Activity on the Junior Market closed with 6 securities traded ending with 149,771 units changing hands valued at $179,558. The JSE Junior Market Index gained 4.29 points to close at 732.18, with the price of 4 stocks advancing and 2 declining.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, Access Financial Services traded 200 shares at $13.21, as the price eased 1 cent, Caribbean Cream closed trading with 10,000 shares, to end with a 5 cents decline at a new low of 60 cents. The stock was initially recorded as trading at 76 cents at the start of market, but that trade was eventually cancelled, as the price it attempted to trade at, was in excess of 15 percent initially permitted, effectively triggering the initial circuit breaker and thus the freeze.
Trading in the stock was suspended for an hour before it was permitted to trade again. At the close there was a bid to buy 47,000 units at 60 cents.Caribbean Producers traded only 100 shares at $2.40, Lasco Distributors saw 51,418 units changing hands at $1.40 to gain 3 cents, Lasco Financial Services had 84,053 units trading to close at $1.10, after gaining a cent, after trading as high as $1.15 and Lasco Manufacturing put through 4,000 shares at 1.06 to gain 1 cent.
The market closed with AMG Packaging having a bid for 41,000 shares to buy at $2.50, compared to a last sale of $2.26.
4 juniors up 2 down on Tuesday
7 junior stocks set to rise
The bid on AMG is at $2.50 v $2.26 last sale, after reporting a 35% rise in profit.
At the close of the market, there were 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 1 with the offer that was lower. The junior market ended with 5 securities closing with no bids to buy and 12 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale. Noted amongst the stocks with higher bids are AMG Packaging with a bid of $2.50 against the last selling price of $2.26. The company reported 35 percent increase in 6 months profit and an even greater increase in the November quarter Caribbean Cream reported increased profit for the full year and the February quarter of $49 million or 13 cents for the twelve months and 5 cents for the quarter or $18 million. .
The bid for the stock is 66 cents versus the last price of 65 cents. Caribbean Flavours, Lasco Financial, Lasco Manufacturing and Medical Disposables all have bids higher than the last selling prices. The three Lasco companies should be reporting full year results at the end of April.Stocks trading in the junior market are, Cargo Handlers that gained 10 cents in trading 2,200 shares, to close at an all-time high of $20.10. Caribbean Producers with 2,100 units put on 5 cents to $2.35, Jamaican Teas gained 2 cents to end at $2.55 while trading 11,606 shares, 15,400 Lasco Distributors’ shares traded at $1.37 and Lasco Manufacturing lost 5 cents in closing at $1.05 while trading 63,531 shares.
Access up $1.72 to $13.22
Access traded at up $1.72 on Tuesday with limited volume.
At the close of the market, there were 4 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and just 1 with a lower offer. The junior market ended with 6 securities closing with no bids to buy and 10 that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, Access Financial trading only 100 shares at $13.22, as the price rose $1.72, Paramount Trading gained 20 cents in closing at $3.80 with 1,100 shares changing hands. Honey Bun traded 1,550 units at $1.91, Lasco Distributors ended trading with 92,800 units at $1.37 while ended with 34,354 units changing hands at $2.30, Caribbean Flavours & Fragrances lost 11 cents in trading 35,000 shares at $1.80 and General Accident Insurance lost 9 cents while trading 32,000 units to end at $1.71.
5 junior stocks rose none fell
Activity on the Junior Market returned to the more familiar trend recently of moderate trading and closed with just 7 securities trading and ending with 519,491 units changing hands valued at $948,548. The JSE Junior Market Index rose 8.04 points to close at 723.55, with the price of 5 stocks advancing and none declining.
At the close of the market, there were 3 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 stock with a lower offer. The junior market ended with 5 securities closing with no bids to buy and 10 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, Caribbean Producers trading 69,950 units, moving up by 15 cents to $2.30, General Accident was up 2 cents to $1.72 while trading 289,200 shares but traded as high as $1.80 earlier in the day. Lasco Distributors trading shares closed at $1.37, 2 cents higher than on the previous day, Lasco Financial Services ended trading with 117,944 units at $1.09 to gain 1 cent, Lasco Manufacturing traded just 8,771 units at $1.15, Medical Disposables trading just 245 shares at $1.80, up 4 cents and Paramount Trading with 23,496 closed at $3.60.
Big market move, up 1,680 points
The JSE main and junior market indices are up so far with only half an hours trading. The junior market is up 7.06 points to 722.57 as Caribbean Producers moved to $2.30 and General Accident was up 10 cents to $1.80.
The all Jamaica climbed 1,679.59 points to 93,862.37 as Carreras jumped 99 cents to $41 and Scotia Group is up $1.44 to $23 with 827,000 shares trading and Jamaica Broilers is up 25 cents at $4.50. Scotia Investments acting as broker, bought all of the Scotia Group shares that traded, with 700,394 units being crossed by them. It is the first for sometime, that the JSE has started so positively and with such level of trading at this stage of the day.
The bid is strong for Caribbean Producers with 598,000 units at $2.30, Scotia Group’s bid is at $22.50.
Juniors back to base with low activity
The bid on AMG is $2.40 vs. last sale of $2.26
The JSE Junior Market Index rose 9.08 points to close at 715.51, with the price of 1 stock advancing and 1 declining.
At the close, there were 4 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 stock with the offer lower.
The junior market ended with 5 securities closing with no bids to buy and 10 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale. Of interest is the bid to buy 459,000 units of AMG Packaging at $2.40 against the last traded price of $2.26.Stocks trading in the junior market are, Access Financial Services traded 11,000 units with a gain of $1.50 to end at $11.50, Caribbean Producers traded 3,971 units at $2.15, Lasco Manufacturing ended at $1.15 with 10,060 units trading at $1.15 and Lasco Distributors trading 12,065 shares and lost 2 cents in closing at $1.35.
Trading picked up on junior market
Activity on the Junior Market closed with 10 securities traded, ending with 1,402,202 units changing hands valued at $2,643,265. The JSE Junior Market Index gained 0.09 points to close at 715.75, with the prices of 2 stocks advancing and 3 declining.
At the close of the market, there was 1 stock with the bid higher than the last selling price and 2 stocks with offers that were lower. The junior market ended with 4 securities closing with no bids to buy and 7 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, Blue Power closing with 127,163 shares to end with an increase of 5 cents at $6.35, Caribbean Producers closing with 78,145 shares, the price gained 5 cents to $2.15, Jamaican Teas finished with 32,214 shares changing hands to close 5 cents lower to $2.51, KLE Group closed with 54,000 shares trading 1 cent down at 99 cents, Lasco Financial ending trading with 500 shares 5 cents lower to $1.15. Derrimon Trading ended up closing with 100 shares changing hands, at $2.04. General Accident closed with 100 shares trading at $1.70, Consolidated Bakeries had 220 units trading at 90 cents, Caribbean Cream closing with 1,000 shares changing hands at 76 cents, Eppley 9.5% preference share ending with 13,235 units trading at $6, Honey Bun finishing with 196,849 shares at $1.91, Lasco Distributors finished with 30,174 shares trading at $1.50 and Lasco Manufacturing ending with 868,502 shares changing hands to close at $1.15.
Carib Producers’ results hit stock
Activity on the Junior Market ended with Caribbean Producers pulling back today, after gaining on Wednesday, on robust volume of 4,393,426 shares. The company reported much improved results over the poor first quarter numbers, with the latest figures showing slightly lower profit for the December quarter of US$1.03 million versus US$1.18 million, for the similar period in 2013. For the year to December, profit is in at US$1.012 million versus US$1.62 million.
Trading closed with 6 securities being active, ending with 552,558 units changing hands valued at $1,033,150. The JSE Junior Market Index declined 4.90 points to close at 701.53, with the prices of 2 stocks advancing and 3 declining.
At the close of the market, there were 3 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 with the offer that was lower. The junior market ended with 5 securities closing with no bids to buy and 7 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, Lasco Distributors ending trading with 11,540 shares changing hands, 1 cent higher at $1.46, Lasco Manufacturing closing with just 4,000 shares trading as the price gained 1 cent to end at $1.16, General Accident ending with 236,240 shares trading at $1.65. AMG Packaging lost 27 cents with 7,500 units trading as the price closed at $2.22, Caribbean Producers trading 276,000 shares and closed lower by 20 cents to $2.10 and Lasco Financial closed with 17,278 shares changing hands 4 cents lower at $1.06.
Trading picks up 4 stocks fell 2 up
Activity Trading on the junior market picked up somewhat on Wednesday to end with 8 securities traded resulting in 1,161,661 units valued at $1,552,165. The JSE Junior Market Index declined 8.68 points to close at 684.08, with the price of 2 stocks advancing and 4 declining.
At the close of the market, there were 6 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 stocks with offers that were lower. The junior market closed with 4 securities closing with no bids to buy. There were 6 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading are, AMG Packaging in trading 20,000 shares gaining 30 cents to $2.49, Caribbean Producers ending with 55,000 shares trading, the price gained 5 cents to $2.10, Caribbean Cream finishing with 80,000 shares changing hands at 75 cents, Caribbean Flavours with 43,500 shares trading lower by 1 cent, to end at $2.20. Lasco Distributors concluded trading with 404,380 units, the price fell 10 cents to $1.30, Lasco Financial finished with 34,427 shares trading and fell 5 cents to $1, Medical Disposables in traded 103,776 shares and fell 15 cents to $1.70 and Lasco Manufacturing finished with 420,578 shares trading at $1.18.
JSE stock moved to Buy Rated list
The Jamaica Stock Exchange shares which were issued at $2.85 in the IPO in 2013, dropped last year to a low of $1.50 and the stock languished below $2 for months begging to be bought but with a few takers. This past week it hit $2.
At the close of last week, there was a bid in to buy 282,565 units at $2, but selling has dried up substantially. The prospects for the company is bright. Investors may be looking at 2014 performance to guide them, but it is 2015 onwards where the exciting times will be, this why IC Insider moved the stock from Market Watch to Buy Rated.
For the nine months to September last year, the JSE reported profit for the quarter of $11 million up from a small loss in the June quarter and for the first six months of the year. The big change in the September quarter resulted from a large block of shares traded that provided increased one-off income but also the recovery of $6 million in bad debts. For the year to September the JSE reported only $8 million in profit or a mere 6 cents per share, but bad debt recovered amounted to $10 million before tax. Revenues climbed to $89 million in the September quarter, an increase over the $73 million garnered in 2013. For the year to date revenues jumped $41 million to hit $242 million. Quarterly expenses climbed from $85 in 2013 to $91 million in 2014, and for the nine months, from $247 million to $273 million or just over 10 percent, a slower pace than the income growth of 20 percent.
Based on these results alone, the stock would at best be a hold and more likely a sell. Investment is about the future more than the past, and the latter is where the attraction is. The local stock market is exhibiting all the signs of a bull market in 2014. The early trading for the year to date is mostly positive. Increased market activity will mean more income from trading transactions. Increased prices will result in much more income from annual listing fees in 2015. More securities were listed in 2014 and more are expected in 2015 which will result in increased listing fees and the possibility of increased trading opportunities going forward.
Some of the factors supporting the above can be found in strong technical indicators pointing to a strong market ahead, sharp decline in interest rates and projected low inflation. Additionally, the fall in the price of oil and other commodities on the world market will provide consumer with added disposal income to spend and this is likely to improve the profits of many listed companies and should result in increased gains in stock values and trading volumes. Political winds may be blowing over the market, with elections due by 2016, but that should not stop investors from picking the stock up cheaply, if they can, and await what will be a huge pay off in two to three years’ time as the market gets back to full life, in a low inflation, low interest rate environment. The JSE had cash and investments at the end of the period of $375 million equity of $571 million with no borrowed funds.
Caribbean Producers have been restored to the Buy Rated list based on strong revenue growth in the September quarter that suggest higher profits in the current year compared with the 2014 results.