Trading in the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed on Monday with a number of stocks rising out pacing those declining 2 to 1. The volume and value of stocks traded declined sharply compared to that on Friday and the market index closed higher.
The Market index surged 45.93 points to close at 3,195.72 as 5,636,428 shares valued at $31,083,116 traded compared with 15,739,900 units valued at $100,160,789 on Friday.
Overall Market activity resulted from trading in 22 stocks, down from 25 on Friday as the market closed with 10 advancing, with Stationery and Office Supplies closing at a new high of $5.40, as the prices of 4 declined and 10 remaining unchanged.
Trading in the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed on Monday with a number of stocks advancing out pacing those declining. The volume and value of stocks traded advanced compared to that on Friday and the market index closed higher.
At the close of the market, stocks trading and their last traded price are: Blue Power traded 623 shares and rose 50 cents to end at $42, CAC 2000 fell 45 cents to $7.05 with 5,000 shares, Cargo Handlers closed at $11 with 3,410 shares, Caribbean Cream lost 6 cents and closed at $6.74 with 35,028 shares, Caribbean Flavours climbed 5 cents and ended at $13 with 1,561 shares, Caribbean Producers closed at $3.50 with 18,367 shares, Consolidated Bakeries closed at $2.62 with 70,000 shares, Express Catering closed at $5.10 with 3,590,526 shares after falling 40 cents, General Accident climbed 30 cents to $3.30 with 8,000 shares, Honey Bun rose 30 cents to closed at $4.80 with 13,899 shares, 
Jamaican Teas closed at $4.70 having gained 10 cents with 40,871 shares, Jetcon Corporation closed 11 cents higher at $5.31 with 31,932 shares, KLE Group closed at $2 with 130,557 shares, Knutsford Express closed at $15 with 30,955 shares, Lasco Distributors traded 225,541 shares at $6.70, Lasco Financial closed at $4 with 25,254 shares, Lasco Manufacturing closed 20 cents higher at $4.70 with 2,715 shares, Main Event closed at $5 with 1,670 shares, Medical Disposables gained 25 cents and closed at $5.50 with 35,000 shares, Paramount Trading added 25 cents to close at $2.90 with 35,000 shares Stationery and Office Supplies traded 1,290,789 units as the price climbed to a new closing high of $5.40 after rising 32 cents, earlier in trading the stock went as high as $6 before pulling back ahead of the close and tTech fell 25 cents to $7.80 with 39,730 shares.
Junior market closed higher – Monday
Major changes to TOP 10 stocks
Barita jumps TOP 10 with more than 200% gain since September 2016
Investors pushed the price of Barita Investments to $9.40 during the week and drove newly listed Stationery and Office Supplies to $5.10 after it was listed on Thursday moving both out of the top flight of stocks. In addition, four others changed places with new listings.
Barita entered the list when we started the TOP 5 back in September last year, at $3.11 and has gained more than 200 percent since then while SOS is up 154 percent from its IPO price. Both stocks have more room for growth.
tTech reported lower profit in the second quarter to June with lower revenues resulting in a lower earnings forecast for 2017 and dropped out of the top list. CAC 2000 having slipped out of the listing the prior week returned this past week and was joined by Dolphin Cove to replace the two that exited the listing.
Main market stock, Berger Paints fell during the week from $19 to trade at $16 and moved back into the listing. Moving in are Grace Kennedy, Mayberry Investments and PanJam Investment. Stocks graduating from the top flight are Seprod as the price rose during the week to $33.33 from $30, 
Sagicor Group moving from $31.50 to $34.35 and Salada Foods that closed at $9.50, up from $9.
The average PE ratio for the Junior Market Top stocks is at 7.6 and the PE for the main market TOP 10, ends the week at 7.2. The average PE for the overall main market trades at 13.2 and 12.9 for Junior Market, based on 2017 estimated earnings.
At the close of the week, IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 stocks now trade at an average discount of 41 percent to the average of the market for Junior Market Top stocks and 46 percent for the main market.
Cable & Wireless leads stocks to watch
Cable & Wireless Head quarters.
Cable & Wireless is possibly the main stock to watch for the coming week with the company returning to profitability in the June quarter.
The company lost several billion dollars for many years but posted a profit of $222 million in the latest quarter on an 11 percent surge in revenues. Subsequent to the close of the quarter, Cable and Wireless increased rates on a series of services that should add to revenues and profits in the coming quarters. Profit for the full year to December should end positively, thus wiping out the $311 million loss for the first half of the year after tax and a lower pretax loss of just $199 million. The recent turn around in the fortune of the company is likely to be a big surprise to many investors and will help move the stock price much higher than the $1.07 it closed at, on Friday.
Other stocks that investors should keep an eye on this week include, Barita Investments with an announced take over offer on the table, JMMB Group, Stationery & Office Supplies that just listed and selling below potential, NCB Financial with limited supply, Jetcon Corporation with profit doubling for the half year leading to strong buying in the past week and recently listed Express Catering with demand to buy 765,925 shares at $5.50.
Forex inflows in at US$47M – Friday
Trading in the Jamaican foreign exchange market on Friday resulted inflows of US$47.01 million in contrast to US$48.44 million on Thursday and outflows of US$39.89 million compared to US$37.65 million of all currencies previously.
Approximately, 25 percent of the intakes are surrendered by dictates to Bank of Jamaica and would amount to $12 million, which is well short of the net inflows of $7 million.
In USA dollar trading, inflows ended at US$38.25 million versus US$42.03 million on Thursday with outflows of US$30.84 million compared to US$34.14 million.
The value of the Jamaican dollar slipped in value against the US dollar, with the selling rate ending at J$128.55 from J$128.44 previously. Dealers bought the US currency at an average of J$127.38, versus J$127.36 on Thursday.
The selling rate for the Canadian dollar climbed to J$101.83 from J$101.30 at the close on Thursday while the British Pound was less costly at the close, with J$166.34 buying the British currency versus J$167.68 and the euro, declined in value against the Jamaican dollar, with it taking J$150.77 to buy the European common currency, versus J$151.67 previously.
C&W reports profit
J
amaica’s telecom provider, Cable & Wireless, is reporting profit from operation in the June quarter this year, compared to a loss in the same period in 2016.
The company enjoyed an 11 percent rise in revenues helped mainly by a 22 percent increase in mobile revenues to generate $6.8 billion in revenues up from $6 billion in 2016 and profit of $222 million versus a loss of $695 million in the June quarter of 2016. Operating cost fell to $4.24 billion from $4.5 billion in the 2016 quarter to generate profit before finance cost of $1.59 billion. For the six months, revenue of $13.2 billion was generated with a loss of $311 million compared to a profit of $1.1 billion in 2016 from revenues of $11.85 billion.
Subsequent to the quarter the company announced a series of price increases that is set to boost revenues and help the bottom-line. the stock closed on Friday on the Jamaica Stock Exchange at $1.07. The latest information makes this stock one to watch next week.
Forex inflows down to US$48M – Thursday
Trading in the Jamaican foreign exchange market on Thursday resulted inflows of US$48.44 million in contrast to US$57.76 million on Wednesday and outflows of US$37.65 million compared to US$45.81 million of all currencies previously.
Approximately, 25 percent of the intakes are surrendered by dictates to Bank of Jamaica and would amount to $12 million, which is almost in line with the net inflows.
In USA dollar trading, inflows ended at US$42.03 million versus US$48.22 million on Wednesday, with outflows of US$34.14 million compared to US$40.11 million.
The value of the Jamaican dollar slipped modestly in value against the US dollar, with the selling rate ending at J$128.44 from J$128.36 previously. Dealers bought the US currency at an average of J$127.36, versus J$127.39 on Wednesday.
The selling rate for the Canadian dollar climbed to J$101.30 from J$101.01 at the close on Wednesday, while the British Pound was more costly at the close, with J$167.68 buying the British currency versus J$167.14 and the euro, declined in value against the Jamaican dollar, with it taking J$151.67 to buy the European common currency , versus J$151.74 previously.
Forex inflows still high – Wednesday
Trading in the Jamaican foreign exchange market on Wednesday resulted inflows of US$57.76 million in contrast to US$69.11 million on Tuesday and outflows of US$45.81 million compared to US$45.43 million of all currencies previously.
Approximately, 25 percent of the intakes are surrendered by dictates to Bank of Jamaica and would amount to $14 million, US$2 million more than the net inflows of US$12 million.
In USA dollar trading, inflows ended at US$48.22 million versus US$60.09 million on Tuesday, with outflows of US$40.11 million compared to US$39.85 million.
The value of the Jamaican dollar slipped modestly in value against the US dollar, with the selling rate ending at J$128.36 from J$128.28 previously. Dealers bought the US currency at an average of J$127.39, versus J$127.21 on Tuesday.
The selling rate for the Canadian dollar dropped to J$101.01 from J$102.02 at the close on Tuesday, while the British Pound was slightly less costly at the close, with J$167.14 buying the British currency versus J$167.15 and the euro, rose in value against the Jamaican dollar, with it taking J$151.74 to buy the European common currency , versus J$151.31 previously.
Jamaican dollar slips slightly – Tuesday
Trading in the Jamaican foreign exchange market resumed on Tuesday after the holiday on Monday and resulted inflows of US$69.11 million in contrast to US$44.65 million on Friday and outflows of US$45.43 million compared to US$35.11 million of all currencies previously.
Approximately, 25 percent of the intakes are surrendered by dictates to Bank of Jamaica and would amount to $17 million, US$6 million less than the net inflows of US$23.68 million.
In USA dollar trading, inflows ended at US$60.09 million versus US$36.97 million on Friday, with outflows of US$39.85million compared to US$28.73 million.
The value of the Jamaican dollar slipped modestly in value against the US dollar, with the selling rate for the US dollar ending at J$128.28 from J$128.23 previously. Dealers bought the US currency at an average of J$127.21, versus J$127.17 on Friday.
The selling rate for the Canadian dollar slipped to J$102.02 from J$102.57 at the close on Friday, while the British Pound was less costly at the close, with J$167.15 buying the British currency versus J$167.81 and the euro, declined in value against the Jamaican dollar, with it taking J$151.31 to buy the European common currency , versus J$151.88 previously.
Will Barita jump TOP 10?
Barita closed at $8 on Friday.
News emerged during the past week that directors at Barita Investments was considering a bid to purchase the majority of its shares.
Investors responded immediately by removing just about all offers that were posted on the trading platform of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, the stock climbed to $8 and only require a small increase to leave the top list.
Main market Berger Paints rose during the week from $18 to trade at $19 and was edged out of the top list by Pulse Investments that fell sharply in price to close with a bid of $1.75 after the price fell during the week.
Recent TOP 10 billing, NCB Financial Group that recently fell out of the top list closed the week at $94.99 in response to continued demand flowing from strong increase in nine months profit against a back drop of minimal selling of the stock.Stationery and Office Supplies (SOS) will start trading on Wednesday, August 9, when the price is expected to surge, based on the heavy over subscription at the initial public offering, with more than 1,200 applications for shares. This stock could be out of the top listing very soon.
Other junior market stocks activity, CAC 2000 fell out of the top listing and Lasco Manufacturing returned to the top listing.
The average PE ratio for the Junior Market Top stocks is at 6.7 and the PE for the main market TOP 10, ends the week at 7.4.
The average PE for the overall main market trades at 13.3 and 12 for Junior Market, based on 2017 estimated earnings.At the close of the week, IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 stocks now trade at an average discount of 44 percent to the average of the market, leaving stocks with room for growth in the months ahead.
Stocks to watch|The stocks that investors should keep an eye on this week include, Barita Investments, JMMB Group, Stationery & Office Supplies, NCB Financial, Jetcon Corporation.
Jamaican dollar gains value – Friday
Trading in the Jamaican foreign exchange market on Friday resulted in inflows of US$44.65 million, in contrast to US$44.28 million on Thursday and outflows of US$35.11 million compared to US$46.34 million of all currencies previously.
Approximately, 25 percent of the intakes are surrendered by dictates to Bank of Jamaica and would amount to $11 million.
In USA dollar trading, inflows ended at US$36.97 million versus US$37.42 million on Thursday, with outflows of US$28.73 million compared to US$40.88 million.
The value of the Jamaican dollar rose modestly in value against the US dollar, with the selling rate for the US dollar ending at J$128.23 from J$128.27 previously. Dealers bought the US currency at an average of J$127.17, down from J$127.23 on Thursday.
The selling rate for the Canadian dollar slipped to J$102.57 from J$102.79 at the close on Thursday, while the British Pound was less costly at the close, with J$167.81 buying the British currency versus J$168.51 and the euro, declined in value against the Jamaican dollar, with it taking J$151.88 to buy the European common currency , versus J$152.05 previously.
