The Jamaica Stock Exchange lost ground at the end of trading on Wednesday, with the main market major indices declining and the junior market Index moving higher, while the volume of stocks traded, fell to low levels in a moderate day of trading activity.
The main market was recovering from big declines in the early morning session, with the all Jamaica Composite Index dropping 948.35 points, the JSE Market Index losing 847.97 points and the JSE combined index dipping 715.15 points.
A total of 38 securities changed hands on Wednesday, accounting for 1,894,110 units valued at $16,587,522, in all market segments. The junior market accounted for 1,190,538 shares, valued at $6,986,614 of the overall trades.
The price of 13 stocks in the overall market rose, 18 declined, including 5 stocks rising and 8 declining, from the junior market. 3 stocks in all markets hit new highs, 2 of which ended at new 52 weeks’ high.
The JSE Market Index dropped 76.61 points to end at 159,757.32. The all Jamaica Composite Index lost 85.68 points to close at 177,498.82 and the JSE combined index rose 69.03 points, to close at 170,895.65.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 11 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
At the end of market activities, Barita Investments traded 8,661 units at $3.08, Berger Paints traded 12,200 shares with the price falling 33 cents, to end at $4.47, Cable & Wireless rose 4 cents, in closing at $1.42 after trading 25,500 units, Caribbean Cement traded 90,330 shares and closed at $24. Carreras had 3,780 units trading, to close with a rise of 30 cents, at $65. Ciboney traded 111,000 units but lost 6 cents to end at 17 cents, the price of 1834 Investments traded at $1.40 with just 1,000 units changing hands, and rose by 17 cents. Grace Kennedy gained 50 cents in trading 1,000 units, to close at a 52 weeks high of $120.50, Jamaica Broilers ended with loss of 66 cents but with just 402 units changing hands at $13.84. Jamaica Producers traded 54,000 shares to end at $44.01, Jamaica Stock Exchange rose 20 cents trading 360 shares, to close at $21, JMMB Group traded 8,227 units as the price fell 10 cents to $9.90.
National Commercial Bank traded 25,010 shares, to close with a loss of 49 cents at $41.51, there was a $1 fall, in the price of 138 Student Living, to close with 12,685 shares changing hands at $4.50, Pan Jamaican Investment Trust traded 75,609 shares and ended at 52 week’s closing high of $27. Radio Jamaica closed trading with 105,416 shares with the price falling 30 cents to end at $1.70, Sagicor Group ended with 5,000 shares changing hands after falling 11 cents at $22.89, Sagicor Real Estate Fund closed at $10.12 with 21,861 shares changing hands. Scotia Group rose by $1 to close at $32 as 11,641 units changed hands, Seprod traded 10,000 units, gained 10 cents to end at $16.90, Supreme Ventures traded 22,570 units to close at $4.50 and JMMB 7.5% preference share lost 1 cent, to close at $1.03, while trading 95,300 shares.
JSE cuts sharp morning losses
Grace hits $120 & stock split coming
A total of 35 securities changed hands on Monday, accounting for 22,588,186 units valued at $114,452,207, in all market segments. The junior market accounted for 7,943,352 shares, valued at $36,689,714 of the overall trades.
The price of 13 stocks in the overall market rose, 15 declined, including 5 stocks rising and 8 declining, from the junior market as 4 stocks in all markets hit new highs, four of which ended at new 52 weeks’ high.
The JSE Market Index dropped 1,266.89 points to end at 159,833.93. The all Jamaica Composite Index lost 1,416.85 points to close at 177,584.50 and the JSE combined index slipped 1,126.86 points, to close at 170,826.62.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 11 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 8 with lower offers.At the end of market activities, Berger Paints traded just 1,734 shares with the price rising 30 cents, to end at $4.80, Cable & Wireless lost 2 cents, in closing at $1.38 after trading 201,389 units, Caribbean Cement fell 25 cents, in trading 16,386 shares and closed at $24. Carreras had 101,167 units trading, to close with a loss of 98 cents, at $65.02. The price of 1834 Investments traded at $1.23 with 6,840,665 units changing hands, compared to 10,000,000 shares on Monday, Grace Kennedy jumped $10 in trading 247,831 units, to close at a 52 weeks high of $120, after it traded as high as $120.50, Jamaica Broilers ended with 260,971 units changing hands at $14.50, after adding 75 cents. Jamaica Producers traded 223,976 shares to end 1 cent higher at a 52 weeks’ high of $44.01, but traded as high as $45, Jamaica Stock Exchange rose 80 cents trading 41,900 shares, to close at $20.80, JMMB Group traded 2,200 units as the price gained 1 cent to $10, Kingston Wharves ended trading 9,975 stock units at $12. National Commercial Bank traded 26,750 shares, to close with a loss of $1 at $42,
Pan Jamaican Investment Trust traded 15,116 shares and ended at $26.50, Radio Jamaica closed trading with 6,485,157 shares down from 10,249,651 shares on Monday with the price falling 22 cents to end at $2, Sagicor Group ended with 15,200 shares changing hands with at $23. Sagicor Real Estate Fund gained 12 cents to close at $10.12 with 38,492 shares changing hands. Scotia Group slipped $1.49 to close at $31 as 13,594 units changed hands, Seprod traded 41,367 units, gained 30 cents to end at $16.80, Supreme Ventures traded 7,063 units to close at $4.50 and Proven Investments lost 1.49 US cents, to close at 18 US cents, while trading 54,081 shares.
Buy Rated stocks set for growth

TTSE has declined almost 10% from peak and could fall another 9% from May to hit support around 1,600 points. (See orange trendline).
In Trinidad, the market drifted from a peak in the all T&T index at 1,956.55 on December 8, 2015 to a 2016 low of 1,758.40 on May 19. The movements the Jamaica’s junior market saw the index peaking at 2,357.20 on 12th of January and bottomed out on the 7th of April at 1,762.87 points, for a decline of 24.5 percent but have since recovered most of the decline.
Much have happened with companies releasing results since with a number of the results in Trinidad being flat to declining, while most in Jamaica show good increased profit, while interest rates have declined in Jamaica and been static in Trinidad. Added to the profit out turn, a few companies in Jamaica announced stocks splits which have driven the respective prices of all the companies up strongly. Grace Kennedy, one of IC Insider Buy Rated stocks that has been lagging in performance, came to life as the company reported strong increase in the March quarter results, with the price jumping to $115 and seems to have more room to grow, based on the improved results. Pan Jamaican Investment gained 42.5 percent since it was last reported on at the end of April, helped by a 5 for 1 stock split and is up 82 percent since selected to the BUY RATED list. The company has good long term growth prospect but may have plateaued at the current price, around $26.50. The stock has been moved to a watch from BUY RATED.
Honey Bun added to the BUY RATED list in November 2015, gained 112 percent since April and 387 percent since being added to the list. Strong growth in profits and a 5 for 1 stock split helped in moving the value of the stock. ISP Finance added in April, is up 20 percent but there is little supply to be obtained, a recipe for a strong rally in the price ahead. Knutsford Express was put on hold when last reported on and has slipped 20.5 percent, is now restored to a buy below $20 while Lasco Distributors placed on a Watch list last time, is up 52.6 percent and is now placed on watch list at current price at $7.60, supply seems to be drying up for this stock, following release of full year’s results. While investors have priced in a potential big inflows from their law suit claim with Pfizer, at a PE ratio around 20 times fiscal 2017 operating profit, investing at the levels could result in an investment that may underperform the market in the medium term.
Cable & Wireless is up 22.5 percent since April and 332 percent since it debuted on the list in February 2014. The company reported a small profit from operation, for this year to March, and seems headed for earnings around 20 cents per share for 2017. The price should be heading higher before too long, but demand is not electric currently.
General Accident and Honey Bun are placed on the watch list with the former unable to get profit to rise outside the range of 30 cents per share and the latter now being priced at a PE of 18, well ahead of the average for the junior market. Honey Bun supply notwithstanding the 5 for 1 stock split, is scarce but profit growth could continue to be strong thus lending support to the stock going forward.Companies in Trinidad are not doing well but their performance is not disastrous in the main with the price of a number of stocks have pulled back sharply and will offer good entry points when it is time to buy into that market. The time may not be right to enter that recession affected market just yet. Technical reading of this market shows it peaking at 2,032 points and have lost 13.5 percent since then and could fall another 9 percent from the May 2016 levels to reach 1,600 points before the decline is over. A look at the trading report shows that the prices of some major companies remain under pressure and is likely to fall as demand remains weak.
Technical and fundamental assessments suggest that Access Financial, Caribbean Cream, Medical Disposables and National Commercial Bank are due for a break out sooner than later, with Caribbean Cement to follow.
TTSE stocks closed week positively
The Composite Index advanced by 0.33 points to close at 1,110.12, the All T&T Index fell 0.01 points to close at 1,760.05 and the Cross Listed Index rose by 0.09 points to 61.20. The market ended with 1 stock closing at 52 weeks’ high.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 4 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 7 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Grace Kennedy rose 5 cents to a 52 weeks’ high of $5.25 with 1,700 units changing hands and West Indian Tobacco rose 1 cent in closing at $126.31 with 1,128 units trading.
Losses| Massy Holdings closed trading with 29,282 shares with a value of $1,419,675 at $48.15 after losing 1 cent.
Firm Trades| Ansa Merchant Bank traded 200 units at $38.95, Clico Investments Fund ended with 100 shares changing hands at $22.65, First Citizens had 200 shares changing hands to close at $30, Guardian Holdings traded 1,943 shares with the price remaining at $12.85, National Enterprises traded 1,505 shares and closed at $11.15. Praetorian Property Mutual Fund contributed 1,000 shares to end at $2.70, Prestige Holdings traded 300 shares at $11.30.
Grace trades at $115 on JSE – Tuesday
Grace Kennedy hit $115 with a rise of $4 in trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange in the early morning session on Tuesday with 1,150 shares changing hands, while Pan Jamaican Investment Trust bid is at $27 to buy 526 units with the stock on offer at $30. Honey Bun that trades ex split today has not yet trade with orders to buy still in at $19 and below with the ex split price being $3.80 and the highest price it can trade ta being $4.94 today.
Lasco Distributors had the largest volume traded for the morning of 260,000 units at $7.47 followed by Cable & Wireless with 199,074 shares at $1.38 and Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference share with 137,702 units at $2.10.
Trading resulted in activity in 25 securities, accounting for a volume of 939,280 units as 6 stocks gained and 11 declined. The average number of shares traded amounts to 37,571 units compared to an average of 67,133 units on Monday.
After 75 minutes of trading in the early morning session, on Tuesday, the all Jamaica Composite Index fell 331.36 points to 173,785.08, the JSE Market Index lost 296.29 points to 156,436.64, the JSE combined index drifted down by 94.44 points, to 167,121.93 and the junior market index rose 17.59 points to 2,145.73.

















