The Junior Market index jumped 76.57 points to close at 2,108.36 on Thursday for the first time since it last rose on Tuesday last week and stemming the flow of bleeding for five consecutive days of trading.
Trading ended with 37 securities changing hands with the prices of 17 securities advancing, ten declining and 11 stocks holding firm. Market activities ended with three finishing at 52 weeks’ lows with Access Financial trading at a low of $18, Everything Fresh at 65 cents and Indies Pharma at $1.93.
Trading resulted in an exchange of 3,923,029 units valued at $10,812,457 compared to 12,311,523 units valued at $19,911,394 on Wednesday, with the average market PE ratio ending at 10.1 times 2019 earnings.
The trading day ended with an average of 106,028 units at $292,229 for each security traded in contrast to an average of 332,744 units for $538,146 on Wednesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 268,431 units valued at $623,974 and 282,671 units valued at $653,060. In contrast, February closed with an average of 167,673 units valued at $488,038 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows five stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and five with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial fell $1.20 to $18 after exchanging 9,070 shares, AMG Packaging gained 31 cents in the trading of 45,400 units at $1.90, Blue Power slid 67 cents to $3 with 3,349 shares changing hands. Caribbean Assurance Brokers picked up 6 cents to settle at $2.01, with 203,463 shares traded. Caribbean Producers ended the day with 1,102,052 units changing hands after falling 1 cent to $2.50, Consolidated Bakeries closed with a gain of 1 cent at $1.26 in the swapping of 30,000 shares. Derrimon Trading gained 8 cents in trading 151,900 shares to close at $1.48, Everything Fresh exchanged 140,000 shares at 65 cents after losing 15 cents, Express Catering swapped 111,969 shares at $3.40 with gains of 40 cents, Fontana picked up 20 cents to close at $4 with 346,578 units traded. General Accident exchanged 81,830 shares and rose 79 cents to close at $5.09, GWest Corporation added 20 cents in trading of 1,669 units at 85 cents. Honey Bun ended 5 cents lower at $4.95 with 24,331 stock units changing hands, Indies Pharma fell by 4 cents in trading of 77,709 units at $1.93. ISP Finance shed $1 to end at $14, with an exchange of 200 units, 
Jamaican Teas added 98 cents in trading 60,625 shares at $4.98, Jetcon gained 13 cents in the swapping of 22,669 shares to close at $1.12, Key Insurance closed at $2.08, with gains of 8 cents exchanging 23,520 shares. Lasco Distributors gained 20 cents trading 1,100 stock units to settle at $2.20, Lasco Financial added 10 cents in trading of 60,130 units at $2.40, Lasco Manufacturing ended at $3 after gaining 20 cents with 55,747 stock units changing hands., Limners and Bards traded 31,005 shares after slipping 10 cents to end at $1.85. Lumber Depot closed at $1.21 with gains of 4 cents in swapping 144,020 shares, MailPac rose by 1 cent in trading of 438,215 units at $1.40, Main Event exchanged 32,088 shares to close at $3.80 after losing 20 cents, Medical Disposables added 30 cents in exchange of 2,000 units at $6. Paramount Trading closed 1 cent lower at $1.81 with 32,611 shares changing hands and SSL Venture traded 4,725 shares to end the day 10 cents lower at $1.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
The market has lost 33 percent of its value since the start of the year and 39 percent since peaking in August 2019. Trading activities concluded with 37 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 20,701,190 units valued at $69,475,355 compared to 4,544,381 units valued at $10,187,594 on Friday. At the close of market activities, the prices of 8 securities advanced, 22 declined and seven remained unchanged, with the average market PE ratio ending at just 10.7 times 2019 earnings.
At the close of the market, Access Financial lost $1.25 in trading 6,440 shares at $21.50, AMG Packaging fell 4 cents to $1.61 with an exchange of 17,000 units, Blue Power gained 69 cents to end at $3.69 with 2,000 units changing hands. Caribbean Assurance Brokers lost 8 cents to end at $1.92 in swapping 102,431 units, Caribbean Cream gained 20 cents, with 3,607 shares crossing the exchange at $3, Caribbean Flavours closed 33 cents higher at $10.50, trading 948 stock units, Consolidated Bakeries lost 6 cents in swapping 516,814 shares to close at $1.45. Derrimon Trading shed 10 cents in trading of 159,167 units at to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $1.60, Dolphin Cove slipped 20 cents to $7.80 with 32,520 shares changing hands, Elite Diagnostic ended trading with a whopping 14,594,247 units and dropped 30 cents to $3.50. Everything Fresh shed 5 cents to end at 80 cents with 82,615 units exchanged, Express Catering lost 50 cents in trading 54,751 shares to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $3.20, Fontana closed 3 cents higher at $4.74, with 403,961 stock units crossing the exchange. GWest Corporation ended market activity exchanging 284,300 shares to close at a 52 weeks’ low of 60 cents after falling 22 cents, Honey Bun lost 13 cents in trading 28,475 units at $5.12, Indies Pharma dipped 2 cents to $1.97 in trading of 311,610 shares. Jamaican Teas closed 3 cents higher at $5, with 59,795 stock units changing hands, Jetcon Corporation exchanged 34,000 shares and declined by 8 cents to settle at a 52 weeks’ low of $1.17, Key Insurance dropped 40 cents to settle at a 52 weeks’ low of $2 with 11,450 stock units changing hands. 
Knutsford Express closed trading of 1,521 units and gained 30 cents to end at $8.30, Lasco Distributors declined 70 cents in trading of 44,659 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $1.90, Lasco Financial slipped 10 cents to $2.20 with 259,724 units traded. Lasco Manufacturing closed 8 cents lower in trading of 129,335 units at $2.93, Limners and Bards fell 25 cents in the exchange of 85,170 units at $2, Lumber Depot ended with a loss of 1 cent at $1.27 with 99,777 stock units changing hands. MailPac added 3 cents exchanging 79,795 shares at $1.38, Main Event declined by 17 cents to settle at a 52 weeks’ low of $4, with 97,399 shares traded, Paramount Trading lost 17 cents in swapping 40,442 units at $1.80. SSL Venture closed 2 cents higher at $1.02, with 2,000 stock units trading and Stationery and Office Supplies dived $1.10 to settle at a 52 weeks’ low of $5.90 with 14,773 shares crossing the exchange.
Trading ended, with 34 securities changing hands, resulting in the prices of 10 securities advancing, 18 declining and six remaining unchanged.an exchange of 4,544,381 units valued at $10,187,594 compared to 4,910,632 units valued at $15,136,846 on Thursday. Trading left the average market PE ratio at 11 times 2019 earnings.
At the close of the market, Access Financial shed $1.25 in trading of 13,618 units at $22.75, AMG Packaging ended market activity, exchanging 35,500 shares to close at $1.65, after falling 25 cents, Caribbean Producers dipped 50 cents in trading of 33,850 units at $3.50. Consolidated Bakeries added 1 cent in exchanging 217,000 shares at $1.51, Derrimon Trading fell 15 cents in trading of 343,000 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $1.70, Dolphin Cove lost 30 cents to end at $8, after trading 28,000 shares. Elite Diagnostic shed 10 cents exchanging 5,000 units at $3.80, Express Catering fell 10 cents after 20,000 units changed hands at $3.70, Fontana gained 20 cents to close at $4.71, trading 412,665 stock units, Fosrich fell 15 cents to a 52 weeks’ low of $2.95, with 34,558 units changing hands. General Accident dropped $1.10 and ended market activity exchanging 67,413 shares at $5, Honey Bun declined 65 cents trading 123,374 units at $5.25, iCreate lost 2 cents with 167,462 units crossing the market at a 52 weeks’ low of 48 cents, Indies Pharma transferred 52,631 units and gained 3 cents to end at $1.99. Jamaican Teas lost 23 cents transferring 26,418 units at $4.97, Jetcon closed 5 cents higher at $1.25, with 1,039,008 stock units changing hands, Key Insurance gained 20 cents to end at $2.40, with 40,000 stock units crossing the exchange. Lasco Distributors dipped 20 cents in trading of 198,632 units at a 52 weeks’ high of $2.60, Lasco Financial gained 4 cents in exchanging 44,826 shares at $2.30, Lasco Manufacturing closed trading of 115,800 units with a gain of 5 cents to end at $3.01.
Limners and Bards closed 18 cents higher at $2.25, with 139,147 stock units moving through the market, Lumber Depot ended with a loss of 1 cent at $1.28, with 24,161 stock units changing hands, Main Event closed 5 cents higher at $4.17, with 22,996 stock units trading. MailPac closed with a loss of 13 cents at $1.35, in swapping of 919,320 shares, Paramount Trading shed 3 cents to close at $1.97 exchanging 57,898 shares, SSL Venture shed 2 cents in trading of 1,443 units at $1 and Stationery and Office Supplies closed 30 cents higher at $7, with just ten stock units changing hands.
The fall in the market took the 2019 losses to 28.4 percent and the fall from the peak to whopping 35 percent.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows four stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and one with a lower offer.
Knutsford Express closed with a loss of $1.10 at $9 swapping of 7,100 shares. Lasco Financial shed 64 cents in exchanging 190,506 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $2.46, Lasco Manufacturing closed 15 cents higher at $3.15, with 191,907 stock units trading after falling to an intraday low of $2.50. Limners and Bards fell 4 cents in transferring 123,710 units at $2.40, Lumber Depot ended market activity exchanging 775,632 shares to close at $1.25, after falling 12 cents, MailPac lost 20 cents in trading of 10,135,145 units at $1.50. Main Event fell 89 cents to end at $5.10, after trading 29,501 shares, Medical Disposables closed trading of 5,240 units and gained 7 cents to end at $6.30. Paramount Trading fell 24 cents in an exchange of 100,000 units at $1.70, SSL Venture closed with a loss of 10 cents at $1.02, after swapping 106,000 shares and tTech fell 70 cents to $4, after transferring 7,357 stock units.
The Market Index dropped 121.90 points to close at 2,534.51, taking the market value back to December 2016 levels.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging lost 10 cents in trading of 27,840 units at $1.80, Blue Power fell 30 cents in exchanging 6,660 units at $3.70, Cargo Handlers lost 6 cents to end at a 52 weeks’ low of $7 with 12,455 stock units trading. Caribbean Cream ended trading with 3,200 shares, after rising 2 cents to end at $3.09, Caribbean Flavours closed $4.33 lower to 52 weeks’ low of $10.16 in transferring 2,240 units, Consolidated Bakeries shed 19 cents with 14,314 shares changing hands to close at $1.60. Derrimon Trading ended 15 cents lower with 53,245 units crossing the exchange at $1.80, Dolphin Cove ended with a loss of $1 to close at $10 with 100 stock units changing hands, Elite Diagnostic fell 31 cents in exchanging 276,396 units at $3.70. Express Catering lost 64 cents transferring 23,842 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $3.75, Fontana slipped 80 cents in trading of 216,761 units at $5, Fosrich climbed 3 cents and exchanged 8,915 shares at $3.33. General Accident closed trading of 5,209 units and gained 74 cents to end at $5.99, GWest Corporation ended with a loss of 1 cent at $1 with 139,789 stock units changing hands, Honey Bun ended market activity exchanging 16,355 shares to close at $6.30 after falling 15 cents. Indies Pharma dipped 10 cents in trading 136,295 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $2.20, Jamaican Teas ended market activity in transferring 216,409 shares to close at $5 after falling 95 cents. Jetcon Corporation ended trading of 500 shares, after rising 5 cents to end at $1.30, Knutsford Express declined by 10 cents to settle at $10.10, with 1,844 units traded, Lasco Distributors exchanged 185,493 shares to close at $2.80 after falling 10 cents. 
Lasco Financial lost 10 cents in trading 65,342 shares to close at $3.10, Lasco Manufacturing lost 30 cents transferring 179,403 units at $3, Limners and Bards declined15 cents in trading 318,551 units at $2.44. Lumber Depot ended with a loss of 1 cent at $1.37 with 664,558 stock units changing hands, MailPac declined by 5 cents trading 215,722 units at $1.70, Main Event climbed 38 cents to settle at $5.99 with 47,619 shares changing hands, Medical Disposables dipped 75 cents in trading of 5,557 units to close at $6.23. Paramount Trading closed 2 cents higher at $1.94, with 25,000 stock units changing hands, SSL Venture Capital declined by 11 cents to settle at $1.12 after trading 5,882 shares, Stationery and Office Supplies lost 50 cents exchanging 19,267 units to end at $8 and tTech closed trading of 1,100 units and gained 83 cents to end at $4.70.
At the close twenty stocks rose rising and ten declined with five remaining unchanged. Trading ended with an exchange of 35 securities resulting in just 4,148,759 units valued at $16,183,548 passing through the market, compared to 24,026,851 units valued at $52,414,301 from 36 securities on Thursday.
Consolidated Bakeries gained 11 cents, after exchanging 700 units and closed at $1.79. Derrimon Trading rose 15 cents to $2.14 after exchanging a mere 200 units, Dolphin Cove traded 4,900 stock units at $10.50, after gaining $1.05, Elite Diagnostic traded 65,815 shares and fell 10 cents to $4.40 at the close. Everything Fresh gained 12 cents to end at 99 cents, after swapping 300 units, Fontana dipped 69 cents and exchanged 223,723 shares at $6.21, Fosrich rose 6 cents to settle at $3.91, with an exchange of 13,392 stock units. General Accident added 30 cents transferring 5,685 units to close at $6.50, GWest Corporation gained 4 cents to close at $1.04 with an exchange of 433 shares, Honey Bun lost 10 cents with 93,037 shares at $7.15, iCreate declined by 12 cents to end at a 52 weeks’ low of 56 cents after trading 154,887 stock units. Indies Pharma climbed 10 cents after exchanging 115,273 shares at $2.94, Iron Rock Insurance dropped 99 cents to $3 with 42,705 shares changing hands, Jamaican Teas lost 38 cents to settle at $6.17 with 61,562 units crossing the market. Jetcon Corporation rose 23 cents and exchanged 4,495 shares in closing at $1.54. KLE Group climbed 5 cents, to close at $2.50 with the trading of 14,750 shares, 
Knutsford Express climbed $1 higher to $11, with 57,822 units changing hands, Lasco Distributors lost 31 cents to end at 52 weeks’ low of $2.69, after transferring 2,027,010 units, Lasco Financial gained 29 cents in trading 111,039 units at $3.30. Lasco Manufacturing closed with 74,774 units changing hands, with a loss of 18 cents to finish at $3.97, Limners and Bards ended with an exchange of 241,060 shares to close at $2.89 after gaining 20 cents, Lumber Depot closed trading of 199,573 units and rising 3 cents to end at $1.50. MailPac added 10 cents to $1.89, after swapping 308,379 units, Main Event traded 22,059 units at $5.90, after rising 30 cents. Medical Disposables closed 43 cents higher at $5.73, after exchanging 4,790 units, SSL Venture Capital rose 4 cents to $1.28, with 448 shares crossing the exchange and tTech lost 53 cents in trading 2,000 units at a 52 weeks’ low at $4.27.
At the close of trading, the number of stocks rising and falling was almost equal, with 16 rising and 15 falling with five remaining unchanged as investors traded in more securities than on Tuesday. Express Catering and Fosrich traded at an intraday low of $4.89 and $3.20, respectively.
At the close of the market, Access Financial gained $1.80 exchanging 11,714 shares at $30, Cargo Handlers rose 30 cents in trading 10,645 units at $7.80, Caribbean Cream lost 70 cents trading 32,239 stock units and closed at $3.30. Caribbean Producers shed 50 cents to end at $4.50 with 12,304 shares changing hands, Consolidated Bakeries lost 11 cents, after exchanging 2,475 units and closed at $1.68. Dolphin Cove traded 37,859 stock units at $9.45, after losing 55 cents, Everything Fresh gained 6 cents to end at 87 cents, after swapping 7,245 units, Fontana climbed 85 cents and exchanged 170,655 shares at $6.90, Fosrich lost 1 cent to settle at $3.85, with an exchange of 36,691 stock units. General Accident shed 20 cents transferring 56,563 units to close at $6.20, Honey Bun added 5 cents and exchanged 30,903 shares at $7.25, iCreate ended at 68 cents after gaining 1 cent trading 14,203 stock units. Indies Pharma climbed 23 cents after trading 52,203 shares at $2.84. Jamaican Teas gained 17 cents to settle at $6.55 with 14,082 units changing hands, Jetcon Corporation exchanged 55,069 shares in closing at $1.31, after losing 11 cents, Key Insurance ended trading with 65,685 stock units, after adding 5 cents to end at $3. KLE Group climbed 15 cents, to close at $2.45 with 1,000 shares crossing the market, Knutsford Express closed 50 cents higher to $10, with 6,781 units changing hands, 
Lasco Distributors lost 5 cents to end at $3.01, after transferring 247,516 units, Lasco Financial dipped 41 cents in trading 98,344 units at $3.01. Lasco Manufacturing closed with 327,725 units changing hands, with gains of 5 cents to finish at $4.15, Limners and Bards ended with an exchange of 5,527,680 shares to close at $2.69 after falling 4 cents, Lumber Depot closed trading of 213,526 units and lost 4 cents to end at $1.47, MailPac shed 21 cents to $1.79 with 15,366,137 units swapped. Main Event traded 10,215 units at $5.60, after losing 37 cents, Medical Disposables closed 20 cents lower at $5.30, after exchanging 10,821 units, Paramount Trading closed trading of 31,929 units and rose 13 cents to end at $2. Stationery and Office Supplies ended 20 cents higher to $8.70, with 10,346 shares crossing the exchange and tTech traded 840 units at $4.80, with gains of 10 cents. Derrimon Trading preference share climbed 15 cents in trading of 434 units at $1.65.
At the close of market activities, the prices of 14 securities advanced, 15 declined and 4 remained unchanged.
At the close of the market, Access Financial lost 97 cents to settle at $28 with 172 shares changing hands, AMG Packaging finished 9 cents higher at $1.99 with 29,814 stock units trading, Blue Power ended the day at $4.40 after gaining 40 cents and exchanging 19,310 stock units. Cargo Handlers dipped 10 cents in trading of 100,000 units at a 52 weeks’ high of $7.85, Caribbean Cream ended trading with 2,100 shares after rising 1 cent to $3.36, Caribbean Flavours dropped $1.51 and closed market activity at $14.41 after an exchange of 1,000 shares. Caribbean Producers ended trading of 10,700 units and gained 20 cents to finish at $5, Consolidated Bakeries climbed 4 cents and exchanged 6,435 shares at $1.79, Derrimon Trading declined by 25 cents to settle at $1.80 with 20,500 units crossing the exchange. Elite Diagnostic closed trading of 4,210 units and gained 2 cents to end at $4.02, Everything Fresh finished with a loss of 1 cent at a new low of 90 cents with 230,000 stock units changing hands, Express Catering ended with 28,155 shares traded, after rising 29 cents to settle at $5.79. Fontana closed 41 cents higher at $6.95, with 95,356 stock units trading, after the company posted strong second-quarter results with the new store contributing to the growth in profit. Fosrich declined 34 cents to settle at $3.50, after an exchange of 16,820 shares, General Accident closed trading of 89,036 units with a rise of 51 cents to end at $6.71 following the release of full-year profit that was up 48 percent. Honey Bun ended the day with 15,300 shares exchanged, after rising 84 cents to end at $7.99, after the company reported a 41 percent rise in pretax profit for the December quarter. iCreate gained 1 cent to end at 74 cents, trading 16,731 shares, Indies Pharma lost 20 cents in exchanging 35,000 shares to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $2.50. 
Jamaican Teas ended market activity with 10,391 shares crossing the exchange to close at $6.01 after falling 9 cents, Jetcon Corporation finished trading 32,298 shares after rising 1 cent to end at $1.40, Key Insurance closed with a loss of 30 cents at $2.90, with 1,971 shares changing hands. Knutsford Express ended market activity exchanging 500 shares to close at $9.30 after falling 15 cents, Lasco Financial dropped 75 cents to a 52 weeks’ low of $3 with 153,057 changing hands, Lasco Manufacturing lost 8 cents in trading 36,667 shares to close at $4.20. Limners and Bards dipped 9 cents in trading of 124,928 units at $2.58, Lumber Depot climbed 3 cents and exchanged 137,253 shares at $1.53, MailPac fell 11 cents trading of 512,419 units at $1.99. Medical Disposables rose 10 cents and exchanged 41,813 shares at $5.10 and tTech declined by 40 cents to settle at a 52 weeks’ low of $4.60 while trading a mere 300 stock units.
Indies Pharma declined 10 cents in trading of 69,000 units at $2.85. Iron Rock Insurance shed 5 cents in the swapping 141,717 units at $3.40, Jamaican Teas lost 8 cents trading 74,943 shares to end at $6.27, Key Insurance closed trading of 21,000 units and gained 10 cents to rest at $3.25. Lasco Distributors finished market activity exchanging 208,659 shares to close at $3 after falling 2 cents, Lasco Financial ended trading 118,707 units and gained 30 cents to settle at $4, Lasco Manufacturing lost 5 cents to settle at $4 with 1,283,815 units crossing the exchange. Limners and Bards ended trading with 44,140 shares, after rising 1 cent to close at $2.73, Lumber Depot finished with a loss of 1 cent at $1.52 with 1,090,903 stock units changing hands and MailPac closed trading of 1,193,264 units and gained 5 cents to end at $2.06.
Trading ended with 34 securities changing hands the same as on Wednesday, resulting in an exchange of 2,099,024 units for $7,953,736, compared to 3,482,018 units valued at $11,901,548 on Wednesday.
At the close of the market, Access Financial lost $1.28 in trading 8,829 shares to close at $29.03, AMG Packaging fell 5 cents, exchanging 1,000 shares to close at $2. Blue Power declined by 15 cents to settle at $3.55 with 41,385 shares crossing the market after the stock traded at an intraday low of $3.29, Caribbean Cream closed 30 cents higher to end at $3.65, with 1,330 units changing hands. Derrimon Trading closed 16 cents higher at $2.19, after hitting an intraday low of $1.88 with 63,837 stock units traded, Elite Diagnostic gained 2 cents to finish at $4.05, in trading 26,549 stock units, Everything Fresh ended trading 106,378 shares at $1.03, after rising 3 cents. Express Catering declined 20 cents in exchanging 60,400 units at $5.60, Fontana climbed 15 cents to settle at $6.55 with 118,764 shares changing hands, Fosrich closed trading of 9,071 units and lost 20 cents to end at $3.80 after hitting an intraday low of $3.21. General Accident shed 50 cents in trading 9,068 shares to close at $6, GWest Corporation closed trading of 14,959 units and lost 9 cents to end at $1.01, Honey Bun ended market activity exchanging 11,413 shares to close at $6.99 after rising 43 cents. iCreate settled at 72 cents with a gain of 5 cents in the swapping 14,066 units, Indies Pharma closed trading of 54,675 units and lost 5 cents to end at $2.85, Jamaican Teas gained 35 cents to close at $6.35 in the swapping 43,984 shares. 
Jetcon Corporation rose by 8 cents in trading of 345 units at $1.50, Key Insurance closed 20 cents higher at $3.40, with 75,721 units trading, Knutsford Express fell 50 cents to close at $10 with 2,501 units crossing the exchange. Lasco Distributors ended with a loss of 1 cent at $3.02, with 78,081 units changing hands, Lasco Financial ended trading with 28,706 shares, after declining 6 cents to end at $3.65. Limners and Bards lost 20 cents to end the day at $2.41 with 115,393 shares traded, Main Event closed 30 cents lower at $5.80, with 11,381 stock units trading. Paramount Trading lost 30 cents in trading 21,563 units at $1.50, SSL Venture exchanged 31,675 units and gained 8 cents to settle at $1.10 and Stationery and Office Supplies declined 75 cents to end at $9 with 9,107 shares changing hands.