JSE: Big day with 21 stocks gaining

January 29, 2014 by

Wednesday, 29th January 2014 | Nearly a third of the stocks listed recorded gains on Jamaica stock market as investors woke up to the news that Sagicor Group were to acquire RBC Royal Bank‘s Jamaica operations. It was, however, not a big day for volume or the value of stocks traded as 6,325,652 shares changed hands at a value of $46,429,845. Trading resulted in the indices gaining across the board.

The main market had one of its best days for some time with advancing stocks out numbering declining stocks by a good margin. Activity seems to have been stirred by the announcement of the takeover of RBC Jamaican operations leading to the JSE Market Index advancing by 972.98 points to 80,540.48 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite moving up by 1,475.93 points to close at 82,580.18.

Main market gains | The main market recorded the bulk of the stocks to record gains with Berger Paints posting 6,088 shares to close at $1.86 for a cent increase; Barita Investments 17,000 shares to close at $2.60, up 10 cents; Cable & Wireless 2,126,000 for a gain of 3 cents to close at a new 52 weeks high of 25 cents; Desnoes & Geddes 20,180 units as the price put on 15 cents to close at $5.15; Gleaner Company 58,932 units to close 2 cents up at $1.12; Jamaica Broilers 334,018 shares as the price closed up 24 cents at $5; Jamaica Money Market Brokers had only 600 units but the price closed at $7.49 put on 9 cents; Jamaica Producers 9,000 at $19.80 up $1.05; Kingston Wharves 49,000 units as the price gained 44 cents to end at $6; Mayberry Investments 100,000 as the price moved up by 17 cents at $2.

JSEIndicesJan29National Commercial Bank 326,899 units to close 20 cents up at $18; Pan Jamaican Investment Trust 169,554 shares gaining $1.80 to close at $50; Sagicor Investments with 186,619 shares to close at $18.5 for $1.83 gain; Proven Investments ordinary shares traded 8,236 and reached an all-time high of US18 cents for a 2 cent increase; Radio Jamaica 15,000 shares at $1.6 to close up by 8 cents. Sagicor Group 12,900 shares as the price gained 90 cents to close at $9 pushed by the news of RBC takeover; the bid at the close was at $9.80. Scotia Investments traded 200,100 and gained $1.25 to end at $26.25; Seprod with 12,500 shares closed at $10.90 up by 10 cents; Supreme Ventures 10,000 units closing at $$2.30 for 10 cents gain.

Losers | The losers were few with Caribbean Cement trading 578,900 shares and lost a cent to end at $5; Scotia Group 420,404 units to close at $20.40 down 10 cents; Grace Kennedy with 77,523 shares to close at $56.30, a fall of 70 cents.

The JSE Junior Market Index advanced by 8.54 points to close at 782.99 but only two stocks recorded gains for the day.

Junior market gains | Stocks to record gains are Caribbean Producers Jamaica 343,300 at a new 52 weeks high of $2.75, up by 5 cents; Access Financial 10,000 units at $11, a gain of $1.

Losers | The junior market suffered more declining than rising prices as AMG Packaging traded 5,854 units to close at $3.45 down 3 cents; Consolidated Bakeries 3,000 shares at $1.15 down 2 cents; Dolphin Cove 20,000 shares to close at $8.90, a loss of 10 cents; General Accident 22,670 shares at $1.80 for a decline of 5 cents; Lasco Distributors 128,800 shares closing at $1.41, off by a cent; Lasco Financial 480,544 units at $1.30 down by 5 cents; Lasco Manufacturing 128,000 shares down a cent at $1.32.

Firm trades | Derrimon Trading was the only stock to trade firm in the junior market with 2,000 units at $2.35.

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

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , ,

TTSE: Advancing stocks hold upper hand

January 29, 2014 by

Wednesday, 29th January 2014 | Advancing stock held the upper hand on the Trinidad Stock Exchange as 361,022 shares traded on with a value of $3,768,959; 15 securities trading of which 5 advanced, 2 declined and 8 traded firm.

The Composite Index declined by 4.76 points to close at 1,187.91, the All T&T Index declined by 9.99 points to close at 2,004.02 and the Cross Listed Index advanced by 0.05 points to close at 48.86.

Gainers | The main traded stocks with gains include Scotia Investments with a volume of 74,262 shares traded for $107,680 as the stock price ended with a gain of 5 cents to close at $1.45. Republic Bank’s 2,425 shares traded at $116.60 for a 3 cent gain. Agostini’s and Grace Kennedy put on a cent each but traded less than 1,000 shares combined. Unilever Caribbean had 1,441 units $56.40, up 20 cents.

Losers | Profit taking continues to affect First Citizens Bank as it traded 25,361 shares valued at $1,018,953 but lost $1.67 to end at $39.99; Clico Investment Fund traded 58,374 shares valued at $1,311,509 and the price declined by 4 cents to end at $22.47

TTSEJan29Firm trades | Trading firm are National Flour Mills with 66,151 shares at a value of $63,505 to close at 96 cents; Sagicor Financial Corporation exchanged 104,701 shares changing hands for a value of $764,461.61 and closed at $7.30; Point Lisas Industrial Port Development had 24,834 shares changing hands to close at $3.45; Angostura Holdings put in just 1,298 at $10.75, and Guardian Holdings 777 units at $14.

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

Filed Under: Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: , ,

JSE: Declines over power gains

January 28, 2014 by

Tuesday, 28th January 2014 | The Jamaica stock market saw a sharp reversal to Monday’s positive advance decline ratio with 14 stocks falling in price compared to only 5 that went up of the 29 securities that traded. Trading resulted in 5,570,700 shares changing hands valued at $8,124,125.54. Carreras and Caribbean Creams traded at 52 weeks low and Proven Investments traded at an all-time high.

The JSE Market Index dropped 286.54 points to 79,567.50 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite dipped 434.65 points to 81,104.25.

Main market winners | On a day when winners were hard to find, the main market had 3 of the stocks that recorded gains with the US dollar market having one. Berger Paints traded just 2,749 units but gained 5 cents to end at $1.85; Grace Kennedy exchanged only 1,800 units as the price closed at $57 for a $2 gain; Hardware & Lumber with 5,000 gaining 8 cents to close at $8.08; Proven Investments US dollar ordinary shares gained a cent to close at a new all-time high of US$0.16.

JSEIndicesJan28Losers | Stocks trading down include Caribbean Cement with 83,478 units closing 24 cents down at $5.01; Carreras with 49,567 shares closing down a cent at $33.99; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 10,000 shares at $7.40, down by 9 cents; Kingston Wharves with 8,600 units to close down 54 cents at $5.56; National Commercial Bank 93,182 units closing down 20 cents at $17.80; Radio Jamaica 11,330 shares to close down by 38 cents at $1.52; Scotia Group lost 10 cents to end at $20.50 as it traded 47,270 units; Supreme Ventures had 3,204,847 units changing hands at $2.20, down by 10 cents.

Firm traders | Stocks trading unchanged include Cable & Wireless 290,000 units closing at 22 cents; Desnoes & Geddes 8,175 units at $5; Sagicor Group 37,200 shares at $8.50; Sagicor Real Estate X Fund 9,265 units at $6.50; Scotia Investments with 60,000 shares at $25.

Trading of preference shares saw Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% exchanging 100,000 units at $2 and the 8.75% traded just 10,000 shares at $3 while Proven Investments 8% swapped 16,204 units at $5.10.

The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 0.89 points to close at 774.45 as the majority of securities that traded declined with only one advancing.

Junior market winners | Medical Disposables, the sole security to close on the junior market with a gain had 227,616 units trading to close at $2.10, up 5 cents.

Losers | Caribbean Cream traded 610,000 to close at 85 cents but lost 8 cents; General Accident Insurance 27,000 shares but closed down 3 cents at $1.85; Lasco Distributors exchanged 171,160 units to close a cent down at $1.42; Lasco Financial Services had 83,750 units changing hands and shed 4 cents to close at $1.35 and Lasco Manufacturing exchanged 363,000 units, down 1 cent at $1.33.

Firm traders | Caribbean Producers Jamaica traded 10,000 to close unchanged at $2.70. Eppley was the other stock to close unchanged but with a miniscule volume.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had only 8 stocks with bids that were higher than the last selling prices and 2 stocks with offers lower.

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , , ,

TTSE: Manipulated close or what?

January 28, 2014 by

Tuesday, 28th January 2014 | The official records of the Trinidad Stock Exchange will reflect no stock recording a change in price today and the indices all remaining unperturbed at the end of trading.

But that would be hiding the real truth of what really took place for the 13 securities that traded today with one stock recording a gain and 5 stocks closing down in price compared to their last selling prices on Monday. There was no change to the market indices as the Composite Index remained at 1,195.73, the All T&T Index at 2,020.18 and the Cross Listed Index at 48.81. A total of 219,809 shares changed hands with a value of $3,933,490.

Gainer | The only stock to record a gain for the day is National Enterprises with a volume of 27,954 shares being traded for $510,274 and the price gained 5 cents to end at $18.30.

TTSEJan28Decliners | Angostura Holdings traded 47,764 shares for a value of $513,463 to close down 25 cents at $11.75; Clico Investment Fund exchanged 106,378 shares valued at $2,394,308 as the price dropped by 25 cents to close at $22.50; First Citizens Bank traded 2,150 to close down 72 cents at $41.66; Readymix WI closed at $21 a new 52 weeks low as the price was down 99 cents as 800 units changed hands; Scotiabank exchanged 1,712 units at $73.11, down a cent and West Indian Tobacco fell to $118 down by $2 with only 250 units trading.

Firm Traders | The main stock to traded unchanged in price include First Caribbean International Bank that contributed 25,917 shares with a value of $168,461 to close at $6.50, while Trinidad Cement added 5,034 shares valued at $11,578, closing at $2.30.

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

Filed Under: Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: , ,

JSE: Advances more than declines

January 27, 2014 by

Monday, 27th January 2014 | The prices of 10 stocks gained and 5 declined as 27 securities traded on the Jamaica stock market resulting in 4,095,869 units changing hands valued at just $8,124,126.

Three stocks closed at 52 weeks high at the end of trading. The improved gain to loss ratio was visible in the main market indices moving up as JSE Market Index gained by 217.41 points to close at 79,854.04 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite advanced by 329.79 points to 81,538.90. The JSE Junior Market Index, however, declined by 4.47 points to close at 775.34.

Main market advancers | Stocks advancing include Cable & Wireless with 1,940,868 units to close up 2 cents at 22 cents, a new 52 weeks high; Caribbean Cement also closed at a new 52 weeks high with 7,583 to end at $5.25 up by 65 cents; Jamaica Broilers 55,518 units, the price gained 3 cents to end at $4.77; Sagicor Investments 4,700 shares at $16.67, up by $1.06; Sagicor Real Estate X Fund 32,735 units at $6.50, up 20 cents; Scotia Group 100,768 units to close at $20.60, for a 10 cents gain; Seprod gained 20 cents to close at $10.80 with 2,000 shares.

JSEIndicesJan27Proven Investments US dollar ordinary shares traded 15,500 units at a new 52 weeks high of US$0.15 as it gained 1.7 US cents.

Firm traders | The main stocks with the last traded price remaining unchanged include Carreras with 11,978 units at $34; Kingston Wharves  8,575 units at $6.10; National Commercial Bank 8,930 units at $18; Supreme Ventures 1,008,700 units at $2.30.

In the preference section, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% had 292,000 units at $2 and 8.75% with 40,000 units at $3 and Proven Investments 8%, 35,200 shares at $5.10.

Decliners | Scotia Investments trading only 3,340 units to close at $25, for a decline of a $1.50.

Junior market advancers | Lasco Financial Services 289,314 shares at 1.39 up 2 cents and Lasco Manufacturing 132,120 shares to close at $1.34 up 8 cents.

Firm traders | Only one stock, Caribbean Flavours was unchanged with 38,243 shares, the price closed at $2.50.

Decliners | Three stocks declined including Medical Disposables with 21,000 shares, closing at $2.05, off by 5 cents; Lasco Distributors 31,790 shares at $1.43, down 2 cents and Paramount Trading 2,000 units with the price slipping 35 cents to $3.20.

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 prices and 4 stocks with offers that were lower.

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , , ,

TTSE: Investors cleaned out NCB shares

January 27, 2014 by

Monday, 27th January 2014 | Investors cleared out all the National Commercial Bank shares on offer in Monday’s trading on the Trinidad Stock Exchange. This seems a strong acceptance of the improved quarterly results reported by the banking group after trading hours on Thursday. The bank’s shares accounted for 97 percent of the stocks that traded.

Activity amounted to 1,958,441 shares changing hands valued at $3,250,095 with trading in 10 securities of which 3 advanced, 3 declined and 4 traded firm.

Two of the market indices declined while one remained unchanged. The Composite Index declined by 0.64 points to close at 1,195.73, the All T&T Index fell by 1.30 points to 2,020.18 and the Cross Listed Index remained at 48.81.

Gainers | Clico Investment Fund advanced by 11 cents to end at $22.75 with a volume of 3,210 shares valued at $73,028. Republic Bank added 8,109 shares valued at $944,897 with the price increasing by 29 cents $116.52; Scotia Bank traded only 624 units but the price inched up by 2 cents to $73.12.

Firm traders | National Commercial Bank was the volume leader with 1,901,965 shares changing hands for a value of $1,901,965 with price closing at $1; Jamaica Money Market Brokers closed at 49 cents with 18,500 shares trading for $9,065 and Guardian Holdings traded 4,294 units at $14.

Losers | Angostura Holdings fell by 50 cents to close at $11.00 as 1,000 units traded; National Flour Mills contributed 15,500 shares with a value of $14,830 to close a cent off at 95 cents; First Citizens Bank lost 4 cents in closing at $42.38 with 3,891 shares traded.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had only 3 stocks with bids that were higher than the last selling prices and 5 stocks with offers lower.

Filed Under: Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: , ,

FX: BOJ intervenes again

January 24, 2014 by

Friday, 24th January 2014 | Bank of Jamaica intervened in the foreign exchange market for the second day following Thursday’s intervention. In addition to the intervention by selling to the market, the central bank also placed fixed interest securities on the market to absorb unlimited amounts of local and United States currencies. The instruments include offers of BOJ-USD Certificate of Deposit (CD) 2016A for unlimited amounts at a fixed coupon of 4 percent per annum and a BOJ-USD CD 2018A at a fixed coupon of 5 percent per annum.

The local CD instruments have a tenure of 365-days. The initial coupon for the first three months at a GOJ Treasury Bill rate of 7.43 per cent, plus 0.25 percentage point and a CD instrument for 18-months and GOJ Treasury Bill rate of 7.43 per cent, plus 0.27 percentage point.

In actual trading in forex market, dealers bought a total of US$47,685,695 of all currencies traded and sold the equivalent of US$57,450,992. The heavy sales could be connected with the BOJ CD instruments. In the past when these instruments were offered there have been higher sales on the closing day of the offers.

FX_TRADE+Currency+Jan24Overall rates slipped across all currencies with the exception of a moderate increase for the selling rate for the British Pound. Authorised dealers bought US$44,391,119 as the rate declined by 8 cents to $106.83 and sold US$54,854,249 as the rate slipped by a cent to $107.18. There was buying of C$914,036, the rate declined by 45 cents to $94.80 and selling of C$480,326 at an average of $96.67 down by 42 cents.

Buying of £970,032 resulted in an average rate of $174.23, which was down by 48 cents and selling amounted to £580,135 at $177.84 each but at 23 cents higher than on Thursday.

Other currencies bought in the equivalent of US$901,412 and US$1,200,855 was sold.

FX_TRADE+HighLow+Jan24Highs & Lows | The highest buying rate for the US dollar grew by 40 cents to end at $108.20, the lowest buying rate was up by 42 cents to $87.68. The highest selling rate closed unchanged at $110.25 and the low dropped by the same amount it went up by the day before, $10.07 to $87.26.

All the rates for the Canadian dollar fell at the end of trading with the highest buying rate falling 20 cents to end at $97 and the lowest buying rate ended down by $1.25 to $77.19. The highest selling rate was down $1 at $99 and the low fell by a dollar to $93.

The rates for the British Pound were mixed. The highest buying rate for the eased by 30 cents to $178.40 and the lowest buying rate went up 29 cents to $143.59. The highest selling rate fell 45 cents to $181.02 while the lowest selling rate of moved up by 35 cents to $173.

Filed Under: FX Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , ,

JSE: Market closes week down

January 24, 2014 by

Friday, 24th January 2014 | There were 25 securities trading on the last day of the week on the Jamaica Stock Exchange with 8 up in price and 9 down, as 13,543,591 shares changed hands for $79,640,836.

The JSE Market Index fell 134.62 points to 79,636.63, the JSE All Jamaican Composite declined by 204.21 points to close at 81,209.11 and the JSE Junior Market Index advanced by 4.50 points, closing at 779.81.

Caribbean Cement and Knutsford Express traded at new 52 weeks high and Carreras which was the dominant stock in terms of value closed at a 52 weeks low.

Main Market | Trading in the main market took included Cable and Wireless with 2,340,973 shares as the price closed up at 20 cents; Caribbean Cement’s price closed at a new 52 weeks high of $4.60 as 7,200 units changed hands as the price gained 58 cents in the process; Carreras with 1,145,574 shares closing down 50 cents at $34; Jamaica Broilers Group 164,181 units to close at $4.74; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 11,880 shares to close up 39 cents at $7.50; Mayberry Investments lost ground by falling 19 cents, closing at $1.81 with 14,467 shares; National Commercial Bank had little reaction to the quarterly results released on Thursday but 50,500 shares were swapped unchanged at $18 at the close; Scotia Group with 175,418 shares closing firm at $20.50; Seprod lost 20 cents with 729,735 units to close at $10.60 and Supreme Ventures with a big volume of 5,213,039 shed 10 cents to end at $2.30.

Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share traded 804,120 unchanged at $3.

JSEIndicesJan24Junior Market | Junior market trading was spread out with Caribbean Cream having 1,405,820 shares to close at 93 cents; Caribbean Flavours 29,321 units to close at $2.50; Derrimon Trading 45,000 shares, closing at $2.35; Knutsford Express traded for the first time with 1,690 shares to close at $5.12, one cent up on the IPO price; Lasco Distributors 154,941 shares at $1.45; Lasco Financial Services 100,003 units at $1.38; Lasco Manufacturing 24,450 shares at $1.26 and Medical Disposables 52,480 units at $2.10.

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

Importantly, Proven Investments US dollar based ordinary shares closed with a bid of 15 cents compared with a last sale of 13.3 US cents.

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , ,

TTSE: 2 new highs but indices slip

January 24, 2014 by

Friday, 24th January 2014 | One Caribbean Media and National Enterprises closed at new 52 weeks high on the Trinidad Stock Market on Friday. Trading was in 10 securities of which 2 advanced, 2 declined and 6 traded firm with a volume of 280,886 shares changing hands valued at $3,718,271.

The Composite Index eased down by 0.69 points to 1,196.37, the All T&T Index inched down by 1.38 points to close at 2,021.48 and the Cross Listed Index was unmoved points to end at 48.81.

Gainers | National Enterprises closed at $18.25 with a volume of 25,000 shares valued at $456,250, as the stock gained 25 cents; One Caribbean Media traded 8,000 shares to close at $18.77 for a gain of 20 cents.

Decliners | First Citizens Bank fell 7 cents to close at $42.42 as only 439 shares valued traded; Angostura Holdings traded 101,502 shares for a value of $1,166,793 and lost 32 cents as the price ended at $11.48.

TTSEJan24Firm Stocks| Agostini’s traded 10,388 units at $17.79 for a value of $184.803; Clico Investment Fund traded 71652 shares valued at $1,622,421 to end at $22.50; Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 21,000 shares at 49 cents for a value of $10,290; Point Lisas Port Development traded 8,000 units at $3.45; Trinidad Cement exchanged 34,805 shares for $80,051 at $2.30.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 5 stocks with bids higher than the last selling prices and 3 stocks with offers that were lower.

Filed Under: Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: , ,

FX: BOJ intervention revalues J$

January 23, 2014 by

Thursday, 23th January 2014 | The selling rate for the US dollar remains above J$107 but the selling rate inched down a bit on Thursday while the Canadian dollar and the British Pound suffered declines on both the buying and selling rates against the Jamaican dollar.

Authorised dealers bought a total US$59,269,945 of all currencies and sold the equivalent of US$61,911,209. Our source indicates that the Bank of Jamaica intervened in the market by selling approximately US$10 million to dealers.

Authorised dealers bought US$56,481,104 in United States currency at $106.92 for an increase of 4 cents and sold US$59,940,115 as the average rate inched down a cent to $107.19. Dealers bought C$930,397, the rate fell by 50 cents to $95.25 and C$626,264 was sold with the rate falling 71 cents to $97.09. The British Pound was bought at an average rate of $174.71, a fall of $1.25 as £1,029,444 was purchased, and only £607,375 was sold for a decline of 40 cents at $177.61.

FX_TRADE+Currency+Jan23Other currencies bought amounted to US$277,711 with US$397,459 sold.

Highs & Lows | The highest buying rate for the US dollar fell by 55 cents to end at $107.80, the lowest buying rate was unchanged at $87.26. The highest selling rate closed at $110.25 for a 69 cents decrease and the low moved was up to $97.33 by $10.07

The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar fell $1 to end at $97.20 and the lowest buying rate ended 54 cents more at $78.44. The highest selling rate was unchanged at $100 and the low was up by 15 cents to $94.

FX_TRADE+HighLow+Jan23The highest buying rate for the British Pound eased by 90 cents to $178.70; the lowest buying rate fell $1.71 to $143.30. The highest selling rate of $181.47, up 92 cents, the lowest selling rate of moved up by $1.75 to $172.65.

Filed Under: FX Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , ,