Cable & Wireless closed trading at 50 cents and in the process recorded a gain of 213 percent since the start of the year. The stock has been scare since before the company released their December quarterly results in mid-February showing a reduced loss in the December quarter flowing from lower cost and improving margins. A reading the recent market activity of closing prices, bids and offers suggests that the price should move higher. There was a bid to buy just 14,570 units at 50 cents and the closest offer to sell is at 64 cents for 350,000 units. The next amount on offer was 1,038,266 shares at $3.50, well away from the last selling price, and a final offer at $9.90 to sell 43,000 units. Other orders to buy immediately below the 50 cent bid are 249,000 units at 48 cents and 235,000 units at 47 cents.

In Monday’s trading on the Jamaica Stock market, prices of 11 stocks rose and 7 declined as 31 securities traded resulting in only 3,194,433 shares trading valued at $20,691,078.

Main Market | The two main indices declined marginally with the JSE Market Index falling by 42.87 points to 76,636.22 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index moved down 65.02 points to close at 84,224.90.

Gains | 8 stocks recorded gains with Berger Paints trading 2,000 shares to close at $1.85 cents up 5 cents; Cable & Wireless 206,913 units as the price gained 5 cents to closed at 50 cents; Carreras 21,900 units at $35 for a 32 cents gain;  Desnoes & Geddes, 500 shares as the price gained 50 cents to close at $5; Grace Kennedy closed up by $2.25 with 140,861 shares changing hands to close at $58 as investors responded positively to the 2013 full year results; Jamaica Broilers traded 27,466 shares to close at $4.90, a gain of 10 cents; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share with 100,500 units at $3.05, a gain of 5 cents and Sagicor Group with 67,300 shares at $9 for a gain of 49 cents after it slipped to $8.50 on Friday.

Firm | Stocks in the main market to close without price change are Jamaica Money Market Brokers with 2,080 shares closing at $7.40; Caribbean Cement 86,000 units at $4.80; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference shares with 920,500 units at $2; Jamaica Producers had a mere 671 units trading at $18.26; National Commercial Bank had 15,760 shares trading and closed at $9.49; Radio Jamaica exchanged 30,000 shares to close at $1.35; Supreme Ventures exchanged 50,000 shares at $2.40 and Proven Investments 8% preference shares traded 4,500 units and closed at $5.09.

Declines | Kingston Wharves losing 45 cents to end at $5.55 with 13,500 shares; Scotia Group traded 169,929 units at $20.60 for a 55 cents decline and Scotia Investments had 4,150 units trading at $25.30 at the close for a decline of 60 cents.

Junior Market | The JSE Junior Market Index advanced by 0.65 points to close at 731.06.

Gains | Caribbean Flavours traded 90,854 units to close at $2.50, up 15 cents; Caribbean Producers closed at $2.75 for a 3 cents gain while trading 110,791 units and Lasco Distributors swapped 22,000 shares at $1.35, an increase of 5 cents.

Firm Trades | Stocks trading firm in Monday’s session are Access Financial Services that traded 9,000 to close at $9.10; AMG Packaging with 12,563 shares at $3.55; General Accident with 381,731 units to close at $1.70; Lasco Financial Services 46,201 shares to close at $1.21; Lasco Manufacturing had 377,666 shares changing hands to close at $1.16 and Paramount Trading had 5,000 units trading and closed at $3.20.

Declines | Consolidated Bakeries traded 7,152 units at $1.10, down 5 cents; Caribbean Cream traded at a new all-time low of 75 cents for a fall of 5 cents with 12,445 shares trading and Blue Power with 254,500 shares to close at $9.01 for a 9 cents fall.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 7 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and 2 stocks with offers that were lower.

Wednesday, 26th February 2014 | Trading on the Jamaica Stock market resulted in the prices of 12 stocks rising and 11 declining as 30 securities traded totalling 11,939,265 shares valued at $66,143,847.

National Commercial Bank. after trading $140,618,525 or 88 percent of the value of stocks on Tuesday, was the dominant again with $37,273,344 or more than half the value of stocks traded today.

Main Market | Nine companies in the main market advanced and 9 declined as the indices moved up marginally with the JSE Market Index up by 56.34 points to 79,208.99 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index moved up 85.45 points to close at 84,045.57.

Gains | Stocks recording gains are Cable & Wireless, trading at a new intraday 52 weeks high of 41 cents, closing at 40 cents for another closing 52 weeks high of a one cent gain while trading 1,519,531 shares; Caribbean Cement closed at $4.80 as the price gained 10 cents with 65,916 units changing hands; Carreras traded only 600 units to close up by 40 cents at $35; Grace Kennedy had 5,150 units trading at $55 at the close with a 43 cents rise; Jamaica Broilers contributed 10,371 units as the price inched up 2 cents at $4.92; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference shares put on a cent to close at $3.01 with 349,400 units; National Commercial Bank had 1,960,431 shares trading at $19.01 at the close by putting on a cent; Pan Jamaican Investment had only 850 units trading as the price gained 74 cents to end at $48.80 and Scotia Group traded 264,133 units at $21.10 for a 53 cents gain at the end of trading ahead of the release this Thursday of the groups’ first quarter results to January.

Firm | There were only two stocks in the main market to close without a price change. Desnoes & Geddes with 831,517 shares at $5 and Mayberry Investments with a mere 2,652 units at $1.90.

Proven Investments 8% preference shares traded 79,320 units and closed at $5.09.

Declines | The number of stocks that declined increased over Tuesday’s trading with Berger Paints losing 5 cents to end at $1.80 with 18,999 shares; Ciboney with 4,000 shares lost 4 cents to close at 6 cents; Hardware & Lumber 4,400 shares traded at $8, a decline of 20 cents; Jamaica Money Market Brokers with 16,267 shares lost 3 cents in closing at $7.45; Radio Jamaica had 3,100,000 shares changing hand and resulted in a 24 cents fall to $1.36; Sagicor Group 11,995 shares closed down 20 cents at $8.80; Sagicor Investments traded just 1,800 units and lost 90 cents in closing at $17.10; Scotia Investments lost 25 cents to close at $25.25 while trading 7,500 units and Seprod with 304,000 units lost 8 cents and closed at $10.92.

Junior Market | The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 2.16 points to close at 742.00 as 9 stocks traded with 3 advancing and 2 declining.

Gains | AMG Packaging traded 1,919 units to close at $3.55, up 5 cents; General Accident with 9,400 shares traded resulting in the price moving up 5 cents to $1.75; Paramount Trading put in 1,000 shares to close up 12 cents at $3.

Firm Trades | Derrimon Trading traded 1,670,000 units at $2.50; Lasco Manufacturing 338,154 shares at $1.20; Lasco Financial Services 10,000 shares at $1.30 and Honey Bun 5,500 units at $3.05.

Declines | Blue Power traded 251,000 units at $9.01 down a cent and Lasco Distributors had 1,093,460 shares changing hands at $1.30, off by a cent.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 5 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 2 stocks with offers that were lower.

Tuesday, 25th February 2014 | Trading on the Jamaica Stock market resulted in 11,445,325 shares trading valued at $160,003,244 as National Commercial Bank shares accounted for $140,618,525 of the value. The price of 8 stocks gained and 8 declined resulting in minor index movements.

Main Market | Half of the companies with positive price movements were from the main market as the JSE Market Index advanced by 14.97 points to 79,152.65, the JSE All Jamaican Composite inched up by 22.72 points to close at 83,960.12.

Gains | Desnoes & Geddes trading 901,564 shares valued at $4,507,587 with the price rising by 10 cents to close at $5; Grace Kennedy with 988 shares trading at $54.57 for a one cent gain; Hardware & Lumber 10,875 shares at $8.20 up by 10 cents; and Pan Jamaican Investment with 35,270 shares to close at $48.06 for a cent gain.

Firm | Barita Investments traded 1,000 unchanged at $2.50; Cable & Wireless 495,924 shares at 39 cents; Carreras 2,847 shares to close at $34.60; Jamaica Broilers 50,548 shares to end at $4.90; Mayberry Investments 5,100 shares, closing at $1.90; National Commercial Bank 7,402,250 shares at $19 valued at $140,618,525.

In the preference segment, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.50% preference shares traded 400 units at $3.50 and the 8.75% stock traded 31,708 units at $3.00. Proven Investments 8% preference share traded 300,640 units at $5.09.

Declines | Proven Investments traded 8,500 units and closed down US0.37 cents at US17.62 cents; Jamaica Money Market Brokers had 2,600 units at $7.48, declining by 2 cents; Gleaner 22,843 shares at $1.10 off by 5 cents; Scotia Group had 162706 units changing hands to close at $20.57 for a 13 cents decline; Sagicor Group traded 12,007 units at $9 as the price fell by 15 cents; Caribbean Cement 36,736 shares as the price closed at $4.70 down by 27 cents.

Junior Market | The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 2.97 points to 744.16 even as advancing stocks exceeded declining ones.

Gains | Blue Power closed with 283,700 shares trading to close at $9.02, an increase of 2 cents; Caribbean Cream traded 25,000 units at 90 cents up 5 cents; Honey Bun 4,820 shares to close at $3.05, up 5 cents; Lasco Distributors 29,000 shares to close at $1.31, up 1 cent.

Firm Trades | Stocks trading firm are Cargo Handlers with 20,667 shares at $15; Derrimon Trading 1,030,000 units closing at $2.50; Lasco Financial Services 3,000shares at $1.30.

Declines | Lasco Manufacturing traded 33,605 units to close at $1.20 for a 3 cents fall; Caribbean Producers traded 520,644 units to end at $2.70, down 5 cents.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 8 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 3 stocks with offers that were lower.

Monday, 24th February 2014 | Trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange was dominated by National Commercial Bank with more than 6.2 million shares and Sagicor Real Estate Fund with 29.9 million units in trades that the stockbroker, Pan Caribbean Financial Services had big hands in. Cable & Wireless and Carreras were also highlighted, the former traded at a new new 3½ year high of 39 cents and the latter trading $5.5 million worth of shares.

The JSE Market Index fell 394.07 points to close at 79,137.68, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index declined by 597.78 points to 83,937.40 as 40,200,541 shares traded for a value of $337,696,517.

Main Market | Cable & Wireless closed at a new 3½ year high as investors picked up most of the shares on offer in a continued response to the improved December quarter results.

Gains | Cable & Wireless traded 2,395,400 shares with the price closing at 39 cents for a 4 cents gain and the highest closing price since August 20, 2010 when it closed at 40 cents. Jamaica Broilers Group traded 1,420 units for an 8 cents gain to close at $4.90; Jamaica Money Market Brokers had 15,680 units as the price inched up by a cent to $7.50 and Mayberry Investments gained a cent in trading 9,278 shares to close at $1.90.

Firm trade | Stocks trading with unchanged prices are Barita Investments with 7,800 shares at $2.50; Grace Kennedy 1,250 units at $54.56; Jamaica Producers 30,000 shares at $18.26; Kingston Wharves 7,239 units at $6; National Commercial Bank  6,205,995 shares to close at $19; Sagicor Group 12,700 units at $9.15; Salada 6,500 shares to close at $9 and Scotia Group 14,217 units at $20.70.

Declines | Carreras traded 164,394 units but closed at $34.60 by shedding $1.41; Desnoes & Geddes 26,875 shares to close at $4.90 as the price eased back by 10 cents; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference shares traded 10,000 shares to close at $3 for a decline of a cent; Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded a large volume of 29,869,023 units to close down to $6.95 by slipping 5 cents; Scotia Investments 11,135 units to close at $25.50 down by 49 cents and Pan Jamaican Investment 13,600 shares to close at $48.05 a fall of 94 cents.

Junior Market | The JSE Junior Market Index advanced by 6.58 points to close at 747.13 with 3 stocks trading with higher prices at the end of Monday’s trading and none closing lower.

Gains | Stocks trading higher were Blue Power with 1,500 shares as the price edged up 1 cent to close at $9.01; Consolidated Bakeries 16,000 shares, closing up by 10 cents to $1.15 and Lasco Manufacturing  45,630 units at $1.23 for a 3 cents gain.

Firm trade | Stocks without a change in price are Access Financial Services with 7,800 shares to close at $10; Derrimon Trading, 1,000,000 shares to end at $2.50; Lasco Distributors 256,190 units at $1.30; Lasco Financial Services 49,550 shares at $1.30 and Caribbean Producers 21,365 units at $2.75.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 8 stocks with bids higher than the last selling price and 4 stocks with offers that were lower.

Friday, 21st February 2014 | The Jamaican stock market closed the week with the main indices increasing to partially recover from two previous days of decline. The JSE Market Index gained 168.44 points to close at 79,531.75 and closed the week down by 82 points, the JSE All Jamaican Composite increased by 595.32 points to 84,535.18 and closed the week higher than it started by more than 200 points.

Main Market | Advancing and declining stocks were almost evenly divided at the end of trading as National Commercial Bank dominated trading with 1.6 million units along with Carreras with nearly 1 million units and Desnoes & Geddes with 2 million units.

Gains | Caribbean Cement exchanged 2,100 shares at $4.97 for an increase of 27 cents; Carreras put in 980,789 shares at $36.01 for a one cent gain; Jamaica Money Market Brokers had 3,528 units trading at $7.49 as the price inched up by a cent; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share contributed 3,000 units to rise by a cent at $3.01; National Commercial Bank was active in trading 1,590,083 units to close at $19.00 for a gain of 98 cents and Seprod had only 950 units changing hands to close up 10 cents at $11.00.

Firm trade | There were only few stocks that traded with unchanged prices. First Caribbean International Bank traded 25,455 units to close at $80; Proven Investments had 580 units at US1799 cents; Sagicor Group had 169,967 shares at $9.15; Sagicor Real Estate X Fund 39,216 units at $7 and Supreme Ventures  59,000 shares at $2.40.

Declines | Cable & Wireless traded 718,201 but the price slipped by 2 cents to end at 35 cents; Desnoes & Geddes swapped 2,015,946 shares at $5 each and lost a cent in the process; Grace Kennedy gave up 94 cents as the stocks traded 3,808 units to close at $54.56; Jamaica Broilers lost 8 cents to close at $4.82 with 31,950 shares; Pan Jamaican Investment had only 350 units trading at $48.99 for a one cent fall; Scotia Group traded 45,965 units but the price slipped by 35 cents to close at $20.70 and its subsidiary, Scotia Investments, closed down a cent as it traded 16,550 units to end at $25.99.

Junior Market | The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 2.79 points to close at 740.55 and kept below the close of the previous week by 26 points.

Gains | Only two junior market stocks recorded gains with Caribbean Producers exchanging 240,000 shares to close at $2.75 for a 3 cents increase and General Accident Insurance 5,000 units to close at $1.70, up 5 cents.

Firm trade | Two stocks closed unchanged. Blue Power having 1,400 shares at $9.00 and Paramount Trading 11,535 shares at $2.88.

Declines | The four junior market stocks suffered price declines include Consolidated Bakeries with 447,896 shares at $1.05 for a 5 cents fall; Lasco Distributors 219,643 units in closing at $1.30 having declined by 5 cents; Lasco Financial Services closed while trading 195,700 units at $1.30, as it too fell by 5 cents and Lasco Manufacturing traded 46,241 shares with a 3 cents fall to close at $1.20.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 4 stocks with bids higher than the last selling prices and 5 stocks with offers lower.