The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange rose sharply on Monday and erased the previous record close at the end of October and closed at a new record closing high on Monday as Scotia group jumped $3 to $57 with 11 other ordinary shares rising.
Main market activity ended with 22 securities changing hands, with just 12 securities rising, 4 falling, 6 trading firm on Monday. Trading closed with 5,874,620 units valued at over $102,596,766.
At the close of trading, the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index jumped 2,831.01 points to a record close of 324,564.99 and the JSE Index shot up by 2,579.37 points to a record close of 295,715.40, bettering the previous closing high on the last day of October 2017.
In main market activity, 
Barita Investments closed 90 cents higher at $9, with 5,500 shares, Berger Paints ended at $17, with 29,606 stock units, Carreras finished 5 cents higher at $10.95, with 460,585 shares, Caribbean Cement settled at $35, with 625,462 shares, Ciboney Group ended trading at 11 cents, with 585,846 shares. Grace Kennedy traded 70 cents higher at $45.50, with 6,275 stock units, Jamaica Broilers finished trading at $19, with 876,153 units, Jamaica Stock Exchange ended at $6.50, with 16,510 shares, JMMB Group rose 50 cents to end at $26.50, with 57,960 shares. Kingston Wharves settled with a loss of 50 cents at $39.50, with 2,843 units, NCB Financial Group traded 50 cents higher at $99.50, with 99,158 shares, 1834 Investments finished trading 5 cents higher at $1.15, with 1,830 shares, Radio Jamaica settled 1 cent higher at $1.06, with 153,637 shares. Sagicor Group ended trading 10 cents higher at $36.20, with 609,821 stock units,
Sagicor Real Estate Fund ended trading 50 cents higher at $15.50, with 9,936 share, Scotia Group finished trading $3 higher at $57, with 84,125 shares, Seprod closed at $30.01, with 9,360 shares, Sterling Investments ended with a loss of 11 cents at $13.89, with 150 shares. Supreme Ventures concluded trading $12.50 higher at $12.50, with 128,604 stock units, Victoria Mutual Investments lost 5 cents and closed at $4.55, with 640,453 units, Wisynco Group settled 15 cents higher at $10.70, exchanging 1,470,306 shares and in the main market preference segment, Jamaica Money Market 7.25% ended trading with a loss of 5 cents at $2.55, with 500 shares, changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place. For more details of market activities, see “Scotia pushes JSE to record close – Monday.”
Only 10 securities trade on TTSE – Monday
Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Monday ended with 10 securities trading as oppose to 16 on Friday.
The market closed with 403,022 shares valued at $11,039,167 trading, compared to 200,883 shares valued at $1,445,272 on Friday. The prices of 4 stocks rose, 3 declined and 3 remained unchanged. The Composite Index rose 1.44 points on Monday to 1,268.83, the All T&T Index closed with a gain of 2.55 points to 1,697.26, while the Cross Listed Index added 0.04 points to close at 113.42.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, on Monday, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 8 stocks with bids lower than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Gains| First Caribbean International Bank closed with an increase of 2 cents and completed trading at $9.30, after exchanging 127,455 shares, Guardian Holdings ended trading with a rise of 50 cents to $16, after exchanging 13,000 shares, 
Trinidad & Tobago NGL finished trading 10 cents higher and settled at $27.75, after exchanging 5,563 shares and Unilever Caribbean rose 30 cents and ended at $30.30, with 480 units changing hands.
Losses| Ansa Mcal shed 95 cents and ended at $60.05, with 50,334 units, First Citizens lost 3 cents and settled at $32.17, after exchanging 1,615 shares and JMMB Group ended trading 2 cents lower at $1.98, with 134,136 stock units changing hands.
Firm Traded| Republic Financial Holdings concluded market activity at $101.52, with 610 stock units changing hands, Scotiabank completed trading at $62.01, after exchanging 3,949 shares and West Indian Tobacco closed at $88.50, after exchanging 65,880 shares.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Iron Rock & 2 others in TOP 10
The Junior Market continues to fight for the 2018 rally to take root and grow even as interest rates are at their lowest in decades. Technical reading of this market shows the short term 45 day moving average (DMA) has crossed over the 120 DMA, a bullish sign as the market is coming from an oversold position.
With many Junior Market stocks having risen sharply in the last twelve months, it would require gains in profit above most of the recent postings to have pushed prices much higher in the short term. In a number of instances, some junior listed companies are focusing on expansion that will not bear fruit immediately and with some of the stocks pricing in these development into prices already, there are no new information to move prices in the short term. Results for the 2018 first quarter will therefore be critical in determining the performance of the market for the first half of the year.
Stationery and Office Supplies got a shot in the arm from audited financial statements to December 2018, showing strong gains in revenues and profit, compared to 2016 and saw the price moving back up to $5.50 and its position in the TOP list down to 8 from number 2 in February. It won’t be long before it drops out of the list as demand push the price higher. General insurance underwriters Iron Rock is now in the list, following improved 2017 results that benefited from strong revenues growth that augurs well for earnings in 2018. The company should also benefit from rising premium rates. Paramount Trading is back in the list and so too is AMG Packaging having disposed of its machinery in the tissue operations and cut cost it in it as well from the closure of that business line. 
Going into the 2019 fiscal year it should be rid of most of the cost of that operations and therefore focus on the container boxes to meet the existing increased demand. Out goes Dolphin Cove with lower than projected earnings being reported for 2017, followed by Blue Power and tTech with lower results for 2017 than previously projected, that will likely negatively affect 2018 earnings for these companies.
At the close of Friday, the average PE ratio for Junior Market Top stocks ended at 6.3 compared to an average PE for the overall main market is 10 based on 2018 estimated earnings.
IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 stocks now trade at an average discount of 37 percent to the average for the Junior Market Top stocks but it’s a third of what the average PE for the year is likely to be, of 20 times earnings.
$2,800 per share for Palace Amusement!
Palace Amusement seems set to be a big surprise as the stock could exceed $2,000 this year with enormous success that Black Panther is forging.
At the close on Friday the bid had moved up to $730 and should be heading higher based on the good fortune being enjoyed with the Black Panther movie. IC Insider.com projects big rise in revenues for the current quarter a sizable jump in profit as well to levels never before seen by this company. Profit for the year to June should be well into the $100 per share range as the company increase showings of the extremely popular movie but is still booked out into the future. Cable & Wireless should be the number one choice for main market TOP 10 stocks based on a nearly $2 billion reduction in interest cost this year resulting from the fall in local interest rates and increasing revenues. But uncertainty lies about continued listing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange in a year when the company is likely to see significant profit for the first time in nearly a decade.
The number one remains with Barita Investments on the basis that management will start to seriously extract the benefits of the assets that it manages. Despite the fall in profits in the December quarter for Berger Paints, from slightly lower revenues compared to 2016, the stock is still expected to benefit from improving demand for paints as economic improvements take deeper root.
Caribbean Cement continues to struggle to break out of the $35 region but investors may have to wait until around mid-April just ahead of the first quarter results to witness a break out. Grace Kennedy results when the prior year’s one off gain from sale of investment is factored out showed continued progress in increasing profit. The stock has become scarce and seems headed for the over $50 range.
The PE ratio of the TOP 10 is 6.6 times 2018 earnings compared to 12 currently for the main market and an expected 20 by March 2019, this means these stocks have lots of room to grow.
Big advantage to falling JSE stocks – Friday
Scotia Group climbed $2 to end at $54 on Friday.
The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange recorded gains in the major indices but declining prices out weighted rising ones on Friday, as the indices flirted with record highs, failing to hold onto the strong morning gains to close with much smaller gains.
Main market activity ended with 27 securities changing hands, with just 6 securities rising, 12 falling, 9 trading firm on Thursday. Trading closed with 6,404,825 units valued at $87,957,828.
At the close of trading, the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index jumped 2,729.22 points to 321,733.98and the JSE Index shot up by 2,486.63 points to 293,136.03.
In main market activity, Barita Investments closed 10 cents higher at $8.10, with 3,301 shares, Berger Paints ended with a loss of 50 cents at $17, with 702 stock units, Carreras finished with a loss of 5 cents at $10.90, with 798,192 shares,
Caribbean Cement settled at $35, with 12,087 shares, Ciboney Group ended trading at $0.11, with 1,362,000 shares. Grace Kennedy traded at $44.80, with 12,580 stock units, Jamaica Broilers finished trading at $19, with 52,115 units, Jamaica Producers closed at $15, with 1,101,566 shares, Jamaica Stock Exchange ended at $6.50, with 15,405 shares. JMMB Group concluded trading with a loss of 45 cents at $26, with 10,967 shares, Kingston Wharves settled $1.38 higher at $40, with 15,882 units, Mayberry Investments ended trading with a loss of 35 cents at $5, with 4,470 shares, NCB Financial Group traded with a loss of 50 cents at $99, with 18,860 shares. 1834 Investments lost 2 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $1.10, with 289,200 shares, 138 Student Living concluded trading 10 cents higher at $5.50, with 1,500 shares, PanJam Investment ended with a loss of 95 cents at $41, with 9,835 units, Pulse Investments finished at $1.80, with 198,900 shares, Radio Jamaica settled with a loss of 3 cents at $1.05, with 15,118 shares. 
Sagicor Group ended trading with a loss of 40 cents at $36.10, with 726,317 stock units, Sagicor Real Estate Fund ended trading with a loss of 1.99 cents at $15, with 170,860 shares, Salada Foods traded at $12.05, with 7,500 units, Scotia Group finished trading $2 higher at $54, with 348,524 shares, Seprod concluded trading with a loss of $1.99 at $30.01, with 900 stock units. Supreme Ventures closed 5 cents higher at $11.90, with 236,420 stock units, Victoria Mutual Investments gained 2 cents to end at $4.60, with 570,504 units, Wisynco Group settled with a loss of 17 cents at $10.55, with 253,420 shares and in the main market preference segment, JMMB Group 7.5% closed at $1.02, with 167,700 shares, changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place. For more details of market activities, see “Scotia pushes JSE to intraday record high – Friday.”
Losses edged out gains on Junior Market
The Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange index closed virtually flat at the close of trading on Friday with a miniscule rise of just 0.03 points to close at 2,916.93 with the prices of 9 securities advancing, 10 declining and 7 remaining unchanged.
Market activity resulted in 26 securities changing hands, compared to 25 trading on Thursday, with an exchange of 3,564,305 units valued at $13,411,844 versus 1,521,188 units valued at $6,228,409 on Thursday.
Trading ended with an average of 137,089 units for an average of $249,136 compared to an average of 60,848 units for an average of $249,136 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date, amounts to 113,074 units at $457,447, compared to an average of 108,678 units at $446,755 on the previous trading day. February closed with an average of 338,697 units at an average value of $1,495,774 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 4 stocks ending with the bid higher than the last selling price and 3 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial gained $1 to close at $51, with 26,900 shares trading, AMG Packaging ended with a loss of 5 cents at $2, as 143,545 stock units traded, CAC 2000 finished with a loss of 1 cent at $8.50, in exchanging 5,800 shares, Caribbean Cream ended trading $1 higher at $7, with 8,000 shares, Caribbean Flavours added 84 cents to end at $10.90, with 2,250 stock units. Caribbean Producers finished trading with a loss of 21 cents at $4.41, as 17,500 units changed hands, Consolidated Bakeries closed at $2, with 3,400 shares, Dolphin Cove finished at $18, with 1,133 stock units, Elite Diagnostic settled 9 cents higher at $3.01, with 2,009,501 units. Eppley ended trading at $9.50, with 800 shares trading, Express Catering traded with a loss of 3 cents at $4.82, after 26,137 shares were transferred, FosRich Group fell 7 cents at $2.68, with 17,780 shares, General Accident closed 40 cents higher at $3.30, with 245,747 stock units. 
GWest Corporation lost 4 cents at $2.85, with 15,000 units, Honey Bun concluded trading at $4.85, with 29,800 shares, Jamaican Teas ended trading with a loss of 20 cents at $4.55, with 50,874 stock units, Jetcon Corporation traded with a loss of 27 cents at $3.88, with 188,113 units. KLE Group closed at $2.30, with 55,000 shares, Knutsford Express ended $1 higher at $15, with 15,617 shares, Lasco Distributors concluded trading down, 5 cents at $4.15, with 75,802 stock units, Lasco Financial finished at $5, with 4,700 units. Lasco Manufacturing settled 25 cents higher at $4.25, with 508,477 shares, Main Event rose 39 cents to $6.20, with 88,990 shares, Paramount Trading finished trading and rose 3 cents to $3.19, with 7,000 stock units, Stationery and Office closed at $5.50, with 13,189 units and tTech concluded trading with a loss of 55 cents at $5, after 3,250 shares changed hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
4 up 2 down on TTSE on Friday
Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Thursday ended with 16 securities trading the number as on Thursday. The market closed with 200,883 shares valued at $1,445,272 trading, compared to 501,264 shares valued at $7,417,872 on Thursday.
The market closed with the prices of 4 stocks rising, 2 declining and 10 remaining unchanged. At close, the Composite Index fell 41 points on Friday to 1,267.39, the All T&T Index closed with a fall 0.07 points to 1,694.71, while the Cross Listed Index lost 0.10 points to close at 113.38.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, on Friday, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 8 stocks with bids lower than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Gains| First Citizens added 4 cents and closed at $32.20, trading 627 shares, Grace Kennedy price increased 1 cent and completed trading at $3.35, with 61,893 units, Scotiabank rose 5 cents and settled at $62.01, trading 546 shares and Trinidad & Tobago NGL closed with a gain of 14 cents at $27.65, trading 2,961 shares.
Losses| Guardian Holdings fell 15 cents and settled at $15.50, trading 1,599 shares and National Flour lost 1 cent and closed at $1.82, trading 8,176 shares. Firm Traded| Ansa Merchant closed at $40, trading 503 shares, Clico Investments completed trading at $20.10, with 7,597 units, First Caribbean International Bank settled at $9.28, trading 5,823 shares, JMMB Group ended at $2, with 10,100 stock units changing hands LJ Williams B share concluded market activity at 75 cents, trading 20,000 shares. Massy Holdings ended at $47.50, with 3,301 stock units changing hands Prestige Holdings settled at $10.01, trading 1,300 shares, Sagicor Financial ended at $7.85, with 75,657 units, Trinidad Cement closed at $3.01, with 400 stock units changing hands and West Indian Tobacco settled at $88.50, trading 400 shares.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
JSE trading in record territory
Scotia Group is trading at $53.50 following the release of first quarter results yesterday and helped to push the main market into record territory.
The market is trading at an intraday high on the all Jamaica Index of 325,588.39 having risen 6,583.63 points at 10.27 in the morning session. The JSE index jumped 5,998.43 points to 296,647.83. if the market closed around these levels it would end at a n all-time closing high beating the previous record close by a few thousand points. The market indices slipped back a bit and are now at 325,177.34 for the all Jamaica Index and 296,273.32 for the JSE Index.
Scotia Group was showed increased profits from lower loan loss provisioning and gains from sale of its former subsidiary CrediScotia.
Scotia pushes JSE to intraday record – Friday
The Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange traded in record territory on Friday with The market is trading at a record intraday high, for the all Jamaica Index of 325,588.39 having risen 6,583.63 points at 10.27 in the morning session while the main market index jumped 5,998.43 points to 296,647.83.
A rise in the price of Scotia Group up to $58 in the mid-morning session from a close of $52 on Thursday was the major factor in the big surge in the indices. The gain in the price followed the release of first quarter results showing increased profit flowing mainly from gains from sale of CrediScotia operations and major savings from reduced loan loss provisioning but with no growth in the critical loan portfolio. At the end of trading Scotia Group closed at $54.
At the close of trading, the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index jumped 2,729.22 points to 321,733.98 and the JSE Index shot up by 2,486.63 points to 293,136.03. Trading on Thursday closed with 28 securities changing hands, leading to 11 advancing, 10 declining and 6 trading firm, in the main and US dollar markets.
Scotia Group traded as high as $58 on Friday
Trading resulted in only five securities with the large price changes at the close. Kingston Wharves added $1.38 to move back to $40, PanJam Investment fell 95 cents to $41, Sagicor Real Estate Fund fell $1.99 to $15, Scotia Group rose $1.99 and Seprod dipped $1.99 to $30.01.
Main market activity ended with 6,404,825 units valued at $87,957,828 changing hands, versus 4,885,315 units valued at $99,343,789 on Thursday.
Ciboney Group closed with 1,362,000 units and 21.27 percent of shares traded, followed by Jamaica Producers with 1,101,566 units amounting to 17.20 45 percent of the day’s trades and Carreras with 798,192 units and 12.46 percent of volume traded on Friday. Trading results in an average of 237,216 shares valued at 3,257,697 for each security traded, compared to 195,413 shares valued at 3,973,752 on Thursday. For the month to date an average of 796,886 units with an average value at $10,718,888 traded, compared to 878,567 units with an average value at $11,993,901 traded on the previous trading day. In contrast, February closed with average of 213,336 units valued at $3,392,475 for each security traded.
Trading in the US dollar market ended with Proven Investments concluded trading with a loss of 0.50 cents at 21 US cents with 260,631 units valued US$54,745 changing hands as the market index closed at 165.39 with a fall of 2.33 points.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 4 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 8 with a lower offer.
For more details of market activities see – Big advantage to falling JSE stocks – Friday.
JSE main market pulls back – Thursday
The Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed sharply lower on Thursday as the market continues to be pressured by the upper end of the channel the market is trading within, that has constrained the movement from a sustained breakout, since late 2015.
At the close of trading, the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index dived 2,096.36 points to end at 319,004.76 and the JSE Index dropped 1,910.02 points to 290,649.40. Trading on Thursday closed with 26 securities changing hands, leading to 11 advancing, 10 declining and 6 trading firm, in the main and US dollar markets.
Trading saw a number of securities with the large price changes at the close. Caribbean Cement ended with a gain of $1.50 to $35, Grace Kennedy dropped back $10.20 to $44.80 after closing at a record high of $55 on Wednesday. Jamaica Producers dropped $1.99 to end at $15, Kingston Wharves lost $1.38 to $38.62 and Salada Foods climbed $1.55 to $12.05. 
Scotia Group added 75 cents to close at $52, but released the first quarter results to January, showing increased profit flowing mainly from gains on sale of CrediScotia and major savings, from reduced loan loss provisioning. This stock is one to watch, when trading resumes on Friday.
Main market activity ended with 4,885,315 units valued at $99,343,789 changing hands, versus 5,151,580 units valued at $52,948,353 on Wednesday.
Wisynco Group closed with 29.38 percent of shares traded, with 1,435,099 units followed by Victoria Mutual Investments accounted for 754,989 units or 15.45 percent of the day’s trades and Caribbean Cement with 621,412 units 12.72 percent of the day’s trades.
Trading results in an average of 195,413 shares valued at $3,973,752 for each security traded, compared to 183,985 shares valued at $1,891,013 on Wednesday. 
For the month to date an average of 878,567 units with an average value at $11,993,901 traded, compared to 1,185,335 units with an average value at $16,782,174 traded on the previous trading day. In contrast, February closed with average of 213,336 units valued at $3,392,475 for each security traded.
Trading in the US dollar market ended with Proven Investments concluded trading at 21.50 US cents with 6,000 units valued $1,290 changing hands as the market index closed at 167.72.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 5 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with a lower offer.
For more details of market activities see – Grace pulls back $10.20 to $44.80 – Thursday.