95, with 1,858 units, Jamaica Producers ended trading at $16, with 2,278 stock units, Jamaica Stock Exchange concluded trading $1.20 higher at $7.20, with 1,064,940 shares switching owners, JMMB Group finished $3 higher at $26, after trading 21,667 units, Mayberry Investments ended trading with a loss of 40 cents at $4.10, with 15,378 shares. PanJam Investment ended with a loss of $3.48 to $38.52, with 9,732 units, 
Portland JSX ended trading after falling 50 cents to an all-time low of $8.50, with 50,000 stock units after the company reported a loss for the six months to August of US$221,251. Radio Jamaica settled at $1.15, trading 10,100 shares, Sagicor Group traded with a loss of $1.49 cents at $38.51, with 7,700 units changing hands, Sagicor Real Estate Fund finished trading 4 cents higher at $13.25, with 19,700 stock units, after it traded at an all-time high of $15. Salada Foods closed at $8.50, with 350,000 shares, Scotia Group ended $3.08 higher at $50.98, with 414,399 stock units, Seprod traded 339 units at $30 and Supreme Ventures finished 37 cents higher at $11.85, with 130,790 shares.
In the main market preference segment, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.5%, ended trading 700,000 shares at $2 and JMMB Group 7.5% ended 1 cent higher at $1.15, with 870,000 stock units changing hands.
In the US dollar market segment, Productivity Business traded 5,898 shares at 57.5 US cents and Proven Investments closed with 420,000 units trading at 23.5 US cents.
