TTSE: Painfully slow Wednesday

July 24, 2013 by

Wednesday, 24th July 2013 | Activity on the Trinidad Stock Exchange was painfully slow on Wednesday as just 5 securities traded, of which 3 advanced and 2 traded firm as 18,244 shares crossed the floor of the exchange valued at $1,403,089.05.

Scotiabank Trinidad & Tobago traded 600 shares as high as $71.42 during the day, a new 52 weeks high, but the last traded price was the same as Tuesday at $70.01. West Indian Tobacco Company had 11,004 shares changing hands for a value of $1,298,472 as the stock put on 44 cents to close at $118. Angostura Holdings’ 4,515 shares traded for $40,725. One Caribbean Media chipped in with 1,125 units with a value of $20,250 as the stock price gained 39 cents to close at $18, a new 52 weeks closing high. National Flour Mills added 1,000 shares valued at $790.

Trinidad Cement did not trade but there is a bid at $1.24 which is above Tuesday’s price of $1.21 for 309,751 units.

IC Bid offer indicator| At the end of trading there were 3 stocks with bids higher than the lasts selling price and just one with the offer price being lower than the last price.

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

FX: Market back to norm

July 23, 2013 by

Tuesday, 23 July 2013 | The level of trading in the forex market returned to normal as purchases accounted for US$30 million and amount sold was US$32 million for all currencies traded. In the day’s trading, more Pounds were sold than purchased as purchases amounted to £1.2 million versus £1.922 million sold, an equal amount of Canadian dollars were sold and bought but there was a moderate amount of US dollar sold over the amount bought.

The US dollar buying rate fell an average of 28 cents and the selling rate inched up by 3 cents. The buying rate for the US dollar climbed $1.47 to close at $97.42 and the selling rate moved up by 96 cents to $99.35. The British Pound gained 95 cents buying to reach $153.71 and selling took place for 62 cents more than on Monday, at $156.30.

The highest buying rates all fell back on the day between 18 cents in the case of the US dollar to $1.85 for the Pound. Only the Canadian dollar lowest buying rate changed, it increased by 42 cents to close at $79.35. All the highest buying rates increased from a low of 21 cents for the US dollar to a high of $1.17 for the Pound. There was no change to the lowest selling rate for the US dollar. The Canadian dollar climbed 45 cents to $95.50 and the Pound by $1.35 to $151.30.

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JSE: Main market in focus

July 23, 2013 by

Tuesday, 23 July 3013 | Trading levels have slowed in the junior market as the three Lasco companies that have had frenetic trading since the beginning of June have seen demand taper down after a 10 for one stock split. Trading on the market took place in 26 companies as 2.5 million units traded at a value of $23 million on a day when 8 stocks advanced to 4 declining with 14 traded without a change in price at the end of the trading session.

Junior Market | Nine stocks traded in the junior market, Lasco Financial Services closed at a new all-time high of $1.46 as only 62,700 shares traded. Lasco Distributors traded 413,120 shares and closed at $1.52, up 10 cents and Manufacturing closed at $1.80 up 17 cents with 180,178 units. Paramount traded 119,412 units at $3.30 with no change in the price.

Carreras traded 100,650 units valued at $5.3 million as the stock closed at $52.51, the same closing price as Monday. Grace had 90,530 units changing hands at a value of $5 million, closing at $56. JMMB closed up 49 cents at $8.50 with 407,496 units and absorbed $3.46 million in the process. Jamaica Producers lost 99 cents to close at $19.01 with just over 9,000 units traded. National Commercial Bank traded 39,170 units, closed up 45 cents at $19.50. Sagicor Life chipped in with 56,000 units, all traded at $9, the same price as the close on Monday. Scotia Group traded 93,000 units at $21.20 costing $2 million.

IPO listing | Jamaica Stock Exchange ordinary shares which was listed today, did not trade but the stock had bids for 149,000 at the offer price of $2.85 and an offer at $3.26 to sell 20,000.

The bid offer indicator has just one stock with a bid higher than the last selling price and 2 lower.

Company results | The quality of company results will have a telling effect on the market going forward. At the end of today’s trading Hardware & Lumber released impressive profits which are up strongly over 2012 as well as up strongly on the first quarter of this year. The improvement should encourage more interest in the stock.

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

TTSE: TCL dominance continues

July 23, 2013 by

Tuesday, 23 July 2013 | In Tuesday’s trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange, Trinidad Cement took the spotlight trading more than 94 percent of the shares that crossed the floor and more than a half of the value of trades, as 802,723 shares for a value of $963,268 changed hands. Since IC Insider recommended it as a buy in June, the stock is up 26 percent, closing at $1.20. At the end of trading the bid was above the last selling price at $1.21.  Unilever, one of our stocks to watch this week, had a bid at $56 compared with last selling price of $55.

There was trading in 14 securities of which 3 advanced, 5 declined and 6 traded firm. Clico Investment Fund enjoyed the day’s largest gain, increasing 17 cents to $21.99 as 5,600 of the fund’s shares valued at $123,144 traded. Readymix (West Indies) suffered the day’s greatest loss, falling 49 cents to close at $21.99 with just 5 shares trading as it reached a new 52 weeks low. Sagicor Financial Corporation had a volume of 35,457 shares traded for $220,739. Scotiabank Trinidad & Tobago contributed 2,102 units valued at $147,161, while ANSA McAL added 1,305 shares valued at $86,613.

Trading amounted to 850,676 shares valued at $1,686,190 as one stock reached 52 weeks low and one a 52 weeks high.

The number of stocks with bids that are higher than the last selling price is 2 with none having offers lower than the last sale price. At the end of Monday’s trading, 4 stocks had offers lower than the last selling price, 4 of these traded today wiping out the difference. The market has a large number of stocks without bids for some time, at the end of trading there were 10 such stocks. This is not a very bullish sign as the prices of many of these stocks will have to make a steep decline to encourage buying.

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

FX: BOJ says not so fast again

July 23, 2013 by

Monday, 22nd July 2013 | Jamaica’s central bank signaled to the forex market today “not so fast” in the movement of the Jamaican dollar against its main intervention currency, the US dollar. Our source indicates that the central bank did selective selling to some financial institutions, as such, not all dealers got the central bank’s funds. We were unable to get the amount that BOJ sold to the system but data of past trading Mondays suggest that the figure could be around US$15-20 million.

Since the start of July the amounts bought on Mondays give some indication of the likely amount sold into the system. The July purchases are as follows: Monday July 1 a little more than US$38 million; Monday July 8 nearly US$39 million and Monday July 15 the amount was less at US$30.5 million. In today’s trading, purchases amounted to US$60.4 while selling took place for $57.6 million as the US dollar moved up 19 cents for the buying rate to close at $101.44 and the selling rate slipped back by 19 cents to close at $101.81.

The central bank’s intervention may have arisen from last week’s trading in which US dollars purchased exceeded the amount sold by nearly US$10 million, while the rate kept on slipping. This would have sent a signal that traders may be building up a long position in the currency, even as the actual sale of US dollars was US$4.5 million more than the amount purchased in the week ending July 12th, which was less than the net position last week. These figures are for the US dollar currency alone and ignores surpluses of Pounds and Canadian Dollars that were purchased and may have been converted to US dollars, the currency in greatest demand.

There was buying of C$1.065 million at an average rate of $95.95 at 24 cents less than on Friday but the average selling rate rose to $98.38, up by 33 cents as C$727,200 was sold. The Pound lost value but moderately, on both ends, to close at $152.76 buying and $155.68 selling as dealers bought £2 million and sold just £460,000.

Highest & lowest rates | Except for the highest buying rate for the US dollar which just barely inched up, there were no other changes in the rates for US currency. The Canadian dollar saw dealers spending $2.10 more when buying at the highest levels and 25 cents more at the lowest buying rate. For the sell side, the highest rate put on 32 cents and the lowest 25 cents. The Pound was bought at $2.80 more for the highest buying rate and 66 cents more on the lowest rate for selling. $3.47 was added to the highest rate and just 25 cents on the lowest rate.

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

JSE: Attention shifts to main market

July 22, 2013 by

Monday, 22nd July 2013 | In today’s activity on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, stocks of 26 companies traded, accounting for 4.7 million units, valued at $39 million. The advance decline ratio remained tilted in favour of declining stocks with 11 declining and 5 advancing as all the major indices with trades declined marginally by less than 35 points.

Two stocks closed at 52 weeks high with one of them at a record new closing high. Attention in the market switched from the juniors to the main market, as the bulk of activity took place in this segment of the market.

Trades of note Main Market | Carreras traded 75,871 units valued at $4 million between $52.81 and the closing price of $52.51, losing 34 cents on the day, the stock has found some support at this level. Gleaner Company traded 1,069,000 shares at $1.16 the same price as Friday. Grace Kennedy traded 83,670 units at $56 valued at $4.7 million. Jamaica Money Market traded 809,500 units between $8.50 and $8 as the stock closed at $8.01, Seprod traded 1.049 million shares and closed at $14.75 losing 25 cents for the day.

Junior market | 9 junior market stocks traded as the price of 4 fell to 1 increase. Activity was low keyed as seen by the levels of trading. Lasco Manufacturing was the volume leader in the segment but it only traded 259,420 units valued at $437,700, Lasco Distributors was the second largest trade with 237,000. KLE Group chipped in with 100,000 units at $2.60. Price changes were moderate in this segment of the market. Lasco Financial closed at a new all-time high at $1.42, up 3 cents with only 10,800 shares trading.

Proven Investment Preference shares traded 659,000 units valued at $3.35 million as there seems to be continued interest in these shares.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows that bids for 5 stocks were higher with 1 stock having offers lower than their last selling price.

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

TTSE: Increased breath, decreased volume

July 22, 2013 by

Monday, 22nd July 2013 | The number of shares traded on the Trinidad Stock Exchange was very low at the start of the week as just 101,000 units valued at $42 million traded. A total of 18 securities traded of which 2 advanced, 8 declined and 8 traded firm and one stock, BCB HOLDINGS declined by 30 cents to close at $11.60, a 52 weeks low.

Trinidad Cement which still remains an IC Insider buy rated stock, traded 30,000 shares for a value of $34,750 and closed up at $1.20, gaining 5 cents in the process. Neal & Massy Holdings with a volume of 18,005 units traded at $58.99, down a cent at a value of $1,062,115. Sagicor Financial Corporation contributed 15,660 shares with a value of $97,718 closing up 3 cents at $6.24, while National Enterprises added 11,693 shares valued at $187,088.

Clico Investment Fund was the only active security on the Mutual Fund Market, posting a volume of 23,400 shares valued at $510,628 as the price slipped by 13 cents to end at $21.82.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows that bids for 1 stock was higher and 4 stocks had offers lower than their last selling price.

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

FX: Pound recovers $44.70

July 20, 2013 by

Friday, 19th July 2013 | In Friday’s forex trading the Pound recovered just about all that it lost on Thursday for the lowest selling rate as it put on $44.70 to close at $149.70 but the highest selling rate slipped by $2.93 to $158.53. The highest and lowest buy rates moved up by 55 cents and 67 cents respectively. The British Pound climbed 13 cents to $152.95 buying and the average selling rate moved up by 72 cents to $155.79.

The average rates moved up for the buying and selling of the US dollar by 14 cents and 17 cents respectively as the buying rate closed at $101.24 and the selling rate to $101.995. The buying rate for the Canadian dollar moved up by 55 cents to $96.19 but the selling rate declined by 17 cents to $98.06.

There was not much change to the highest and lowest rates for the US dollar with only the highest buying rate changing with a 5 cent decline to $102.50. The Canadian dollar climbed 9 cents and 8 cents respectively for the highest buying and lowest buying rates lost 5 cents in the highest selling rate and moved up 80 cents for the lowest selling rate which closed at $94.80.

A total of US$32.19 million was purchased and US$31.2 million sold for all currencies traded. US dollar buying was US$2 million more than the amount sold but there was more selling of Pound Sterling than purchases, the first this has happened for some time.

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JSE: Red day on market

July 19, 2013 by

Friday, 19th July 2013 | The last day of the week saw a decline in all the indices and the gains made in the last two days were completely wiped out. More than 9.3 million shares valued at $23.37 million changed hands. Seven million Caribbean Cream stock traded with Stocks & Securities picking up the vast majority for in house purposes and Mayberry Investment doing most of the selling to them.

The advance decline ratio turned decisively negative as 12 stocks declined while only 4 advanced. All the indices moved down sharply with the exception of the junior market index that declined by just over a point and the US dollar index and the cross listed that had no trades.

Main market trades of note | The all Jamaica Index lost 1,105.03 points to close at 87,481.85 and the JSE market index fell by 627.68 to close at 86,550.40.

The sell-off continued in Carreras with 50,000 units valued at $2.64 million trading between $53.50 and the closing price of $52.85. Caribbean Cement, which has been showing more demand, traded 355,000 units at $1 each. Grace Kennedy traded 30,100 shares at a value of $1.69 million with all being traded at $56 while losing $1. Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) traded 15,314 units between $8.80 and the closing price of $8.02 was down 78 cents from the opening price. Jamaica Producers stock closed at $20 up 50 cents with only 1,200 shares trading. National Commercial Bank traded 129,468 shares valued at $2.52 million and closed at $19.30, down 20 cents. Radio Jamaica traded 186,243 units as investors sold to the buyer with 4.7 million shares that was on the bid at $1.30 and Scotia Group traded 190,226 units valued at $4 million to close at $21.10, the same at the last traded price on Thursday. Scotia Investments fell back by 69 cents to close at $26.01 with 4,565 units trading.

Junior market | 8 stocks in the junior market traded as 2 stocks increased and 5 declined. The dominant trader, Caribbean Cream’s 7 million shares traded at a value of $7.2 million, pulling the price down by 3 cents as the stock closed at $1.03. AMG Packaging traded 221,000 shares valued at $939,265 and gained a cent. Lasco Manufacturing traded 352,190 units and closed at $1.66, Lasco Distributors traded 168,600 to close at $1.50 and Lasco Financial traded 84,350 units to close at $1.40.

Proven Investment Preference shares traded 439,730 units valued at $2.24 million at the same price as the day before of $5.09.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows that bids for 4 stocks were higher with 1 having the offer that was lower than their last selling price.

JSEIndicesJul19

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

TTSE: Subdued trading

July 19, 2013 by

Friday, 19th July 2013 | Trading stayed low on the final day of the week as only 124,988 units traded at a value of $5.8 million as trading took place in 7 securities of which 1 advanced, 4 declined and 2 traded firm.

ANSA McAL accounted for almost half of the volume that traded amounting to 60,416 shares at a value of $4,011,622. Jamaica’s based Grace Kennedy saw 15,000 of its shares traded for $54,150. Barbados based Sagicor Financial Corporation contributed 14,600 shares with a value of $90,666, while Republic Bank added 9,597 shares valued at $1,055,766. Clico Investment Fund traded 13,544 units valued at $297,268, declined 51 cents to close at $21.95. Scotiabank Trinidad & Tobago enjoyed the day’s sole price increase, climbing 4 cents while trading 4,331 units, to end the day at $70.01.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice market sentiment indicator shows that bids for no stock was higher with 5 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

TTSEJul19

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