Jamaica stocks are off to a slow and moderate start to the new week with no trading in junior stocks after more than 44 minutes of opening. Kingston Wharves, however, climbed to a new high of $16.50, but with limited volume.
Cable & Wireless is the sole stock to trade more than 100,000 units with 204,519 shares traded at $1.12, 
Knutsford Express fell $2.10 on small volume to $14.70 and Portland JSX fell 80 cents to $13.20 with 26,892 shares changing hands. Elsewhere, Lasco Distributors that came under selling pressure last week traded a small volume of just 1,500 shares at $6.
The session had low volumes trading overall after 80 minutes of the market’s opening resulting in 22 securities changing hands, accounting for a volume of just 296,560 shares 10 stocks gained and 6 declined. The average number of shares traded amounts to 13,480 units compared to an average of 49,022 units on Friday.
The all Jamaica Composite Index climbed 343.87 points to 177,104.17, the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market Index rose 307.48 points to 159,404.39 the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index rose by 652.50 point to close at 168,805.05 points and the junior market index gained 35.80 points to 2,041.49.
JSE off to slow start – Monday
Big drop in JSE indices on Friday
Jamaica Producers traded on Friday with the new issued shares resulting from a 5 for 1 bonus.
A total of 37 securities traded, 10 more than on Thursday, with the prices of 15 stocks rising, 10 declining, including 7 stocks rising and 3 declining from the junior market as the market continues to consolidate while waiting for news to break out.
The JSE Market Index dropped 1,772.60 points to end at 159,096.91. The all Jamaica Composite Index dived 1,982.38 points to close at 176,760.30 and the JSE combined index sank 1,923.60 points, to end at 168,152.55.IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 12 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
At the end of market activities, Cable & Wireless fell by 5 cents while trading 250,000 shares to close at $1.10, Caribbean Cement traded 30,716 shares and rose 87 cents to close at $23, Carreras gained $1.20 in trading 8,286 shares to close at $66, Ciboney traded 113,500 shares at 21 cents. 1834 Investments traded 100,000 shares after rising 12 cents to close at $1.14, Grace Kennedy closed at $120 with 3,722 units changing hands. Jamaica Broilers ended with 248,621 units changing hands to close at $15, Kingston Wharves traded 33,259 units to close at $16, National Commercial Bank ended with 118,898 units changing hands at $42. Pan Jamaican Investment Trust traded 475,746 shares to close at $24, Portland JSX gained $1 and ended with 50,950 shares changing hands at a new closing high of $14.
Radio Jamaica traded at $1.60 after 48,727 shares changed hands, with a 10 cents gain, but the stock was offered at $1.58 at the close. Sagicor Group ended with 39,904 shares changing hands, the price fell 45 cents to end at $23.05. Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 454,950 shares and rose 2 cents to close at $10.12, Scotia Group fell 38 cents with 41,975 shares trading, to close at $30.02, Scotia Investments dropped $1 and ended with 2,000 shares trading, to close at $25, while Supreme Ventures accounted for 54,005 units to end at $4.50. JMMB Group 7.5% preference share traded 200,000 units to close with a gain of 1 cent at $1.05 and Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.5% preference share traded 61,809 units to close with a loss of 1 cent at $2.09.
Junior index hit again – Friday
Lasco Distributors recovered some lost ground on Friday.
A total 14 securities traded compared to only 6 on Thursday, leading to 7 stocks advancing and 3 declining on Friday. The market index ended with a loss of 27.23 points, an improvement over the fall of 100.65 points on Thursday to close at 2,005.68. Lasco Distributors and Caribbean Producers that inflicted most of damage to the junior market index over the past three days enjoyed some recovery on Friday,
but that was insufficient to recover losses for the overall market.At the end of trading 5 stocks closed with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 ended with lower offers.
At the end of trading, AMG Packaging closed with a gain of 15 cents at $12.50 with 238 units changing hands, Cargo Handlers ended with 2,145 shares changing hands, at $46, Caribbean Cream fell 10 cents with 99,000 shares changing hands at $5, Consolidated Bakeries gained 10 cents in trading 18,000 shares to close at $2.10. Caribbean Producers traded 17,100 units with a rise of 9 cents to $3.09,
Derrimon Trading gained 5 cents to $3 with 5,000 shares changing hands, Honey Bun traded 7,860 shares at $5.51, Jamaican Teas ended with 21,902 shares trading at $3.80, Jetcon Corporation traded 2,855 units at $2.65. Lasco Distributors traded 124,864 units and rose 49 cents to end at $5.82, Lasco Financial ended with 177,758 shares changing hands, at $3.22, after falling 13 cents. Lasco Manufacturing closed at $5.03 with 11,690 shares trading, tTech lost 40 cents in adding 831 units to the trading volume, to close at $4 and Eppley 9.5% preference share rose 11 cents to close at $6.11.
Rising stocks dominate TTSE – Friday
Massy Holdings jumped TT$2.77 to close at TT$58 on Friday.
The Composite Index rose 3.94 points or to close at 1,142.32, the All T&T Index gained 4.83 points to close at 1,796.39 and the Cross Listed Index is up 0.41 at 65 points.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 9 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Clico Investment Fund closed with 52,643 shares valued at $1,197,628 changing hands to end at $22.75, for a 5 cents gain, First Citizens gained 50 cents in trading 15,528 shares valued at $540,411, to close at $35, Massy Holdings jumped $2.77 to close at $58 with 11,460 units valued at $650,127 changing hands. National Commercial Bank traded 52,800 units and rose 6 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $2.66, National Enterprises gained 45 cents to close with 3,367 shares changing hands at $11.20, Republic Financial Holdings ended with 24,087 shares with a value of $2,581,229 to close at $107.30 with a rise of 15 cents. Trinidad and Tobago NGL closed with 7,397 shares changing hands at $22.51 after gaining 1 cent and Scotiabank contributed 1,500 shares to close with a rise of 7 cents at $53.07.
Losses| Calypso Macro Index Fund traded 478 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $24.49 after shedding 1 cent, Guardian Holdings traded 1,380 shares and declined 4 cent to a 52 weeks’ low of $12.70 and Trinidad Cement trade 500,000 units valued at $1,675,000 to close with a loss of 15 cents at $3.35Firm Trades| JMMB Group closed with 3,060 shares changing hands, to end at 60 cents, One Caribbean Media closed at $21 with 310 shares changing hands. Prestige Holdings with 1,000 units changing hands ended at $10.90 and Sagicor Financial Corporation closed with 670 shares changing hands, to end at $7.25.
Portland JSX jumps to $14
Investors pushed Portland JSX to a new high of $14, for an increase of 27 percent, since it was listed on Wednesday. The stock has so far traded 30,000 shares and put on $1 in the morning session. Lasco Distributors with 124,864 shares changing hands and Caribbean Producers, made some recovery from two day of declines.
Elsewhere, Pan Jamaican Investment traded 469,095 shares at $24.20 and Lasco Financial traded 128,515 shares at $3.35.
The session, generally, had low volumes trading after 85 minutes of the market’s opening, resulting in 22 securities changing hands and accounting for a volume of 1,078,489 shares, of which 11 stocks gained and 3 declined. The average number of shares traded amounts to 49,022 units, compared to an average of 17,210 units on Thursday.
The all Jamaica Composite Index climbed 881.09 points to 179,623.77, the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market Index rose 787.85 points to 161,657.36 the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index rose by 472.92 point to close at 170,549.07 points andthe junior market index slipped 25.14 points to 2,007.78.
By 11:15 am, the main market shed 1,785.12 points as measured by the all Jamaica Composite Index , the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market Index chopped 1,596.21 points and the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index 1,738.49 while the junior market remained unchanged.
JSE majors surge on Thursday
Supreme Ventures traded the most shares on Thursday with 4.6m units
The junior market accounted for 472,148 shares valued at $2,592,609, of all trades while Supreme Ventures accounted for 4,611,492 units as the price slipped 1 cent to end at $4.50.
A total of only 27 securities traded, 6 less than on Wednesday, with the prices of 10 stocks rising, 13 declining, including 4 stocks rising and 5 declining from the junior market. Notwithstanding the market movements for the past week, the market continues to consolidate while waiting for news to break out.
The JSE Market Index jumped 1,072.53 points to end at 160,869.51. The all Jamaica Composite Index surged 1,199.46 points to close at 178,742.68 and the JSE combined index eased 37.74 points, to end at 170,076.15.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 13 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.At the end of market activities, Cable & Wireless fell by 2 cents while trading 127,068 shares to close at $1.15, Carreras traded 5,205 shares but fell 20 cents to $64.80, Ciboney traded 31,500 shares at 21 cents. 1834 Investments traded 86,414 shares after rising by 2 cents to close at $1.02, Grace Kennedy dropped $3 and closed at $120 with 9,392 units changing hands. Jamaica Broilers ended with 6,808 units changing hands to close at $15, Jamaica Stock Exchange traded 1,000 shares and gained 33 cents to close at $21.33,
Mayberry Investments traded 200,612 units and fell 1 cent to close at $3.50, National Commercial Bank ended with 17,708 units changing hands at $42. Pan Jamaican Investment Trust traded 4,096 shares to close at $24, Portland JSX gained 45 cents and ended with 69,949 shares changing hands at a new closing high of $13, after it traded as high as $13.50. Radio Jamaica traded at $1.50 after 15,717 shares changed hands with a 5 cents gain, Sagicor Group ended with 12,780 shares changing hands, the price rose 45 cents to end at $23.50. Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 22,800 shares and lost 2 cents to close at $10.10, Scotia Group fell 10 cents with 189,000 shares trading to close at $30.40 and Scotia Investments ended with 15,700 shares trading to close at $26.
LascoD shot juniors – Thursday
The junior market closed trading sharply down on Thursday, with the market index diving 100.65 points, to close at 2,032.92. A $1.57 fall in the price of the Lasco Distributors inflicted most of damage to the junior market index on Thursday, with a fall by 4.7 percent, the stock fell from $7.40 at the start of trading on Wednesday, down to $5.30 in the morning session, for a 28 percent decline.
Caribbean Producers that sunk sharply on Wednesday as investors reacted negatively to the news that profit in the final quarter of the fiscal year to June will be hit by added cost. The stock did not trade but closed with the bid at $3.20 compared to the last sale price of $3, Lasco Distributors was one of the stocks that closed with the bid being higher than the last traded price, but with a small volume.
A total of only 6 active securities with only 472,148 shares valued at $2,592,609 changed hands on Thursday. At the close, 2 stocks advanced and 3 declined
At the end of trading 8 stocks closed with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 ended with a lower offer.
At the end of trading, Consolidated Bakeries gained 15 cents in trading 16,389 shares to close at $2.15, the stock was offered at $2.10 at the close,
Key Insurance traded 1,837 shares and rose 10 cents to close at $2.60. Lasco Distributors traded 412,422 units to end at $5.33, as investors continued to respond negatively to news that Pfizer is countering Lasco huge claim of more than US$300 million with their estimate of less than US$1 million. Pfizer had previously challenged Lasco over their right to sell tablets for hypertension and lost, resulting in the need to quantify damages by the courts. Lasco Financial ended with 5,200 shares changing hands at $3.35, after falling 7 cents, Lasco Manufacturing gained 3 cents to close at $5.03 with 8,300 shares trading and Medical Disposables added 28,000 units and remained unchanged at $3.45.
TTSE slips with modest trading – Thursday
Trading on the Trinidad and Tobago stock market ended on Thursday after Wednesday’s holiday, with two indices falling. Trading was characterized with modest volumes as only 8 securities traded accounting for only 374,975 shares valued at just $1,493,875 changing hands. The market closed with 1 stock rising, 5 declining and 2 remaining unchanged as two stocks traded at 52 weeks’ lows.
The Composite Index fell 1.34 points or to close at 1,138.38, the All T&T Index fell by 2.67 points to close at 1,791.56 and the Cross Listed Index was unchanged at 64.59 points.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 8 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Trinidad and Tobago NGL closed with 35,670 shares valued at $802,5757,210 changing hands at $22.5, after gaining 14 cents.
Losses| First Citizens fell 1 cent in trading 4,465 shares, to close at $34.50, Guardian Holdings traded 360 shares and declined 1 cent to a 52 weeks’ low of $12.74, One Caribbean Media lost 24 cents to close at $21 with 100 shares changing hands.
Republic Financial Holdings ended with 115 shares to close at $107.15 with a loss of 1 cent to a 52 weeks’ low and Scotiabank contributed 5,900 shares with a value of $313,096 to close with a loss of 73 cents at $53.
Firm Trades| National Flour ended with 4,780 shares changing hands to close at $2.30 and JMMB Group closed with 323,585 shares changing hands, to end at 60 cents.
LasD chops over 85 points off juniors
Investors chopped the price of Lasco Distributors by $1.01 to $5.99 and pulled down the junior market index by a large 4 percent or 85 points in early Thursday morning trading. After 80 minutes of trading the price plummeted to $5.30 pulling the index even lower. The drop also pulled down the combined market index by more than 1,100 points.
Investors continue to react negatively to the news that Pfizer’s estimate for damages due to Lasco is US$518,000 well off the US$300 million the local company is claiming.
Lasco Distributors traded 396,700 shares as the price dropped $1.70 overall. The next big trade was Supreme Ventures with 4,600,497 units at $4.50. Some demand have built up for Portland JSX with 59,949 shares trading at $12.60 and with bids at $13.
The session had low volumes trading overall after 80 minutes of the market’s opening resulting in 18 securities changing hands, accounting for a volume of 5,311,849 shares 5 stocks gained and 5 declined. The average number of shares traded amounts to 295,103 units compared to an average of 17,210 units on Thursday.
The all Jamaica Composite Index dropped 379.30 points to 177,163.92, the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market Index fell 339.17 points to 159,457.81, the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index declined by 1,190.21 to close at 168,783.34 points andthe junior market index slipped 99.03 points to 2,034.54.
JSE takes another hit- Wednesday
The latest IPO, Portland JSX was listed at the start of trading after a successful public offering that saw the offer being oversubscribed. The stock opened with a bid to buy 30,000 shares for $1 more than the IPO price of $11 at $12 and later traded 8,500 units to end at $12.55 after it started trading at $12.05. The gain hardly did much to the market overall as the day closed with all major indices down.
Trading on the Jamaica stock market on Wednesday remained modest, with just 2,706,984 units valued at $46,242,560 changing hands in all market segments. The junior market accounted for 777,300 shares valued at $4,030,252, of all trades. All market indices lost ground as stocks declining were slightly ahead the ones rising.
A total of 33 securities traded 6 less than on Tuesday, with the prices of 10 stocks rising, 13 declining, including 4 stocks rising and 5 declining from the junior market. Notwithstanding the decline over the past few days, the market continues in a consolidating mode, with the indices rising and falling from day to day, with no new information to cause a break out.
The JSE Market Index dropped 912.73 points to end at 159,796.98. The all Jamaica Composite Index plunged 1,020.75 points to close at 177,543.22 and the JSE combined index dived 1,430.24 points, to end at 170,113.89.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 10 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
At the end of market activities, Berger Paints traded 36,539 shares unchanged at $4.50, Cable & Wireless recovered 7 cents while trading 32,000 shares to close at $1.17, Caribbean Cement dropped $3 to close at $22 with 33,722 shares trading, Carreras traded 167,915 shares but fell 40 cents to $65, Ciboney traded 28,000 shares at 21 cents. Grace Kennedy gained $2.50 and closed at $123 with 20,869 units changing hands, Jamaica Broilers ended with 7,567 units changing hands to close at $15, Jamaica Producers traded 4,431 units to end at $49, Jamaica Stock Exchange traded 22,596 shares but fell $3 to close at $21, 
JMMB Group traded 39,505 units and rose 1 cent to end at $9.73. Kingston Wharves traded 4,160 units and gained 99 cents to close at $16 as supply dries up on the stock, National Commercial Bank ended with 46,492 units changing hands at $42. Pan Jamaican Investment Trust lost $1.48 in trading 23,152 shares to close at $24, Sagicor Group ended with 6,055 shares changing hands at $23.05. Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 906,595 shares to close at $10.12, Scotia Group fell 50 cents with 360,016 shares trading to close at $30.50, Sterling Investments ended with 14,000 shares trading to close with a fall of $1.49 at $11.50. Supreme Ventures lost 49 cents and ended at $4.51 while trading 7,200 units and Proven Investments traded 156,000 units to close at 16.49 US cents, up from 16 US cents.