Wednesday 10th July 2013 | The movement in the indices of the Jamaica Stock Exchange sums up the market as in the end it was neither fish nor fowl. There were very moderate shifts with the junior market slipping back from a series of days when it kept moving up to new records highs. The volume of stocks traded was 5.08 million at a value of $19.97 million, a little more than Tuesday’s $15.1 million. The advance decline ratio remained almost evenly split, with 7 declining and 8 advancing.

Main Market | The various indices all moved by less than 100 points as only the junior market and combined indices declined. In trades of note, Carreras gained $1 closing at $55 while trading 13,600 units. Grace Kennedy slipped 50 cents to close at $59.50, as 14,500 units traded. Jamaica Producers dropped 46 cents to $19.50 with 21,840 units trading.

Junior market | 10 stocks traded in the junior market with the price of 3 moving up and 4 fell. Lasco Distributors off 10 cents closed at $1.70 while trading 703,738 units and Lasco Manufacturing, which also lost 10 cents, closed at $1.70 for 1 million shares traded. Lasco Financial Services traded over a 1.1 million shares and lost 5 cents as the price settled at $1.30 for the day. Blue Power, surprisingly, traded up to $10.75 in early trading but closed at $10.00 with more than 295,000 shares trading with the stock up 1 cent. Mayberry Investments was the main buyer for their own account. General Accident traded 100,000 shares to close at $2. The only other trade of note is Access Financial which traded at an all-time high of $8.50, with 1,500 shares trading. Supply of this stock is scarce and bodes well for further gains.

Proven Investment ordinary shares, which are quoted in US dollars, traded 136,075 units at a value of US$15,462, the stock gained .001 of a cent.  Importantly, there was no stock on offer at the close.

Market intelligence | Cable & Wireless moved up by 2 cents in today’s trading, but only 65,000 shares traded, which hardly dented the supply at 15 cents which remains at over 29 million units. The demand for the stock has not changed much since Tuesday. The position with RJR with a bid at $1.23 for 4.9 million units has not changed nor has the supply. Good support exists for Sagicor Life at $8.40, Carreras support is pretty good at $53.50 and this could be the floor for the price for a while.  Demand seems to have pulled back for Jamaica Broilers with the only serious bid at $4.80. The stock traded 289,000 units and lost 5 cents to close at $5.20. Grace Kennedy supply of 700,000 units at $61 remains as a barrier for upward price movement for the time being. Mayberry’s sell order of 305,000 Blue Power stock was partially reduced as buying lowered the amount to 223,000 units which are on offer at $10.50.  There are good bids in the market for JMMB’s stock between $7.85 and just over $8 while decent supply is listed at $10.50 and above.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows that bids for 4 stocks were higher with 3 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

Tuesday, 10th July 2013 | In today’s stock market activity, 30 companies, traded 5.5 million shares valued at $15.1 million on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. The advance decline ratio was even at 8 each. Only the junior market index recorded an increase as it made the fourth record high within a week. The other indices except the US equity index which moved up 1 point, declined marginally, the cross listed stock did not trade.

Main Market | Trades of note include: Cable & Wireless traded a million shares between 13 and 14 cents; the large offer at 15 cents is now down to 29.3 million units. Carreras gave up $1 to close at $54 with 4.950 units trading. Grace Kennedy put on 50 cents and closed at $60 on very little volume. National Commercial Bank traded 80,500 shares and lost 21 cents while closing at $19.04. Scotia Group was off 90 cents to $21.10 with 25.680 shares trading. Sagicor Life traded 201,000 units and closed at $9.

Junior market | 11 stocks in the junior market traded, 3 of which closed at new all-time highs while 4 traded at new all-time high during the day. Blue Power closed up at $9.92, an increase of 81 cents as 11,530 shares traded. The focus remains on the Lasco companies as all three hit all time price highs during trading. Lasco Distributors traded 914,381 units between $1.80 and $1.85 and closed at $1.80. Lasco Finance saw more than 572,500 units changing hands between $1.30 and $1.35 and closed at $1.35 up 5 cents. Lasco Manufacturing closed up 15 cents at $1.80 while trading between $1.70 and $1.86 during trading as 961,967 units traded. Caribbean Creams traded 239,580 units at $1.03 each, General Accident chipped in with 223,645 units at $2.

Proven Investment Preference shares traded 589,390 units valued at $3 million while 10,800 of the ordinary shares traded.

Market intelligence | The supply and demand for some selected stocks reported last week has remained essentially the same so investors should pay attention for timing purposes.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows that bids for 5 stocks were higher with 3 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

Monday, 8th July 2013 | In a moderate trading session, the junior market raced to the 4^th record high in less than a week as the Lasco Manufacturing and AMG Packaging moved up minutely in price. But the fall back in the price of Scotia Group from the impact of Friday’s rise, when it traded at $24, was felt today along with a fall in NCB and Carreras.

Main Market | The all Jamaica Index fell sharply by 2,286.97 points to close at 88,233.55 and the main market index dropped by 1,299.05 to end the day at 86,977.41. Trades of note include Carreras down to $55 off by 78 cents while trading 5,750 shares, NCB shed 75 cents to close at $19.25 with 71,600 shares trading, Sagicor Life put on 57 cents to close at $9, 180,538 shares traded, Scotia Group traded 152,000 shares valued at $3.2 million and closed back at $22, the same as the last trade on Friday. Scotia Investment traded 87,852 shares as the stock closed at $26 down 50 cents, after trading between $26 and $26.70.

Junior Market | 10 stocks traded in the junior market with Blue Power trading 45,798 shares at the price of $9.18 with no change for the day. Caribbean Producers traded 75,712 units at $2.03. Dolphin Cove closed down 15 cents at $8.20, General Accident moved 353,000 between $1.96 and $2.02, Lasco Distributors traded 381,576 units at $1.80 and had a bid for 118,000 units at $1.80 at the close. Lasco Finance saw more than 441,000 units changing hands between $1.30 and $1.32 with 73,000 units on the bid at the close at $1.33. Lasco Manufacturing closed up 2 cents at $1.65, an all-time closing high with 60,000 units. The stock traded between $1.65 and $1.80.

The three Lasco shares will be free to trade  in the post-split quantities on Tuesday. With the full volume available to trade, it should be interesting to see the market’s reaction.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows that bids for 4 stocks were higher with 3 stocks having offers that were lower than their last selling price.

Friday, 5th July 2013 |  The junior market closed at a new all-time high at 823.39 points up 13. The fireworks that was expected in the trading of the Lasco shares did not materialise as investors could not trade in shares with a record date of July 9^th since the central depository did not make the switch over to the new number of shares. In the end, investors could not trade more than the number of shares they previously held. What little trading that took place left Lasco Distributors at $1.80 up by 17.25 cents over Thursday’s price as 54,400 shares traded at $1.80, Lasco Financial traded 30,000 shares at $1.30, a gain of 10 cents or the equivalent to $1 based on the old price.

In Friday’s activity, 25 stocks traded valued at $49.1 million, more than twice Thursday’s trade of $22.35 million. The advance decline ratio remained tilted in favour of declining stocks with 9 declining and 8 advancing as all the indices moved up sharply with the exception of the US dollar index which declined marginally and the cross listed that had no trades.

Main Market | The all Jamaica Index leapt 1,611.32 points to close at 90,572 and the JSE market index by 915.26 to close at 88,276.46 . Trades of note include Scotia Group, the dominant stock of the day, with 786,000 shares trading between $21.11 and $24. Scotia Investment, the broker, crossed shares at the higher prices with the stock closing up 85 cents. Carreras traded 6,500 shares between $55 and $56, the stock closed at 55 off $1. Grace Kennedy lost 50 cents to close at $59.50 on limited volume. Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded down 47 cents to close at $8 while trading 156,200

Jamaica Producers climbed to $20 up 50 but only 3,200 shares trading. Sagicor Life lost 57 cents to close at $8.43 while trading 34,554 shares, Scotia Investments did not trade but the price in Trinidad moved up to $29.20 in today’s trading, nearly a 10 percent difference to the local price of $26.50.

Junior market | 8 stocks in the junior market traded. Blue Power traded 1,147 shares and dropped $1.22 to $9.18, Dolphin Cove closed down 15 cents to $8.35 on very low volume, and the only other trade of note was Access Financial Services 13,269 shares at $8.25.

Proven Investment Preference shares traded 3.935 million units valued at $19.83 million while the ordinary shares, which are quoted in US dollars traded 457,725 at a value of US$51,972. The stock lost a fraction of a cent to close at 11.35 US cents.

Market intelligence | Cable & Wireless remains under pressure with offers in excess of 30 million shares at 15 cents and few bids in the market to support the volume at that price.  The demand for the stock has not changed much since Thursday. RJR still has a bid of $1.23 to buy 4.79 million shares, the lowest offer seems small at $1.30 at close. Bids seem to be building for Carreras as the offers taper off.  Mayberry Investments still has an order to sell 1 million units at $5.18 which is preventing the stock from moving up. At the same time, there are still two bids for 500,000 units each at $4.67 as the only visible major bids. Grace Kennedy still has 700,000 units on offer at $61. The tightness in the bids and offers in Jamaica Producers remains. The strongest bid on Scotia Investments remains at $26 for 221,000 but an offer of 6 million units at $30 may act as a short term barrier on the upside.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows that bids for 4 stocks were higher with 2 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

Thursday, 4th July 2013 | One question on investors’ minds is what will be the market’s reaction to the 10 for 1 stock split of the three Lasco companies when trading starts on Friday with the new share structure. In today’s trading all three stocks pulled back in price from yesterday’s last traded prices. The other main issue will be the market’s reaction to the opening of the JSE IPO that opens on Friday as well.

In today’s activity, 30 stocks traded, or 50 percent more than yesterday, but the dollar value fell to $22.35 million as Cable & Wireless traded 2.65 million shares valued at only $371,427. The advance decline ratio was tilted in favour of declining stocks with 13 declining and only 7 advancing. A total of 5.6 million shares traded, as all the indices with movement, fell moderately.

Main Market | Trades of note include Carreras of which 60,000 shares traded between $54.01 and $56, the closing price. Jamaica Broilers gained 15 cents to close at $5.20, a 52 weeks high, with 606,510 units crossing hands. Jamaica Producers climbed to $19.50 up $1 while trading 134,000 units between $18.20 and the closing price. Mayberry, a stock investors should keep a keen eye on for price movement, traded 965,000 units at $2.60. Scotia Group traded 125,000 units and closed at $21.15. Scotia Investments traded up 25 cents as 12,000 units traded with the closing price at $26.50 still below the price in Trinidad of nearly $29.

Junior market | Of the 10 stocks traded on the junior market, only Caribbean Producers closed up and by just a cent, as 125,000 units traded. Lasco Distributors closed at $16.25 and 68,000 units trading the stock lost 35 cents. Lasco Finance lost 77 cents in closing at $12 as it traded between $12 and $13 with 158,000 units changing hands. Lasco Manufacturing traded at $16.30 at the close with 87,000 units trading between $16.26 and $16.50. The only other trade of note was 27,000 units of Access Financial Services which traded at $8.25.

Market intelligence | The bid for 2.6 million at 14 cents on Wednesday for Cable & Wireless was fully supplied in today’s trading at the bid price. Its removal exposes a bid for 1 million units at 12 cents while the amount on offer at 15 cents moves up to 30.4 million units at the end of trading. The next bid after the 1 million at 12 cents is at 11 cents for 9.76 million units. RJR still has a bid of $1.23 to buy 4.79 million shares, the supply seems to be drying up with the lowest offer which was at $1.89 at close on Wednesday shifted to 8,430 at $1.30 at Thursday’s close.  The next offer is at $1.89 with only 54,000 units in all on offer currently.

Carreras traded up to $56 as the offers are waning around the $56 level and the bids are rising with good support now at $53.50 and $53. Of interest, while Mayberry Investments put out a buy recommendation for Desnoes & Geddes, they have a sell order for 1 million units at $5.18 which is preventing the stock from moving up. At the same time, there are two bids for 500,000 units each at $4.67 as the only visible major bids. Grace Kennedy stock picked up in price recently and still has a 700,000 unit on offer at $61. Jamaica Producers have 20,000 shares on offer at $20, the next offer is at $28 with bids for about 200,000 units at $19 or more, an encouraging sign for early price appreciation. Kingston Wharves have very limited supply of under 60,000 units on offer but demand is not great either. Mayberry Investments stock still has one bid at $2.60 but there is no indications of great level of supply either. The strongest bid on Scotia Investments is at $26 for 221,000 but an offer of 6 million units at $30 may act as a short term barrier on the upside.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows that bids for 3 stocks were higher with 2 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.