The support line going back to the 2020 low in the market in March is steering the market slowly upwards.
Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed higher at the close on Friday as well as for the week with three days of a rising index continuing the trend in recent weeks of a slowly rising market.
The market closed with an exchange of 4,892,108 shares at $13,413,027 as 28 securities traded compared to 4,370,450 units valued at $13,021,794 on Thursday. The day’s activities saw 28 securities changing hands, compared to 30 securities on Thursday and ended with the prices of 12 rising eight declining and eight closing with the prices unchanged.
The average trade of the day was 174,718 units at $479,037 in contrast to an average of 145,682 units at $434,060 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 236,512 units for $445,444, in contrast, 178,269 units valued at $443,105. 
May ended with an average of 150,274 units at $491,077 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 three with lower offers. The average PE ratio of the Junior Market ended at 9.7 based on IC Insider.com’s forecasted earnings for 2020-21.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging & Paper declined by 1 cent ending at $1.68 trading 801 shares, Caribbean Assurance Brokers increased 3 cents in closing at $2.28 after exchanging 103,132 stock units, Caribbean Producers declined by 2 cents to $2.38 with an exchange of 455,445 units. Consolidated Bakeries added 4 cents in closing at $1.55, with 39 shares changing hands. Dolphin Cove declined by 7 cents to end at $7.43 trading 1,000 stock units, Elite Diagnostic shed 47 cents to end at $3.78 after swapping 10,675 shares. Express Catering rose 8 cents to finish at $4.97 in exchanging 45,768 units, Fontana increased 12 cents to end at $5.67 with 425,052 stock units crossing the exchange, Fosrich eked out a rise of 1 cent to $3.56 in swapping 1,500 shares.
Honey Bun rose 6 cents to settle at $5.50 and trading 20,599 stock units, iCreate increased 2 cents end at 61 cents with an exchange of 419,025 shares, Indies Pharma lost 30 cents to end at $2.53 in trading 2,041,908 shares. Jamaican Teas advanced by 6 cents to $4.55 with an exchange of 66,421 stock units, Jetcon Corporation lost 10 cents to close at $1.20 with the transfer of 167,533 stock units, Lasco Distributors gained 7 cents to end at $2.98 with 342,986 stock units crossing the market. Lasco Financial dipped 1 cent to $2.61 after swapping 39,603 units, Lasco Manufacturing increased 10 cents to end at $4 with an exchange of 207,929 stock units, Limners And Bards added 11 cents to settle at $2.46 with trading 47,863 shares. Mailpac Group lost 2 cents to close at $1.88, having swapped 280,194 units and tTech rose 1 cent ending at $4.70 with 1,000 stock units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
At the close of market activities, the prices of nine securities advanced, 14 declined and 10 remained unchanged and the PE ratio ended at 9.6 times 2020-21 earnings.
Blue Power rose 26 cents and traded 2,327 shares to end at $3.86, Caribbean Assurance fell 9 cents to $2.15 with an exchange of 45,000 units. Derrimon Trading shed 14 cents in swapping 4,500 units to close at $2.45, Dolphin Cove gained 2 cents and exchanged 2,165 shares to settle at $8.27, Fontana slipped 1 cent lower to $5.99 with 245,999 stock units traded. Fosrich closed with a loss of 38 cents at $3.42, swapping 8,938 shares, General Accident fell 14 cents and exchanged 76,302 shares to finish at $5.55, Honey Bun declined by 12 cents in trading 11,712 units to end at $5.33. iCreate dipped 3 cents to 54 cents in swapping 32,288 units, Indies Pharma exchanged 1,653,278 shares, rising 59 cents after the company reported a 92 percent rise in the second quarter, to end at $2.89, Jamaican Teas closed at $4.70 after trading 183,433 shares and falling 19 cents. Knutsford Express jumped 99 cents to end at $8 with 1,173 units changing hands, Lasco Distributors fell 7 cents in the trading of 152,900 units to finish at $2.90, 
Lasco Financial slipped 1 cent to $2.50 with 183,709 shares exchanged. Lasco Manufacturing closed 10 cents higher at $3.95, with 468,332 stock units swapped, Limners and Bards ended at $2.20 after rising 23 cents and trading 138,733 shares, Mailpac Group gained 1 cent to end at $1.86 with 308,449 shares changing hands. Main Event closed 5 cents higher at $4.40, with 1,136 stock units traded, Medical Disposables fell 9 cents in the exchange of 9,173 units at $6.80, Paramount Trading shed 2 cents and swapped 321,870 units to settle at $1.98 and tTech jumped 41 cents to $4.70 with 10,597 units crossing the exchange.
The market index jumped in the first 30 minutes of trading to 2,666.21 but could not hold on to the gains as it slipped back to end with a loss of 20.92 points at 2,596.77. The market closed with the average PE ratio of 9.4 times IC Insider.com projected 2020-21 earnings.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging exchanged 12,452 units and gained 9 cents to end at $1.70, Blue Power climbed 10 cents to $3.70 with 5,000 shares changing hands, Caribbean Cream lost 28 cents in trading 157,448 shares to close at 2.47 cents. Caribbean Flavours jumped 70 cents to $12 and exchanged 214 shares, Derrimon Trading swapped 48,300 units and gained 28 cents to end at $2.60, Elite Diagnostic closed 2 cents higher at $3.42, trading 78,926 stock units. Everything Fresh ended at 80 cents after swapping 27,139 shares and rising 5 cents, Express Catering lost 4 cents trading 61,977 shares to close at 4.36 cents, General Accident fell 2 cents in the exchange of 1,242,006 units to settle at $6.03. GWest Corporation climbed 13 cents and traded just 20 shares to finish at $1, Honey Bun fell 20 cents to 5.20 with 69,778 changing hands cents, iCreate shed 4 cents in swapping 201,238 units to close at $0.51. Indies Pharma traded 108,120 shares, after rising 1 cent to end at $2.26, Jamaican Teas lost 3 cents in the exchange of 24,648 units to close at $4.60, Jetcon Corporation swapped 3,010,893 units to finish at 82 after falling 7 cents$0. 
Knutsford Express ended with 372,439 shares changing hands, after rising 11 cents to settle at $8.52, Lasco Distributors declined by 17 cents to $2.93 with an exchange of 1,534,284 units, Lasco Manufacturing shed 29 cents and traded 969,317 shares to close at $4.50. Limners and Bards ended at $1.90 after rising 7 cents and transferring 35,164 stock units, Lumber Depot inched 1 higher to $1.14, trading 76,135 shares, MailPac Group closed at $1.88, having gained 2 cents and swapping 192,266 units. Medical Disposables dropped 36 cents to settle at $6.53 with 50,350 stock units traded, Paramount Trading exchanged 461,541 shares and gained 1 cent to end at $1.99, SSL Venture climbed 15 cents and swapped 300 units to finish at 90 cents and tTech closed with a loss of 41 cents at $4.29 with 2,098 shares crossing the exchange.
In contrast to Monday’s high volume, just 4,090,696 units valued at $13,986,258 changed hands from 31 securities on Friday.
At the close of the market, Access Financial climbed 5 cents to $23.05 with 1,242,213 shares trading, AMG Packaging ended at $1.61 after rising 6 cents and swapping 19,611 stock units, Cargo Handlers rose 16 cents in the exchange of 189,409 units to finish at $6.21. Caribbean Assurance Brokers slipped 1 cent and traded 54,706 stock units to close at $2.29, Caribbean Cream fell 9 cents to $2.75 with 272,900 shares changing hands, Caribbean Flavours jumped by $1.30 to close at $11.30 with the swapping of 2,152 stock units. Caribbean Producers gained 4 cents and exchanged 328,436 stocks to settle at $2.40, Derrimon Trading dropped 28 cents to end at $2.32 with 3,285,500 shares changing hands, Dolphin Cove closed trading of 1,100 stock units and gained 55 cents to end at $7.80. Elite Diagnostic lost 10 cents in the exchange of 7,191 units to finish at $3.40, Everything Fresh closed 2 cents higher at 75 cents with 21,000 shares traded, Express Catering settled at $4.40 after losing 5 cents and swapping 77,382 stock units. Fontana shed 14 cents in exchange of 150,506 shares to end at $5.80, General Accident traded 605,700 units and fell 20 cents to close at $6.05, Honey Bun climbed 28 cents exchanging 38,480 shares to finish at $5.40. Jamaican Teas exchanged 2,762,864 units and lost 7 cents to close at $4.63, Jetcon Corporation slipped 1 cent to 89 cents with 3,033 stock units changing hands, 
Knutsford Express closed with a loss of 54 cents at $8.41 in the swapping of 100 shares. Lasco Distributors climbed 15 cents and exchanged 983,238 stock units to end at $3.10, Lasco Financial fell 20 cents in the trading 523,159 units to finish at $2.50, Lasco Manufacturing ended market activity at $4.79 after exchanging 91,830 shares and falling 11 cents. Limners and Bards slid 1 cent to $1.83 with 59,463 units changing hands, Lumber Depot exchanged 2,136,838 stock units after losing 1 cent to close at $1.13, Medical Disposables dipped 1 cent to $6.89 with 23,450 shares traded. Paramount Trading ended 1 cent lower at $1.98 with 38,130 stock units changing hands and Stationery and Office Supplies climbed 9 cents to $6.30 with 35,953 crossing the exchange.
Knutsford Express ended at $8.95, after rising $1.45 and trading 20,792 shares, Lasco Distributors closed with a loss of 20 cents at $2.95 after swapping 92,095 shares, Lasco Manufacturing closed trading of 1,186,538 shares and gained 40 cents to end at $4.90 (See note at the foot of this story). Limners and Bards rose 2 cents and exchanged 34,476 shares at $1.84. Mailpac Group closed with a loss of 2 cents at $1.86while trading 792,156 shares, Medical Disposables ended market activity, exchanging 4,114 stock units to settle at $6.90 after falling 10 cents and Stationery and Office Supplies lost 6 cents in trading 97,229 shares at $6.21.
Investors traded 32 securities, resulting in an exchange of 4,137,638 units valued at $10,997,880 compared to 4,259,300 units valued at $14,475,328 from 35 securities on Friday. The average PE ratio of the Junior Market ended at 9.2 based on 2020-21 earnings.
At the close of the market, Cargo Handlers dropped 50 cents to $6.05 with 6,438 units traded, Caribbean Cream closed 6 cents higher at $2.75 with an exchange of 61,233 stock units, Caribbean Producers traded 1,418,225 shares and fell 12 cents to end at $2.40. Derrimon Trading jumped 22 cents in swapping of 28,295 shares to settle at $2.72, Dolphin Cove shed 23 cents to close at $7 with 5,709 units changing hands, Elite Diagnostic gained 11 cents and exchanged 92,470 shares to settle at $3.40. Express Catering inched 1 cent higher to finish at $3.52 with 33,230 units traded, Fontana dropped 30 cents to $5.60 with 220,601 units crossing the market, General Accident leaped 49 cents exchanging 30,026 stock units to close at $6.50. GWest lost 3 cents in the trading of 1,160 shares to close at 87 cents, Honey Bun declined by 37 cents to $5.08 with 131,812 shares changing hands, iCreate closed 3 cents lower at 52 cents with 87,177 stock units traded. Indies Pharma picked up 2 cents and exchanged 13,245 shares to settle at $2.22, Iron Rock Insurance ended the day 10 cents down, at $3.80 with an exchange of 10,000 shares, 
Jamaican Teas climbed 6 cents to settle at $4.35 with 158,546 units crossing the market. Limners and Bards dipped 7 cents to $1.75 with 103,494 shares traded, Lumber Depot swapped 136,889 shares to finish at $1.14 after gaining 2cents, Medical Disposables jumped 30 cents to $7.30 with an exchange of 21,814 units. Paramount Trading added 1 cent to finish at $2 after trading 12,300 shares and Stationery and Office Supplies closed 25 cents higher at $6.25, with 5,809 stock units crossing the exchange.
Cargo Handlers closed 5 cents higher at $6.55, with 190 stock units trading, Caribbean Cream climbed 15 cents and exchanged 734 shares at $2.69, Caribbean Producers closed 11 cents higher at $2.52, with 477,643 stock units trading. Derrimon Trading closed 7 cents higher at $2.50, with 17,431 stock units traded, Elite Diagnostic declined by 59 cents in exchanging 9,360 units at $3.29, Express Catering climbed 16 cents and exchanged 18,269 shares at $3.51, Fosrich closed 30 cents higher after trading 99,267 stock units at $4. Fontana closed trading of 96,620 units and gained 34 cents to end at $5.90, General Accident closed 2 cents higher at $6.01, with 648,867 stock units trading. Honey Bun climbed 45 cents and exchanged 52,137 shares at $5.45, iCreate closed with 112,094 units passing through the market and gained 2 cents to end at 55 cents, Iron Rock Insurance declined by 9 cents to settle at $3.90, with 3,000 units changing hands. Jamaican Teas ended trading of 125,687 units with gains of 39 cents to end at $4.29, Jetcon Corporation closed with a loss of 8 cents at 80 cents swapping 28,000 shares, Knutsford Express closed trading of 500 units and gained 20 cents to end at $8.70. 
Lasco Distributors declined by 10 cents trading 630,500 units at $2.90, Lasco Manufacturing fell by 30 cents exchanging 797,613 units at $4, Limners and Bards dipped 8 cents trading 198,771 units at $1.82. Lumber Depot shed 2 cents trading 370,242 units at $1.12, MailPac Group closed with a loss of 3 cents at $1.88 swapping 251,508 shares, Medical Disposables shed 5 cents transferring 22,711 units at $7. Main Event lost 10 cents in trading of 18,000 units at $4.08, Stationery and Office Supplies lost 5 cents 20,757 units changing hands at $6. SSL Venture ended market activity while exchanging 18,400 shares to close at 75 cents, after falling 10 cents and tTech closed with a loss of 9 cents at $4.41 after swapping 42,269 shares.
The day’s activities ended with 30 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 2,553,437 units valued at $9,523,569 compared to 7,713,659 units for $39,344,491 from 31 companies on Tuesday. The average PE ratio of the Junior Market ended at 9.1 times 2020-21 earnings.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows three stocks ended with bids higher than its last selling prices and three with lower offers.
ISP Finance shed $1.90 in the trading of 6,010 shares to end at $14, Jamaican Teas inched 1 cent higher and exchanged 52,000 shares to settle at $4, Knutsford Express jumped 80 cents to $8.50 with 3,470 units changing hands. Lasco Distributors climbed 73 cents to $3.03, with the swapping of 200 shares, Lasco Financial picked up 10 cents and exchanged 36,897 shares to end at $2.70, Lasco Manufacturing traded 1,018,392 units to close at $4.05 after slipping 4 cents. Limners and Bards declined 5 cents in switching 5,500 units to end at $1.85, Lumber Depot gained 1 cent to end at $1.13 with 95,476 shares traded, MailPac Group gained 4 cents in the exchange of 343,873 units to settle at $1.88 and Medical Disposables jumped 82 cents to close at $7.12 with 6,000 shares crossing the exchange.
At the close of the market, Access Financial gained $1 to end at $23.10 with 701 stock units trading, Blue Power ended trading with 27,924 shares, after rising 12 cents to close at $3.55, CAC 2000 closed trading of 1,000 units and gained 39 cents to end at $9.39. Caribbean Cream fell by 20 cents in trading of 150,000 units at $2, Caribbean Flavours shed 30 cents in exchanging 1,752 units at $9.70, Caribbean Producers lost 10 cents in trading 396,001 shares to close at $2.40. Consolidated Bakeries closed 19 cents higher at $1.70, trading 9,455 stock units, Derrimon Trading closed 19 cents higher at $2, with 3,021,923 stock units changing hands, Everything Fresh closed trading of 1,000 units with gains of 6 cents to end at 77 cents, Express Catering ended market activity exchanging 22,223 shares to close at $3.42 after falling by 8 cents. Fontana slipped 13 cents in trading 96,338 shares to close at $5.44. Fosrich lost 20 cents in trading of 19,426 units at $3.50, GWest Corporation closed trading of 1,000 units and gained 10 cents to end at 90 cents, Honey Bun lost 18 cents with 49,002 units crossing the market at $5.02. iCreate was down 4 cents in trading 391,995 shares to close at 51 cents, Iron Rock Insurance ended trading with 33,900 shares, after rising 75 cents to end at $3.45, ISP Finance lost 9 cents in trading of 1,000 units at $15.90.
Jamaican Teas closed trading of 13,510 units and gained 18 cents to end at $3.99, Knutsford Express declined 8 cents in trading of 43,553 units at $7.70. Lasco Distributors dipped 15 cents in trading of 53,691 units at $3.10, Lasco Manufacturing exchanged 24,398 shares, after rising 3 cents to end at $4. Limners and Bards closed with 4,834 units changing hands and gained 5 cents to end at $1.90, Lumber Depot ended with a loss of 1 cent at $1.12 with an exchange of 87,105 stock units. Mailpac Group declined by 5 cents to settle at $1.83 in swapping 257,532 shares, Main Event lost 2 cents trading 9,587 shares to close at $4.08, Medical Disposables declined by 35 cents in exchanging 6,795 units at $5.85 and tTech closed at $4.75 after rising $1.04 with 1,783 shares crossing the exchange.
At the close of market activities, the prices of 13 securities advanced, ten declined and ten remained unchanged, leaving the Junior Market Index down 11.71 points to close at 2,452.33 and the average PE ratio for the market at 8.9 times 2020-21 earnings.
Caribbean Flavours closed 50 cents higher at $10, with 300 stock units trading, Caribbean Producers climbed 2 cents and exchanged 308,856 shares at $2.50. Express Catering lost 8 cents with investors switching ownership of 22,366 units at $3.43, Fontana closed trading of 23,650 units and gained 1 cent to end at $5.49, Fosrich Company declined by 8 cents in trading of 13,000 units at $3.71. General Accident exchanged 308,400 shares, after rising 18 cents to settle at $5.18, GWest Corporation lost 10 cents in trading 23,875 stock units to close at 80 cents, Honey Bun declined by 10 cents to close at $5.45 exchanging 182,436 shares. iCreate ended trading with 127,809 shares, after rising 6 cents to settle at 50 cents, Iron Rock Insurance closed 1 cent higher at $2.70, with 37,265 stock units trading, Jamaican Teas dipped 13 cents in trading 32,823 units at $3.87. Limners and Bards lost 5 cents exchanging 119,425 shares to close at $1.90, Lumber Depot exchanged 176,447 shares, after rising 1 cent to end at $1.14, 
Main Event ended market activity exchanging 16,627 shares to close at $4.08 after falling 42cents, 
