The Jamaica Stock Exchange main market scaled new heights on Wednesday when the All Jamaica Composite Index surged nearly 10,000 points in the morning session to a new record high for the market but pulled back later to end with more modest gains at a new record closing high.
The market closed with the All Jamaica Composite Index advancing 804.34 points to end at a record close of 366,427 and the JSE Index climbed 732.84 points to finish at record close of 333,856.42. in the morning session the All Jamaican Composite Index jumped to a record high of 375,307.08 points and the JSE Index climbed to 339,432.19 points.
Market activities resulted in 34 securities trading, including 2 in the US dollar market compared to 32 securities trading on Tuesday. At the end of trading, the prices of 13 stocks rose, 11 declined and 10 closed trading, unchanged.
Trading in the main market ended with 73,595,594 units valued at $439,864,718 as 138 Student Living dominated trading with 92 percent of the day’s volume. Trading on Wednesday is in contrast to just 4,669,032 units valued $51,035,435, on Tuesday.
The day’s volume was led by, 138 Student Living with 67,901,000 shares, accounting for 92.26 percent of the volume traded, followed by JMMB Group 7.50% preference share with 1,421,537 units and a mere 1.93 percent of the day’s volume and NCB Financial Group with 1,227,676 units and just 1.67 percent of main market volume.
Trading resulted in an average of 2,299,862 units valued at over $13,745,772, in contrast to 155,634 shares valued at $1,701,181 on Tuesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 886,497 shares at $5,831,552, compared to 119,926 units valued at 1,539,094 traded on the immediately preceding trading day. August closed, with an average of 224,564 shares valued at $4,310,285, for each security traded.
In the main market activity, Caribbean Cement fell $1.50 to $50, in the exchange of 39,634 shares, Grace Kennedy lost $1 and ended trading 93,052 shares to close at $59, Jamaica Producers jumped $1 and finished trading at a record close of $20, with 187,500 units, NCB Financial Group ended trading of 1,227,676 shares to close with a rise of 95 cents at $113, the stock traded at a record high of $125 helping to push the all Jamaica Index by 9,684 points in the morning session.
138 Student Living had a big day in exchanging 67,901,000 stock units as the price slipped 49 cents to finish at a 52 weeks’ low of $3.80, Sagicor Real Estate Fund jumped $1.40 and settled at $13.50, trading 202,641 shares, Seprod rose 50 cents and finished trading 480 shares at $43.50, Supreme Ventures rose 40 cents and ended at $15.90, with 73,148 shares changing hands, Sygnus Credit Investments US dollar share traded 4,000 units in the Jamaican dollar market and dropped $2.30 to $11.42, while the Jamaican dollar denominated share, traded 24,397 units to gain 50 cents and close at $12.50.
Trading in the US dollar market closed with 41,216 units valued US$9,752. Trading ended with JMMB Group 6% preference share trading 900 units to end at US$1.06 and Proven Investments exchanging 39,830 shares and lost 2 cents to close at 22 US cents. The JSE USD Equities Index lost 7.56 points to close at 166.72.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 5 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 closing with lower offers.
Jamaica dollar in modest recovery
The Jamaican dollar traded at an average of $136.94 to the US dollar on Tuesday. Dealers sold US$52.7 million and bought $49.4 million at an average of $135.81.
Tuesday’s total intake of funds, amounted to the equivalent of US$61.96 million while US$62.65 million left the system.
Unlike Friday and Tuesday, Monday’s trading was moderate, with just US$27.65 million in all currencies bought by dealers and the selling of US$30.4 million. Buying of US dollars amounted to US$24 million at an average rate of J$134.56 and selling of US$28 million at $137.10 on Monday, compared to selling of US$40 million on Friday at $137.01. On Friday dealers sold a total of US$46.8 million in all currencies, having bought US$53.5 million, including $44.7 million in US dollars currency.
On Wednesday, last week, Bank of Jamaica sold $16.5 million to dealers pushing the total purchased for that day to US$57 million, while they sold $43.3 million at an average of $137.32. Trading of all currencies saw a total of US$55 being sold against $69 million bought by dealers.
On Thursday dealers bought only US$29.78 million, but sold US$51.4 million, with the rate clearing at an average of $137.55. In all, dealers sold the equivalent of US$53 million in all currencies.
Last week Wednesday, the BOJ offered US$16.5 million to the market and received 46 bids of US$39.15 million. The average clearing rate was $137.03. The highest bid was $137.50 and the lowest $135. On Wednesday, September 5, US$11 million, to be followed by US$10 million per week, over the next three weeks.
Gains outnumber losses on Junior Market
More prices fell in trading on the Junior Market on Wednesday, with 25 securities being active compared to 28 on Tuesday, leading to 12 advancing, 7 declining while 6 remained unchanged.
The market index advanced 28.89 points to close at 3,294.63 and is now only 80.61 points adrift of the all-time high of 3,375.24 points reached on May 24, last year. With Wednesday’s move the market index is up just under 21 percent for the year to date. Trading resulted in an exchange of 3,770,261 units valued at $13,239,039 compared to 2,437,685 shares valued at $12,670,997, on Tuesday.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading had 6 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices, 4 closed with lower offers.
Trading closed with an average of 150,810 units for an average of $529,562 in contrast to 87,060 units for an average of $452,536 on Tuesday. Trading for the month to date averages 107,782 units for an 
average of $462,924 and on the prior trading day, an average of 87,861 shares with an average value of $432,073. Trading in August, averaged 244,613 units at $1,348,298 for each security traded.
At the close of trading, Access Financial climbed by $1.90 to $43.40, with 2,580 shares changing hands, AMG Packaging ended with a loss of 2 cents at $1.90, exchanging 50,690 stock units, Blue Power concluded trading 54,643 units with a loss of 23 cents at $4.80, Caribbean Cream ended trading 171 shares at $6, Caribbean Flavours traded 3,100 stock units and rose 50 cents to end at a closing 52 weeks’ high of $19.50. Caribbean Producers finished trading 5,854 units with a loss of 30 cents at $6.20, Consolidated Bakeries closed at $2.45, with 16,000 shares changing hands, Derrimon Trading 10 for 1 stocks split took effect at the start of trading, but no official trade took place although attempts were made to trade but all trades were cancelled, being outside the permitted band. Dolphin Cove concluded trading with a loss of 50 cents at $16.50, after an exchange of 1,510 shares, Elite Diagnostic finished 10 cents higher at $3.10, trading 79,407 stock units. 
Everything Fresh fell 5 cents in trading 43,641 shares to end at $2.20, Express Catering ended trading 75,654 shares and climbed 45 cents higher to $8, FosRich Group traded 19 cents higher at $2.99, with 54,573 shares changing hands, GWest Corporation closed 3 cents higher at $2.15, trading 35,406 stock units, Honey Bun ended with a loss of 45 cents at $4, trading 22,501 units. Indies Pharma closed at a new closing high of $3, after adding 10 cents and exchanging 1,346,124 shares, Iron Rock concluded trading 1,065,830 shares, and lost 5 cents to end at $3.20, Jetcon Corporation gained 5 cents to end at $4.05, in exchanging 2,728 stock units, Knutsford Express closed 20 cents higher at $12.70, trading 3,736 shares, Lasco Distributors ended 5 cents higher at $4.05, with 408,545 shares changing hands. Lasco Financial concluded trading of 162,262 stock units, and rose 20 cents to $5.80, Lasco Manufacturing finished at $4, with 296,085 units changing hands, Main Event settled 2 cents higher at $7.02, exchanging just 1,249 shares, Paramount Trading traded at $3, with 3,000 shares and Stationery and Office finished trading at $8.50, with 16,528 stock units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Few price changes on TTSE – Wednesday
Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange Head Quarters
The Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange, closed on Wednesday, with 16 securities changing hands, with the price of 1 rising, 2 declining and 13 remaining unchanged ending in trading of 272,727 shares valued $3,257,442.
On Tuesday, 17 securities traded resulting in 2,159,977 shares valued at $8,188,631 changing hands.
At close, the Composite Index the Composite Index lost 0.97 points to 1,219.80, the All T&T Index rose 0.40 points to 1,696.73, while the Cross Listed Index slipped 0.33 points to close at 99.83.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading closed with 2 stocks ending with higher bids than the last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
Stocks closing with gains| West Indian Tobacco concluded trading of 624 shares, gaining 10 cents to close at $88.
Stocks closing with losses| Agostini’s closed with a loss of 1 cent and completed trading at $21.10, after exchanging 16,267 shares and First Caribbean International Bank closed with a loss of 9 cents at $8.40, with 1,776 units changing hands.
Stocks trading with no price change| Calypso Macro Index Fund traded 200 units to close at $15.80, Clico Investments settled at $20, with 37,423 stock units changing hands, First Citizens ended at $34, after exchanging 13 shares, Grace Kennedy settled at $2.70, with 3,000 stock units changing hands, Guardian Holdings concluded trading of 25,755 units at $16.90,
JMMB Group ended trading at $1.70, after exchanging 17,575 shares, National Enterprises settled at $8.95, with 53,000 stock units changing hands, National Flour concluded exchange of 56,300 units at $1.75, NCB Financial Group ended at $5.67, after exchanging 25,000 shares, One Caribbean Media completed trading at $12.11, trading 7,800 shares, Republic Financial Holdings completed trading at $103.52, after exchanging 350 shares, Sagicor Financial settled at $7.51, with 1,878 stock units trading and Trinidad & Tobago NGL ended at $29.41, after exchanging 25,766 shares.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
All Jamaica jumps 9,684 points to new record
NCB stock jumped to a record $125 in early trading on Wednesday.
With just 40 minute after opening, the All Jamaica Composite Index jumped sharply by 9,684.42 points to a new record of 375,307.08, breaking the record of 372,546.73 reached within 40 minutes of the market’s opening. NCB Financial jumped to a record high of $125 to make a huge indent on the market. The JSE Index surged 8,823.60 points to a record 341,947.18, after it hit a high of 339,432.19 after the NCB jump.
The Junior Market added less than a point to 3,267.31 but Derrimon Trading that will trade x split with the approval of a 10 to 1 stock split is yet to trade.
Big bounce in Fosrich profit
FosRich profits rose sharply in 2018
Fosrich Group reported profit of $30 million for the June quarter, an increase of 630 percent over the $4 million reported for the prior year’s reporting period.
Profit before tax climbed to $60.6 million for the half year to June, for an increase of 144 percent over the $25 million for the similar period in 2017 and by an increase of 234% over the post-tax profit of $18 million, reported for the prior reporting period.
Having listed on the Jamaica Stock exchange Junior market in 2017, profits are now free form taxes for a period of 5 years. Earnings per stock unit ended at 12 cents for the half year and 6 cents for the quarter and should end up just around 27 to 30 cents, if the trend continues.
During the second quarter, the company enjoyed an 18.7 percent hike in income to $320 million, from $270 million for the prior year. For the half year, sales revenues were just up by 5 percent to $592 million from $565 million in 2017.
Gross profit for the quarter, rose 23 percent to $141 million from $115 million, in the prior reporting period and for the six months to June gross profit increased just 6 percent to $269 million. Gross profit margin slipped from the first quarter to 44 percent with the margin for the six months ending at 45 percent. Other income for the year-to-date benefited from foreign exchange gains of $15 million.
Administrative expenses fell $14 million for the half year, to $198 million and slipped just slightly for the quarter to $102 million from $103 million. According to the Managing Director, Cecil Foster, “the decrease was driven primarily by efficiencies gained from the management of staff and related costs, reductions in selling and marketing expenses, reduced insurance costs and reductions in damaged goods write-off and warranty expenses. The cost savings were partially offset by increases in staff training, legal and professional fees, rent and bank charges,” management indicated.
Finance cost for the year-to-date was $28.5 million compared to $19.6 million for the prior reporting period, but rose 68 percent in the June quarter to $17.5 million. “This increase is being driven by a new working capital line of credit obtained to assist with the financing of operations. This new facility was obtained at more favourable rates than the previous bank facilities,” Foster advised, in his commentary on the interim results.
Inventories rose sharply from $625 million in December to $808 million in June, receivables declined to $148 million from $156 million. Amounts due to creditors fell sharply from $297 million as of December to just $35 million. The company paid off amounts due on overseas line of credit thus reducing foreign exchange risk. The switch contributed to a sharp rise in loans from $384 million to $795 million.
“The company continues to closely manage inventory balances and the supply-chain, with a view to ensuring that inventory balances being carried are optimised, relative to the pace of sales, the time between the orders being made and when goods become available for sale, to avoid both overstocking and stock-outs. Monitoring is both at the individual product level and by product categories,” foster advised shareholders.
Part of the loans was on lent to an affiliated company that is completing an apartment complex on Shortwood Road, the managing director confirmed to IC Insider.com. The financials show $243 million due form them. The amount due incurs interest at 12.5 percent rate, Foster stated. The line allowed the company to stock up on some commodities at low prices relative to what normally obtains in the trade.
Shareholders’ equity now stands at $670 million, up from the $609 million at December 2017. Fosrich trades on the Junior Market at $2.80 on Tuesday, just around 10 times earnings.
Junior Market slips
Derrimon Trading ended trading at a new closing high of $26.99 on Tuesday.
More prices fell than rose in trading on the Junior Market on Tuesday, with 28 securities being active compared to 26 on Monday, leading to 7 advancing, 10 declining while 11 remained unchanged.
The market closed with the index slipping 6.28 points to close at 3,265.74. Trading resulted in an exchange of 2,437,685 shares valued at $12,670,997 compared to 2,306,821 units valued at $10,660,960, on Monday.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading had 8 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices, 2 closed with lower offers.
Trading closed with an average of 87,060 units for an average of $452,536 in contrast to 88,724 units for an average of $410,037 on Monday. 
Trading for the month to date averages 87,861 shares with an average value of $432,073. Trading in August, averaged 244,613 units at $1,348,298 for each security traded.
At the close of trading, AMG Packaging ended with a loss of 2 cents at $1.92, trading 40,000 stock units, Blue Power concluded trading of 56,207 units and rose 3 cents to $5.03, Cargo Handlers settled with a loss of 48 cents at $12.52, with 14,210 shares changing hands, Caribbean Flavours traded at $19, in exchanging 200,000 stock units, Caribbean Producers finished trading 4,615 units at $6.50. Consolidated Bakeries closed with a loss of 5 cents at $2.45, with 2,100 shares changing hands, Derrimon Trading jumped $3.99 to end at a 52 weeks’ closing high of $26.99, with 4,177 shares changing hands, Dolphin Cove concluded trading of 1,000 shares at $17, Elite Diagnostic finished with a loss of 1 cent at $3, trading 15,996 stock units. Everything Fresh rose 5 cents in trading 170,499 shares to end at $2.25, Express Catering ended trading 17,421 shares with a loss of 45 cents to close at $7.55, FosRich Group traded with a loss of 19 cents at $2.80, in exchanging 589 shares, General Accident finished trading 11,700 shares and climbed 44 cents to $4.29, 
Honey Bun ended 15 cents higher at $4.45, with 1,000,200 units changing hands. Indies Pharma closed at a new high of $2.90, after adding 21 cents and exchanging 367,022 shares, Jamaican Teas settled at $4.20, exchanging 205,000 shares, Jetcon Corporation ended trading 158,000 stock units at $4, KLE Group finished trading with a loss of 25 cents at $3.05, with 12,342 shares, Knutsford Express closed with a loss of 10 cents at $12.50, with 3,016 shares changing hands. Lasco Distributors ended at $4, with 31,661 shares trading, Lasco Financial concluded trading of 1,409 stock units with a loss of 20 cents at $5.60, Lasco Manufacturing finished 10 cents higher at $4, trading 40,100 units, Main Event settled with a loss of 10 cents at $7, with 3,000 shares changing hands. Medical Disposables ended trading at $6.67, with 1,400 shares, Paramount Trading traded 7,892 shares at $3, Stationery and Office finished trading 20,378 stock units at $8.50 and tTech ended at $6, with 3,217 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
New closing high for JSE main market – Tuesday
The Jamaica Stock Exchange main market continued where it left off on Monday and Friday to scale new heights, as bulls take control of Jamaican stocks, as the market enters the home stretch with less than 4 months left to close the year.
The market closed with the All Jamaican Composite Index jumped 2,301.33 points to end at record close of 365,622.66 and the JSE Index climbed 2,096.78 points to close at record close of 333,123.58. in the morning session the All Jamaican Composite Index jumped to a record high of 366,019.05 points and the JSE Index climbed to 333,484.73 points.
Market activities resulted in 32 securities trading including 2 in the US dollar market compared to 32 securities trading on Monday. 
At the end of trading, the prices of 9 stocks rose, 12 declined and 11 closed trading, unchanged.
Trading in the main market ended with 4,669,032 units valued $51,035,435 compared to 2,406,576 units valued $39,771,123, on Monday.
The day’s volume was led by, Wisynco Group with 1,217,069 shares accounting for 26 percent of the volume traded, followed by JMMB Group 7.50% preference share with 899,400 units and 19.26 percent of the day’s volume and Sygnus Credit Investments with 507,324 units and 10.9 percent of main market volume.
Trading resulted in an average of 155,634 units valued at over $1,701,181, in contrast to 82,985 shares valued at $1,371,418 on Monday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 119,926 units valued at 1,539,094. August closed, with an average of 224,564 shares valued at $4,310,285, for each security traded.
In the main market activity, Caribbean Cement gained 50 cents and finished at $51.50, trading 9,299 shares, Jamaica Broilers traded 57,042 stock units in adding $1 to close at $27, Jamaica Producers finished trading 225,602 units after falling 85 cents to close at $19,
Kingston Wharves lost 29 cents and finished at $64, trading 6,927 stock units, PanJam Investment lost $1 and closed at $54, exchanging 6,004 stock units, strong> Sagicor Real Estate Fund rose $1.05 to settle at $12.10, with 8,646 shares trading, Scotia Group rose 50 cents in trading 6,593 units at $53.50 and Seprod finished trading 57,598 shares after falling $2 to end at $43.
Trading in the US dollar market closed with 51,336 units valued US$11,763. Trading ended with Proven Investments exchanging 47,046 shares and rose 1 cent to close at 24 US centsSygnus Credit Investments traded 4,290 shares and lost 0.06 cent to 11 US cents. The JSE USD Equities Index advanced by 3.96 points to close at 174.28.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 5 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 closing with lower offers.
7 stocks fall on TTSE – Tuesday
The Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange, declined at the close of trading on Tuesday as declining stocks overwhelmed the one stock to advance.
The market closed with 17 securities changing hands against 15 on Monday, 1 advanced, 7 declined and 9 remained unchanged and trading of 2,159,977 shares at a value of $8,188,631, compared to 168,289 shares valued $2,804,863, previously traded.
At close of the market the, Composite Index the Composite Index lost 2.33 points to 1,220.77, the All T&T Index declined 0.41 points to 1,696.33, while the Cross Listed Index slipped 0.59 points to close at 100.16.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading closed with 1 stock ending with a higher bid than the last selling price and 3 with lower offers. Two companies closed with prices at 52 weeks’ low.
Stocks closing with gains| Scotiabank concluded trading of 560 shares and rose 66 to end at $65.02.
Stocks closing with gains| When the market closed, First Citizens fell 1 cent to end at $34, after exchanging 2,918 shares, Gaurdian Media closed with a loss of 25 cents and completed trading at a 52 weeks’ low of $15.75, after exchanging 100 shares, Grace Kennedy shed 12 cents and settled at a 52 weeks’ low of $2.70, with 1,550,000 stock units changing hands, Guardian Holdings lost 10 cents and ended at $16.90, trading 5,000 units, JMMB Group ended trading 1 cent lower at $1.70, after exchanging 268,008 shares, 
Sagicor Financial concluded trading with a loss of 24 cents and settled at $7.51, with 300 stock units changing hands and Trinidad & Tobago NGL traded with a loss of 9 cents and ended at $29.41, after exchanging 44,065 shares.
Stocks trading with no price change| Agostini’s completed trading at $21.11, after exchanging 100 shares, Calypso Macro Index Fund traded 3,290 units to close at $15.80, Clico Investments settled at $20, with 2,396 stock units changing hands, Massy Holdings completed trading at $47, after exchanging 430 shares, National Enterprises settled at $8.95, with 164,535 stock units changing hands, National Flour closed at $1.75, in the exchange of 112,600 units, NCB Financial Group ended at $5.67, after exchanging 3,558 shares, Republic Financial Holdings completed trading at $103.52, after exchanging 1,722 shares and West Indian Tobacco concluded trading of 395 shares at $87.90.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
All Jamaica breaks 366,000 points
Ending trading at a new record close on the first trading day of September, the Jamaica Stock Exchange climbed new intraday high on the second trading day of the month, with the All Jamaican Composite Index surging over 366,000 points level.
At 12 minutes after opening the All Jamaica Composite Index rose 2,142.96 points to a record 365,464.29 and by 28 minutes after opening it jumped 2,697.72 points to 366,019.05 and the JSE Index climbed 1,952.48 points to a record 332,979.28 and within 2 minutes of 10 o’clock it jumped 2,457.93 to a record 333,484.73
Later on, the market pulled back, with the all Jamaica Index up 1,751.53 to 365,072.86 and the JSE index gaining 1,595.84 to 332,622.64 as NCB Financial pulled back to $112.
The Junior Market lost 17.36 points to 3,255.01.
Major contributor to the early gains, is NCB Financial with a rise to $114.95 from a close of $112 on Monday.