Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange surged on Friday with MailPac dominating the market, just over 22 million shares accounting for 86 percent of the market share.
Junior Market in a recovery stage.
Market activity closed with 33 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 25,469,094 units valued at $48,110,589 compared to 13,283,703 units valued at $24,888,541 on Thursday.
At the close of market activities, the prices of 20 securities advanced, 6 declined and six remained unchanged. The Junior Market Index advanced by 11.40 points to close at 2,474.60. The average PE ratio of the Junior Market ended at 9.3 based on 2020/21 earnings.
Trading ended with an average of 771,791 units at $1,457,897 for each security traded, in contrast to 390,697 units for an average of $732,016 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to units 451,335 valued at $885,272 and previously 298,258 units valued at $611,409. In contrast, March closed with an average of 226,230 units, valued at $542,563 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows six stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and three with lower offers.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging closed 3 cents higher at $1.68, in trading 50,100 stock units, Blue Power ended with 19,862 shares changing hands, after rising 2 cents to end at $4.02, Cargo Handlers climbed 15 cents and exchanged 21,000 units at $5.53. Investors transferred 120,109 Caribbean Assurance Brokers shares and the price lost 7 cents to close at $1.94, Caribbean Producers traded 141,053 shares, after rising 18 cents to end at $2.50, Consolidated Bakeries climbed 27 cents exchanging 115,212 stock units at $1.65, Derrimon Trading shed 3 cents in trading of 9,300 units at $1.87. Dolphin Cove closed 4 cents higher at $7.79, with 5,600 shares trading, Elite Diagnostic ended trading with 25,000 shares, after rising 23 cents to end at $4.10, Everything Fresh closed 6 cents higher at 90 cents, with 62,414 stock units trading. Express Catering dipped 13 cents in trading of 150,117 units at $3, Fontana closed trading of 342,761 units and gained 40 cents to end at $5.90, Fosrich climbed 45 cents and exchanged 19,597 shares at $3.35. iCreate declined 3 cents in trading of 174,438 units at 50 cents, Indies Pharma closed trading of 46,000 units and gained 50 cents to end at $2.90. Knutsford Express close with a loss of 5 cents at $9.15, after swapping of 356 shares, Key Insurance closed 70 cents higher at $3, with 20,000 stock units trading, Lasco Distributors declined by 3 cents to settle at $2.95 in trading 202,783.
Lasco Financial closed trading of 116,341 units and gained 2 cents to end at $3.24, Lasco Manufacturing closed 5 cents higher at $3.65, with 149,773 stock units trading, Limners and Bards closed with 6,055 units changing hands and gained 2 cents to end at $2.20. Lumber Depot gained 1 cent to end at $1.21, trading 171,387 shares, MailPac lost 30 cents in exchanging 22,001,550 shares to close at $1.60. Medical Disposables climbed $1.74 to settle at $8.24 with 511,971 shares changing hands. Paramount Trading rose 27 cents and exchanged 616,305 shares at $2.25, the stock closed trading with 1,735,965 units on the bid at $2 with only two offers to sell, on the board amounting to 35,000 shares at $2.50 and $3. SSL Venture closed 21 cents higher at $1.06, with 9,500 stock units trading and Stationery and Office Supplies closed 11 cents higher at $7, with 62,074 stock units trading.
Prices of securities trading are those for the day’s last transaction unless otherwise stated.
Thursday gains reduced the market losses for the year, from a high of 39.3 percent in March to 26.5 percent presently. At the close of market activities, prices of 16 securities advanced, eight declined and ten remained unchanged with 34 securities changing hands. Trading resulted in an exchange of 13,283,703 units for $24,888,541 compared to 7,297,716 units at $17,298,654 on Wednesday. The average PE ratio of the Junior Market ended at 9.1 based on 2020/21 earnings.
Caribbean Assurance Brokers rose 1 cent in trading 196,792 shares to close at $2.01, Caribbean Flavours shed 50 cents trading of 139 units at $10, Consolidated Bakeries ended with an exchange of 10,000 shares, after rising 6 cents to end at $1.38. Derrimon Trading closed 7 cents higher at $1.90, exchanging 10,100 stock units, Elite Diagnostic climbed 57 cents and closed at $3.87, with 27,924 stock units changing hands, Everything Fresh ended trading with 6,009 shares, after rising 19 cents to end at 84 cents. Fontana gained 20 cents to end at $5.50 with 163,657 shares crossing the exchange, Fosrich traded of 6,000 shares, after rising 32 cents to end at $2.90, General Accident ended with a loss of 1 cent at $5.71 with 2,100 stock units changing hands. Indies Pharma ended market activity after 22,547 shares changed hands to close at $2.40 after falling 5 cents. Iron Rock Insurance closed 50 cents higher at $3, trading 18,308 stock units, Jetcon Corporation fell 11 cents in trading of 187,000 units at 99 cents, Knutsford Express closed with 5,874 shares crossing the market after rising 55 cents to end at $9.20. Lasco Distributors close with a loss of 2 cents at $2.98, swapping of 26,344 shares, Lasco Financial closed with 5,700 units crossing the market to gain 22 cents and end at $3.22, Lasco Manufacturing ended 10 cents higher at $3.60, in trading 80,700 stock units. 
Limners and Bards climbed 28 cents and exchanged 61,233 shares at $2.18, Lumber Depot added 1 cent and swapped 3,106,285 shares at $1.20, MailPac rose 14 cents in trading 8,397,683 shares to close at $1.90. Main Event closed 90 cents higher at $5, with 9,729 stock units trading, Medical Disposables ended with a loss of 5 cents at $6.50, after swapping 157,053 shares. Paramount Trading closed 8 cents higher at $1.98, with 85,812 stock units trading, SSL Venture fell 19 cents in trading of 1,000 units to close at a 52 weeks’ low of 85 cents and Stationery and Office Supplies closed with a loss of 11 cents at $6.89 after 7,200 shares changed hands.
Trading ended with an average of 208,506 units for an average of $494,247 in contrast to 431,990 units for an average of $1,058,626 on Tuesday. In contrast, March closed with an average of 226,230 units valued at $542,563 for each security traded.
Derrimon Trading shed 2 cents with ownership of 118,857 units being switched and closed at $1.83, Everything Fresh shed 12 cents in trading of 65,000 units at 65 cents. Fontana closed 31 cents higher at $5.30, with 874,689 stock units crossing the exchange, Fosrich declined 31 cents in trading of 50,250 units at $2.58, Honey Bun close market activity with a loss of 50 cents in ending at $6, after 68,861 shares changed hands. iCreate closed 2 cents higher at 53 cents, with 8,542 stock units trading. Iron Rock Insurance fell 50 cents in trading of 5,100 units at $2.50, ISP Finance climbed $2.50 to settle at $16 with 104 shares changing hands, Lasco Distributors closed trading of 47,412 units and gained 2 cents to end at $3. Lasco Financial closed trading of 81,600 units and gained 5 cents to end at $3, Lasco Manufacturing closed trading of 80,689 units and gained 32 cents to end at $3.50, Limners and Bards fell 38 cents in trading of 177,041 units at $1.90, Lumber Depot ended trading with 811,825 shares, after rising 1 cent to end at $1.19.
MailPac ended with 3,203,608 stock units changing hands, after rising 7 cents to end at $1.76, Main Event lost 42 cents in exchanging 10,093 shares to close at $4.10, Medical Disposables closed trading of 3,325 units and gained 4 cents to end at $6.55. Paramount Trading fell 4 cents to close at $1.90, after swapping 19,724 shares, SSL Venture closed 4 cents higher at $1.04, with 11,490 stock units crossing the exchange and Stationery and Office Supplies gained $1.30 to end at $7, trading 11,190 shares.
At the close of trading for March, the Junior Market Index climbed 51.34 points to 2,304.14 to claw back 210 points in the last three days of the massive 818 points loss the market suffered on March 26. At the end of the month, the market shed 31 percent for the year to date after declining 21 percent for the month.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows nine stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and one with a lower offer.
Indies Pharma closed 45 cents higher at $2.45, with 170,125 stock units changing hands, Iron Rock Insurance lost 45 cents in trading 10,658 shares to close at $3. KLE Group picked up 20 cents and exchanged just 880 shares at $1.45, Knutsford Express closed trading of a mere two units and gained 65 cents to end at $8.65. Lasco Financial closed trading of 98,998 units with gains of 40 cents to close at $2.95, Lasco Manufacturing closed trading of 119,295 units, after picking up 28 cents to finish at $3.18. Limners and Bards rose 22 cents and exchanged 131,091 shares at $2.28, Lumber Depot closed 3 cents higher at $1.18, with 21,273 stock units trading. MailPac traded 1,469,821 shares, after rising 9 cents to end at $1.69, Main Event gained 1 cent to close at $4.52, after 700 shares crossed the exchange, Paramount Trading declined by 4 cents to settle at $1.94, with 249 units changing hands.
At the close of the market, Access Financial gained $1.69 to end at $20 with the trading of 40,954 stock shares, AMG Packaging traded 100 units and gained 14 cents to settle at $1.65, Caribbean Cream finished 4 cents higher at $2.80 with 17,624 shares changing hands. Caribbean Producers added 15 cents to close at $2.40 with a market-leading trade of 5,133,280 stock units, Consolidated Bakeries ended with 100 shares traded after rising 9 cents to close at $1.55, Derrimon Trading gained 39 cents to finish at $1.85 in the exchange of 12,500 units. Elite Diagnostic swapped 28,192 stock units and gained 35 cents to settle at $3.10, Everything Fresh ended trading with 45,295 shares after rising 3 cents to 60 cents, Express Catering picked up 18 cents and exchanged 2,110 shares to close at $3.18. Fontana finished 35 cents higher at $4.80 with 263,143 stock units trading, Fosrich advanced 10 cents to $2.60 in the exchange of 4,000 units, General Accident gained $1.22 to end at $5.72, after trading 31 shares. GWest Corporation dipped 5 cents in trading of 788 units at 80 cents, Honey Bun closed 10 cents higher at $6, with an exchange of 14,647 stock units, Indies Pharma swapped 423,719 stock units and added 3 cents to settle at $2. ISP Finance climbed 50 cents to $13.50 with 5,000 stock units changing hands, Jamaican Teas picked up 1 cent and exchanged 122,528 shares at $4, Jetcon Corporation traded 29,000 shares after rising 10 cents to end at $1.10.
Key Insurance closed 30 cents higher at $2.30 with 2,000 stock units trading, Knutsford Express climbed $1 to settle at $8 with 43,905 shares changing hands, Lasco Distributors fell 2 cents in trading of 54,677 units at $2.98. Lasco Manufacturing gained 15 cents and exchanged 272,661 shares at $2.90, Limners and Bards advanced 26 cents in trading 418,392 units to end at $2.06, Lumber Depot concluded market activity exchanging 883,100 shares to close at $1.15 after falling 6 cents. MailPac traded 310,705 shares after rising 10 cents to end at $1.60, Main Event gained 1 cent to settle at $4.51 in the trading of 70,148 shares, Medical Disposables exchanged 8,237 shares after rising 1 cent to $6.51 and Stationery and Office Supplies shed 30 cents to close at $5.70 with 9,938 units crossing the exchange.
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 four with lower offers.
Key Insurance ended with a loss of 1 cent at 2 with 80,000 stock units changing hands, KLE Group closed with 47,367 shares, changing hands after rising 1 cent to end at $1.21, Knutsford Express ended with a loss of $1 to finish at $6 with 3,211 stock units changing hands. Lasco Distributors shed 10 cents in trading of 30,601 units at $2.90, Lasco Financial climbed 5 cents and exchanged 344,486 shares at $2.55, Lasco Manufacturing rose 15 cents and transferred 40,200 shares at $3.65. Limners and Bards lost 5 cents in trading 209,671 shares to close at $1.80, Lumber Depot closed 5 cents higher at $1.20, with 1,302,525 stock units trading, MailPac ended with 402,140 shares crossing the exchange, after rising 4 cents to end at $1.41. Main Event declined by 65 cents in trading of 69,210 units at $3.85, Medical Disposables ended market activity exchanging 72,841 shares to close at $5.70 after falling 40cents, Paramount Trading closed 8 cents higher at $1.98, with 4,000 stock units trading. Stationery and Office Supplies picked up 30 cents and exchanged 6,782 shares at $5.80 and tTech ended market activity trading 5,000 shares to close at $3.50 after falling 20 cents.
Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange ended on Tuesday with the market Index diving 52.80 points to close at 2,100.86, down 37 percent for the year as 33 securities changed hands, with prices of nine securities rising, 15 falling and nine remaining unchanged.
Caribbean Cream exchanged 20,000 stock units and gained 1 cent to end at $2.11, Caribbean Flavours fell 50 cents in trading of 600 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $10. Caribbean Producers declined 10 cents to settle at $3, with 10,000 shares changing hands, Dolphin Cove traded 14,156 shares and fell 50 cents to close $6.50, Elite Diagnostic dropped 39 cents in trading of 95,816 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $2.71. Fosrich ended market activity in exchanging 63,565 shares to close at $2.50 after falling 45 cents, Fontana shed 20 cents in trading of 385,577 units at $4, General Accident dropped 90 cents to settle at $4.10 after exchanging 181,000 stock units and trading at an intraday 52 weeks’ low of $3.89. Indies Pharma closed 5 cents higher at $1.55, with 28,655 stock units trading, Jamaican Teas lost 30 cents in trading 105,774 shares to close at $3.70, Jetcon Corporation dipped 10 cents with 205,925 units changing hands at $1, Knutsford Express declined 25 cents in trading of 79 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $7. KLE Group shed 40 cents in trading of 957 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $1.20, Lasco Distributors closed 32 cents higher at $2.92, with 25,111 stock units changing hands, 
Lasco Financial closed 29 cents higher at $2.85, with 24,070 stock units trading. Lasco Manufacturing exchanged 39,019 units and gained 64 cents to end at $3.50, Limners and Bards rose 18 cents to end at $1.88 and closed with 137,535 units crossing the exchange, Lumber Depot closed with a loss of 21 cents at 52 weeks’ low of $1.04, swapping of 356,449 shares. MailPac closed trading of 92,679 units and gained 8 cents to end at $1.39. Medical Disposables declined by 50 cents to settle at $5.70, after exchanging 60,381 stock units, Paramount Trading lost 10 cents in trading 34,500 shares to close at 1.90 cents, Stationery and Office Supplies traded 12,974 shares and gained 50 cents to end at $6.50 and tTech declined 20 cents in trading of 1,000,620 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $3.50.
Market activities resulted in an exchange of 3,024,296 units valued at just $6,277,143 compared to 3,640,594 units valued at $10,061,535 on Friday. The average market PE ratio ended at ten times, 2019 earnings.
Cargo Handlers fell 40 cents trading 842 stock units to close at $5.10, Caribbean Assurance declined 1 cent to end at $1.94 with 188,778 units traded, Caribbean Cream closed with a loss of 65 cents at a 52 weeks’ low of $2.10 in the swapping of 100,000 shares. Caribbean Producers dropped 15 cents to settle at $3.10 as 11,008 units changed hands, Consolidated Bakeries ended 4 cents higher at $1.30 with 54,386 stock units crossing the exchange, Elite Diagnostic dropped 40 cents in trading of 93,115 units at $3.10. Express Catering finished with a loss of 60 cents at $3.20 with an exchange of 66,107 shares, Fontana ended trading with 230,426 units, after rising 20 cents to end at $4.20, Fosrich closed trading of 115,510 units and gained 55 cents to end at $2.95. General Accident closed 13 cents higher at $5, with 3,101 stock units trading, GWest Corporation declined 9 cents in trading of 106,669 units at 70 cents, iCreate closed with a loss of 2 cents at 45 cents after swapping 435,204 shares. Indies Pharma lost 45 cents in trading 117,958 shares to settle at a 52 weeks’ low of $1.50, Jamaican Teas closed with a loss of 15 cents at $4 swapping 37,073 shares, Jetcon Corporation ended market activity exchanging 10,100 shares to close at $1.10 after slipping 2 cents. Knutsford Express fell 25 cents to $7.25 with 1,300 shares traded, Lasco Distributors concluded trading of 9,994 units and gained 20 cents to finish at $2.60, Lasco Financial closed 6 cents higher at $2.56 with 78,306 units traded. 
Lasco Manufacturing rose 4 cents after exchanging 136,184 shares at $2.86, Limners and Bards ended trading with 42,154 shares, after rising 10 cents to close at $1.70, Lumber Depot exchanging 429,151 shares and lost 3 cents to close at $1.25. MailPac fell 9 cents to $1.31 with 478,451 units traded, Main Event declined by 39 cents to settle at $3.81 with 8,332 shares changing hands, Medical Disposables closed trading of 1,889 units and gained 50 cents to end at $6.20. Paramount Trading gained 30 cents and exchanged 4,956 units to end at $2, SSL Venture closed at $1 after falling 10 cents and swapping 10,543 shares and tTech declined by 55 cents to $3.70 with 1,660 stock units crossing the exchange.
Trading ended with 33 securities changing hands, with 11 stocks advancing, 15 declining and the prices of seven companies holding firm, resulting in an exchange of 3,640,594 units valued at $10,061,535 compared to 3,923,029 units valued at $10,812,457 on Thursday. The average PE ratio 
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging shed 19 cents in swapping 4,283 units at $1.71, Blue Power picked up 70 cents to end at $3.70 with a mere 226 shares changing hands, CAC 2000 fell 30 cents to $12.50 in trading 12,200 shares. Caribbean Assurance Brokers lost 6 cents in transferring 51,369 shares and closed at $1.95, Caribbean Cream finished at a 52 weeks’ low of $2.75, after falling 6 cents in exchanging 63,966 stock units, Caribbean Producers climbed 75 cents to $3.25 after trading 35,200 units. Derrimon Trading lost 1 cent in swapping 231,500 shares to close at $1.47, Dolphin Cove lost 50 cents to end at a 52 weeks’ low of $6.50, with 14,156 stock units changing hands, Everything Fresh traded 105,000 shares at a 52 weeks’ low of 62 cents after losing 3 cents. Express Catering gained 40 cents in transferring 58,890 shares at $3.80, General Accident traded 5,550 shares at $4.87, with a loss of 22 cents, GWest Corporation shed 6 cents exchanging of 103,759 units at 79 cents. Honey Bun ended 75 cents higher at $5.70 with 13,258 stock units changing hands, Indies Pharma gained 2 cents in trading 16,063 units at $1.95, Iron Rock rose to $2.30, with gains of 30 cents after swapping 100 units. 
Jamaican Teas shed 83 cents with 7,110 shares crossing the exchange at $4.15, Knutsford Express closed 50 cents lower in the swapping of 2,011 shares to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $7.50 and Lasco Distributors added 20 cents trading 28,700 stock units to finish at $2.40. Lasco Financial gained 10 cents in transferring 213,281 units at $2.50, Lasco Manufacturing ended at $2.82 after a loss of 18 cents with 120,693 stock units changed hands, Limners and Bards shed 25 cents in trading of 74,316 shares to end at $1.60. Lumber Depot closed at $1.28 with gains of 7 cents in swapping 192,203 shares, Main Event exchanged 51,669 shares to close at $4.20 after gaining 40 cents, Medical Disposables lost 30 cents in transferring 24,798 units at $5.70. Paramount Trading closed 11 cents lower at $1.70 as 238,829 shares and SSL Venture gained 10 cents with just 500 shares trading at $1.10.
At the close of the market, Access Financial fell $1.20 to $18 after exchanging 9,070 shares, AMG Packaging gained 31 cents in the trading of 45,400 units at $1.90, Blue Power slid 67 cents to $3 with 3,349 shares changing hands. Caribbean Assurance Brokers picked up 6 cents to settle at $2.01, with 203,463 shares traded. Caribbean Producers ended the day with 1,102,052 units changing hands after falling 1 cent to $2.50, Consolidated Bakeries closed with a gain of 1 cent at $1.26 in the swapping of 30,000 shares. Derrimon Trading gained 8 cents in trading 151,900 shares to close at $1.48, Everything Fresh exchanged 140,000 shares at 65 cents after losing 15 cents, Express Catering swapped 111,969 shares at $3.40 with gains of 40 cents, Fontana picked up 20 cents to close at $4 with 346,578 units traded. General Accident exchanged 81,830 shares and rose 79 cents to close at $5.09, GWest Corporation added 20 cents in trading of 1,669 units at 85 cents. Honey Bun ended 5 cents lower at $4.95 with 24,331 stock units changing hands, Indies Pharma fell by 4 cents in trading of 77,709 units at $1.93. ISP Finance shed $1 to end at $14, with an exchange of 200 units, 
Jamaican Teas added 98 cents in trading 60,625 shares at $4.98, Jetcon gained 13 cents in the swapping of 22,669 shares to close at $1.12, Key Insurance closed at $2.08, with gains of 8 cents exchanging 23,520 shares. Lasco Distributors gained 20 cents trading 1,100 stock units to settle at $2.20, Lasco Financial added 10 cents in trading of 60,130 units at $2.40, Lasco Manufacturing ended at $3 after gaining 20 cents with 55,747 stock units changing hands., Limners and Bards traded 31,005 shares after slipping 10 cents to end at $1.85. Lumber Depot closed at $1.21 with gains of 4 cents in swapping 144,020 shares, MailPac rose by 1 cent in trading of 438,215 units at $1.40, Main Event exchanged 32,088 shares to close at $3.80 after losing 20 cents, Medical Disposables added 30 cents in exchange of 2,000 units at $6. Paramount Trading closed 1 cent lower at $1.81 with 32,611 shares changing hands and SSL Venture traded 4,725 shares to end the day 10 cents lower at $1.