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.”
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 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.
Grace pulls back $10.20 to $44.80 – Thursday
Grace Kennedy gave back most to Wednesday’s gains.
Grace Kennedy jumped $10.99 on Wednesday but dropped back $10.20 to close at $44.80, with just 49,690 units changing hands with an average trading price of $44.78, at the close, the lowest offer was at $52 to sell 100,000 units.
Main market activity ended with 25 securities changing hands, with 11 securities rising, 10 falling, 4 trading firm on Thursday. Trading closed with 4,885,315 units valued at $99,343,789.
At the close of trading, the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index lost 2,096.36 points to 319,004.76 and the JSE Index declined by 1,910.02 points to 290,649.40.
In main market activity, Berger Paints ended with a loss of 45 cents at $17.50, with 7,524 stock units traded, Carreras finished at $10.95, with 73,489 shares, Caribbean Cement settled $1.50 higher at $35, with 621,412 shares, Ciboney Group ended trading with a loss of 1 cent at 11 cents, with 215,154 shares, Grace Kennedy traded with a loss of $10.20 at $44.80, with 49,690 stock units. Jamaica Broilers finished trading 2 cents higher at $19, with 58,116 units, Jamaica Producers closed $1.99 down to $15, with 5,529 shares trading, Jamaica Stock Exchange ended with a loss of 21 cents at $6.50, with 14,000 shares, JMMB Group concluded trading with a loss of 4 cents at $26.45, with 194,170 shares. Kingston Wharves settled with a loss of $1.38 at $38.62, with 15,936 units, Mayberry Investments ended trading at $5.35, with 3,250 shares, NCB Financial Group traded 50 cents higher at $99.50, with 134,798 shares, 1834 Investments finished trading with a loss of 3 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $1.12, with 17,000 shares. 138 Student Living ended with a loss of 10 cents at $5.40, with 5,000 shares changing hands, Palace Amusement closed at $560, with 150 stock units and ended with the bid at $635 to buy 150 units. PanJam Investment gained 44 cents to end at $41.95, with 12,400 units, Radio Jamaica rose 1 cent to $1.08, with 16,900 shares, Sagicor Group ended trading with a loss of 63 cents at $36.50, with 610,999 stock units,
Sagicor Real Estate Fund ended trading 24 cents higher at $16.99, with 500,436 shares, Salada Foods traded $1.55 higher at $12.05, with 250 units, Scotia Group added 75 cents and closed at $52, with 92,613 shares, Seprod closed at $32, with 165 shares, Supreme Ventures concluded trading 15 cents higher at $11.85, with 46,246 stock units. Victoria Mutual Investments finished 8 cents higher at $4.58, with 754,989 units and Wisynco Group settled 12 cents higher at $10.72, with 1,435,099 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 “JSE main market pulls back – Thursday.”
3 up 3 down on TTSE on Thursday
Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Thursday ended with 16 securities trading up from 19 on Wednesday. The market closed with 501,264 shares valued at $7,417,872 trading, compared to 537,535 shares valued at $2,193,469 on Wednesday.
The market closed with the prices of 3 stocks rising, 3 declining and 10 remaining unchanged. At close, the Composite Index gained 1.41 points on Thursday to 1,267.80, the All T&T Index closed with a fall 3.76 points to 1,694.78, while the Cross Listed Index rose 0.14 points to close at 113.48.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, on Thursday, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 4 stocks with bids lower than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.
Gains| First Citizens concluded trading and rose 1 cent and ended at $32.16, trading 9,860 shares, NCB Financial Group added 4 cents and closed at $6.57, trading 48,363 shares and Trinidad & Tobago NGL increased 1 cent to end at $27.51, with 5,263 shares changing hands.
Losses| Grace Kennedy closed with a loss of 1 cent at $3.34, with 4,000 units traded, Trinidad Cement closed down 49 cents and completed trading at a 52 weeks’ low of $3.01, with 4,000 stock units changing hands 
and West Indian Tobacco shed 5 cents and concluded trading at $88.50, with 56,757 shares.
Firm Traded| Ansa Merchant concluded trading at $40, in exchanging 460 shares, Clico Investments settled at $20.10, with 1,200 units, JMMB Group completed market activity at $2, with 306,004 stock units changing hands, LJ Williams B share ended at 75 cents, trading 5,000 units, Massy Holdings closed at $47.50, exchanging 2,255 stock units. One Caribbean Media completed trading at $12.47, with 1,000 stock units changing hands, Point Lisas settled at $3.81, with 757 units, Republic Financial Holdings ended trading at $101.52, with 3,512 stock units changing hands, Sagicor Financial settled at $7.85, with 51,279 units and Unilever Caribbean ended at $30, with 1,554 units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
TTSE index close down on Wednesday
Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Wednesday ended with 19 securities trading up from 16 on Tuesday. The market closed with 537,535 shares valued at $2,193,469 trading, compared to 588,618 shares valued at $6,075,902 on Tuesday.
The market closed with the prices of 5 stocks rising, 5 declining and 9 remaining unchanged. At close, the Composite Index fell 2.50 points on Wednesday to 1,269.21, the All T&T Index closed with a fall 3.72 points to 1,698.54, while the Cross Listed Index losing 0.17 points to close at 113.34.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, on Wednesday, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 3 stocks with bids lower than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
Angostura Holdings rose on the TTSE..
Gains| Angostura Holdings rose 3 cents and ended at $15.70, with 700 stock units changing hands, Ansa Mcal gained $1 to end at $61, with 218 units trading, Clico Investments closed with a gain of 9 cents at $20.10, with 5,230 units, Republic Financial Holdings gained 1 cent and ended at $101.52, with 1,445 stock units changing hands and Unilever Caribbean finished trading with 50 cents and completed at $30, with 334 units changing hands.
Losses| Calypso Marco Index Fund fell 92 cents in trading just 20 units to close at 52 weeks’ low of $20.48, First Caribbean International Bank shed 2 cents and settled at $9.28, trading 120 shares, First Citizens lost 5 cents and concluded at $32.15, trading 2,010 shares, Guardian Holdings ended trading 85 cents lower and settled at $15.65, trading 1,000 shares and
One Caribbean Media ended trading with a loss of 1 cent to a 52 weeks’ low of $12.47, with 10,000 stock units changing hands.
Firm Traded| Grace Kennedy completed trading at $3.35, with 260,847 units, JMMB Group ended at $2, with 227,835 stock units changing hands, Massy Holdings ended at $47.50, with 2,344 stock units changing hands, National Flour settled at $1.83, trading 364 shares, NCB Financial Group concluded at $6.53, trading 41 shares. Point Lisas completed market activity at $3.81, with 1,090 units, Sagicor Financial closed trading at $7.85, with 21,683 units, Trinidad & Tobago NGL closed at $27.50, after trading 1,899 shares and West Indian Tobacco closed at $88.55, trading 375 shares.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
JSE adds 4,453 points in 3 days – Tuesday
Berger Paints fell $2.07 to $17 with the largest block of shares on Tuesday.
Market activity on Tuesday fell well below that on Monday but the market indices climbed higher with gains of 4,453 points in three days. The JSE All Jamaican Composite Index climbed 1,526.21 points to 321,783.85 and the JSE Index added 1,390.55 points to 293,181.47.
The main market ended with 27 securities changing hands, ending with 10 securities rising, 8 falling, 9 trading firm. Trading ended with 10,582,771 units valued at $143,248,381 changing hands, versus 4,116,289 units valued at $49,819,783 on Monday.
In main market activity, Barita Investments closed at $7.50, with 8,336 shares, Berger Paints ended with a loss of $2.07 at $17, with 2,492,575 stock units following release of audited nine months results showing a reduction of earnings at 81 cents compared to $1.17 for the same time in 2016 but with the 2017 figures being hit by a large amount incurred to provide the directors recommendation to shareholders following the takeover offer for the shares. Carreras finished with a loss of 5 cents at $10.95, with 142,495 shares, Caribbean Cement settled 45 cents higher at $33.50, with 232,837 shares, Ciboney Group ended trading at 10 cents, with 586,437 shares. Grace Kennedy traded 1 cent higher at $44.01, with 562,502 stock units, Jamaica Broilers finished trading with a loss of 39 cents at $18.49, with 35,051 units, Jamaica Producers closed at $15, with 9,380 shares, Jamaica Stock Exchange ended with a loss of 20 cents at $6.50, with 6,442 shares.
JMMB Group concluded trading $1.49 higher at $26.49, with 42,810 shares, Kingston Wharves settled 25 cents higher at $40, with 17,853 units, Mayberry Investments ended trading 37 cents higher at $5.78, with 4,220 shares, NCB Financial Group traded with a loss of 23 cents at $98.97, with 102,165 shares. Infrequently traded Palace Amusement, closed at $560, with 225 stock units as investors expect a big payoff from the sold out houses the company is enjoying currently with the showing of Black Panther that is raking in several million dollars per day for them. PanJam Investment ended 1 cent higher at $41.51, with 5,061 units, Pulse Investments finished with a loss of 3 cents at $1.75, with 6,605 shares, Radio Jamaica settled 6 cents higher at $1.14, with 16,600 shares. Sagicor Group ended trading at $37.50, with 424,976 stock units, Scotia Group finished trading 10 cents higher at $51, with 51,177 shares, 
Supreme Ventures concluded trading 45 cents higher at $11.95, with 1,430 stock units, Victoria Mutual Investments finished with a loss of 35 cents at $4.50, with 1,963,833 units. Wisynco Group settled at $10.50, with 2,449,787 shares and Sagicor Real Estate Fund ended trading at $17, with 47,796 shares, but the stock traded at a record high of $17.50 early in the trading session. In the main market preference segment, Jamaica Money Market ended trading 11 cents higher at 52 weeks’ High of $2.60, with 500 shares, Jamaica Money Market traded at $1.95, with 1,375 stock units, JMMB Group closed at $0.99, with 18,453 shares, Sagicor Bank A 7.75% ended trading with a loss of 4 cents at an all-time low of $1.01, with 1,351,850 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 “JSE main market highest since October”
5 stocks up 2 down on TTSE – Tuesday
First Citizens Bank trades at 52 weeks’ high on Tuesday.
Market activity picked up on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Tuesday with 16 securities trading from just 11 on Monday. The market closed with 588,618 shares valued at $3,726,394 trading, compared to 814,429 shares valued at $6,075,902 on Friday.
The market closed with the prices of 5 stocks rising, 2 declining and 9 remaining unchanged. At close, the Composite Index fell 0.35 points on Tuesday to 1,271.71, the All T&T Index closed with a rise of 1.47 points to 1,702.26, while the Cross Listed Index losing 0.11 points to close at 113.51.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, on Tuesday, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 5 stocks with bids lower than their last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
Gains| First Citizens closed with a gain of 9 cents at a 52 weeks’ high of $32.20, trading 2,500 shares, Massy Holdings gained 25 cents and ended at $47.50, with 178 stock units changing hands, Sagicor Financial finished trading with a rise of 2 cents to $7.85, with 2,500 units, Scotiabank closed with an increase of 6 cents and settled at $61.96, trading 326 shares and Trinidad & Tobago NGL ended trading, rising 22 cents to end at $27.50, trading 5,452 shares.
Losses| National Flour shares fell 3 cents and settled at $1.83, trading 291 shares and NCB Financial Group closed with a loss of 2 cents at $6.53, trading 174,596 shares.
Firm Traded| Ansa Mcal completed at $60, with 2,530 units, Ansa Merchant settled at $40, trading 524 shares, Clico Investments completed at $20.01, with 19,080 units, First Caribbean International Bank settled at $9.30, trading 96,427 shares, Grace Kennedy completed at $3.35, with 32,626 units. JMMB Group ended at $2, with 227,450 stock units changing hands, National Enterprises completed at $9.65, with 3,000 units, One Caribbean Media ended at $12.48, with 20,981 stock units changing hands and Point Lisas completed at $3.81, with 157 units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
JSE main market sharply higher – Monday
Bulls may be lurching to pounce on Jamaican stocks.
The Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed sharply higher at the close of trading on Monday, with advancing stocks just edging out declining ones.
The market closed with the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index surging 2,130.17 points to 320,257.64 and the JSE Index adding 1,940.83 points to 291,790.92 as the market continues to flirt with the upper resistance line of a long term channel.
Trading on Monday closed with 26 securities changing hands, leading to 10 advancing, 8 declining and 8 trading firm, in the main and US dollar markets. There was no trading in the US dollar market at the close on Monday.
The securities with the largest price changes include, Grace Kennedy losing $2 to close at $44, JMMB Group that fell $1 to $25. Kingston Wharves lost $2.25 to end at $39.75, Sterling Investments gained $1 to $14 and Victoria Mutual Investments climbed 40 cents to a new high of $4.85 while trading the most shares for the day.
Main market activity ended with 4,116,289 units valued at $49,819,783 compared to 115,025,659 units valued at $1,171,809,500 on Friday. 
Victoria Mutual Investments accounted for 2,484,967 units and 60.4 percent of total shares traded followed by Wisynco Group with 525,358 units with 12.76 percent of total volume traded and Kingston Wharves with 298,752 units or 7.26 percent of the day’s trades.
Trading results in an average of 158,319 shares valued at $1,916,145 for each security traded, sharply down on the 4,424,064 shares valued at $45,069,596 on Friday. For the month to date an average of 1,819,426 units with an average value at $20,506,358 traded, compared to 2,649,980 units valued at $29,801,464 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.
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 1 with a lower offer.
For more details of market activities see – VM Investments dominates JSE’s Monday trading.