The Junior Market Index followed up 111 points gain on Wednesday with an additional 5.21 points rise on Thursday to close at 2,526.01, with the prices of 12 securities advancing, nine declining, with ten stocks closing unchanged.
Trading concluded with 29 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 3,217,184 units valued at $14,221,850 compared to 2,553,437 units valued at $9,523,569 from 30 securities on Wednesday. The market’s PE ratio closed at 9.2 times 2020-21 earnings.
Trading ended with an average of 110,937 units valued at $490,409 for each security traded in contrast to 85,115 units at $317,452 on Tuesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 152,184 units valued at $421,248 and previously 139,307 units valued at $416,403. In contrast, April closed with an average of 447,863 units valued at $1,028,076 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows five stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and two with lower offers.
At the close of the market, the recently listed Caribbean Assurance Brokers climbed 11 cents to $2.50 with an exchange of 80,524 units as supply continues to dry up for the stock. Caribbean Cream ended with a loss of 1 cent at $2.54 with 20,000 stock units changing hands, Caribbean Producers finished at $2.41 after sliding 8 cents in the swapping 526,391 units, Derrimon Trading jumped 31 cents in the exchange of 85,106 shares to close at $2.43. Everything Fresh ended 9 cents higher at 80 cents with 26,000 shares changing hands, Express Catering shed 16 cents trading 23,200 stock units at $3.35, Fontana ended market activity 12 cents higher at $5.56 trading 298,168 shares. General Accident jumped 99 cents in the exchange of 1,404,778 units to close at $5.99 after the company posted first-quarter results, with profit rising 146 percent to $76 million as investments and other income grew from just $7 million to $74 million. Honey Bun fell 15 cents to $5 with 34,711 shares crossing the exchange, iCreate added 2 cents and exchanged 70,302 shares to finish at 53 cents, Iron Rock Insurance climbed 54 cents to $3.99 with trading a mere 200 units, Jamaican Teas lost 10 cents in swapping 41,176 units to end at $3.90. 
Lasco Distributors declined 3 cents to finish at $3 in the trading 95,285 units, Lasco Manufacturing jumped 25 cents and swapped 1,481 shares to settle at $4.30, Limners and Bards finished at $1.90 after gaining 5 cents and exchanging 12,428 shares. Lumber Depot added 1 cent and traded 79,678 units to close at $1.14, MailPac picked up 3 cents to end at $1.91 with 166,821 shares changing hands, Main Event rounded out the day at $4.18 after gaining 10 cents and exchanging 200 shares. Medical Disposables closed trading of 77,337 units and slipped 7 cents to end at $7.05, Stationery and Office Supplies dropped 25 cents in swapping 68,787 shares to settle at $6.05 and tTech fell 25 cents to $4.50 with 21,000 with units crossing the exchange.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
Market activity ended with only one stock closing with a change in the price. Investors exchanged 29,646 units at US$6,434, in contrast to 272,913 units valued at US$53,621, from the trading of five securities on Wednesday.
The day’s activities ended with 30 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 2,553,437 units valued at $9,523,569 compared to 7,713,659 units for $39,344,491 from 31 companies on Tuesday. The average PE ratio of the Junior Market ended at 9.1 times 2020-21 earnings.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows three stocks ended with bids higher than its last selling prices and three with lower offers.
ISP Finance shed $1.90 in the trading of 6,010 shares to end at $14, Jamaican Teas inched 1 cent higher and exchanged 52,000 shares to settle at $4, Knutsford Express jumped 80 cents to $8.50 with 3,470 units changing hands. Lasco Distributors climbed 73 cents to $3.03, with the swapping of 200 shares, Lasco Financial picked up 10 cents and exchanged 36,897 shares to end at $2.70, Lasco Manufacturing traded 1,018,392 units to close at $4.05 after slipping 4 cents. Limners and Bards declined 5 cents in switching 5,500 units to end at $1.85, Lumber Depot gained 1 cent to end at $1.13 with 95,476 shares traded, MailPac Group gained 4 cents in the exchange of 343,873 units to settle at $1.88 and Medical Disposables jumped 82 cents to close at $7.12 with 6,000 shares crossing the exchange.
The market closed with 46 securities changing hands in the Main and US dollar markets with prices of 15 stocks advancing, 16 declining and 15 securities trading firm. The JSE Main Market activity ended with 41 securities changing hands accounting for 11,610,708 units valued at $178,231,093, in contrast to 17,254,018 units valued at $121,600,273 from 45 securities on Tuesday.
The average volume and value for the month to date amount to 354,034 units valued at $2,919,802 for each security changing hands, compared to 359,042 units with an average of $2,811,232. Trading in April resulted in an average of 1,077,021 units valued at $3,829,201 for each security.
Jamaica Producers gained 50 cents transferring 262,775 shares and closed at $21.50, Jamaica Stock Exchange advanced $1.10 to $21.90, in trading 29,956 stock units. Key Insurance fell 70 cents to $5.50, with an exchange of 34,397 stock units, Mayberry Jamaican Equities gained 63 cents to end at $10, after swapping 15,664 units, NCB Financial Group declined by $10 to end at $140, after exchanging 397,829 shares. Palace Amusement ended the day’s trade $60 lower at $1,300, in transferring 50 units, Proven Investments fell $1 to $35, with 1,284 units changing hands, Sagicor Group picked up 49 cents to finish at $45.49, in trading 84,426 shares and Scotia Group closed at $45, with gains of $1 exchanging 92,849 shares.
Market activity ended with just five securities changing hands after three stocks rose, one declined and one remained unchanged. Investors exchanged 272,913 units valued at US$53,621, in contrast to 720,104 units at $113,792 from the trading of seven securities on Tuesday.
Market activities concluded with the prices of 12 securities rising, seven declining and 12 holding firm as the market index dived 42.97 points to close at 2,410.29. The average PE ratio of the Junior Market ended at nine times 2020-21 earnings.
At the close of the market, Access Financial jumped 90 cents in the trading of 2,275 units to settle at $24, Caribbean Assurance Brokers finished 20 cents higher at $2.35 with 1,000 units changing hands, Caribbean Flavours gained 30 cents after swapping 200 shares to end at $10. Caribbean Producers finished at $2.50 after rising 10 cents with 783,115 units changing hands, Dolphin Cove surged 80 cents to close at $7.80 with 8,951 shares crossing the exchange, Elite Diagnostic dropped 8 cents to close at $3.80 in the trading of 2900 units. Everything Fresh slipped 6 cents to 71 cents after exchanging 15,000 shares, Express Catering added 3 cents in trading 21,909 stock units to close at $3.45, Fosrich settled at $3.70 after gaining 20 cents and trading 16,158 shares. General Accident ended 19 cents lower at $4.51 with 161,350 units changing hands, Honey Bun climbed 38 cents to finish at $5.40 with 45,609 stock units trading, 
Lasco Distributors shed 80 cents in exchanging 237,500 shares to close at $2.30. Lasco Financial finished at $2.60 after losing 9 cents in swapping 59,900 units, Lasco Manufacturing added 9 cents to close at $4.09 with 29,766 shares changing hands, Mailpac Group added 1 cent and exchanged 380,004 shares to end at $1.84. Medical Disposables jumped 45 cents to $6.30 with 5,094,791 shares crossing the market, Paramount Trading lost 1 cent and exchanged a mere 15 units to close at $1.99. SSL Venture dropped 5 cents in the swapping of 10,500 units to close at 85 cents and Stationery and Office Supplies closed 10 cents higher at $6.30 with 20,251 units crossing the exchange.
At the close, the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index dropped 4,151.98 points to 409,869.77, the JSE Market Index declined by 3,680.65 points to 373,751.19 and the JSE Financial Index shed 2.12 points to close at 98.86.
IC bid-offer Indicator│ At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows nine stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and seven stocks closing with lower offers. The PE ratio of the market ended at 14.4, while the Main Market ended at 14.8 times 2020-21 earnings.
PanJam Investment shed 45 cents to settle at $75.75, in trading 9,717 units, Portland JSX picked up 94 cents swapping a mere five units to end at $8.60. Sagicor Group finished 50 cents lower at $45, with an exchange of 80,664 shares, Salada Foods added $1 to end at $28, in transferring 420 units, Scotia Group closed at $44, with a loss of $1 in trading 95,850 shares. 
Market activity ended with just four securities changing hands, three declined and one remained unchanged. Investors exchanged 720,104 units valued at over $113,792, in contrast to 355,751 units at US$22,821 from the trading of seven securities on Monday.
The quarterly performance followed a weak December 2019 quarter when profit dropped from $1.1 billion in the 2018 December quarter to just $319,276. 
At the close, the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index advanced by 2,548.29 points to 414,021.75, the JSE Market Index climbed 2,365.35 points to 377,431.84 and the JSE Financial Index rose 0.56 points to 100.98.
The average volume and value for the month to date amount to 356,991 units valued at $2,821,161 for each security changing hands, compared to 344,979 units with an average cost of $2,844,401. Trading in April resulted in an average of 1,077,021 units valued at $3,829,201 for each security.
Mayberry Jamaican Equities closed 45 cents higher at $9.44, in swapping 33,490 stock units, 138 Student Living fell by $1.80 to $7, after trading 20,700 units, Proven Investments shed 60 cents to settle at $35.90, with 11,305 units changing hands. Salada Foods climbed $2 to $27, transferring 1,024 units, Scotia Group advanced by $$2.98 to $45, with an exchange of 59,670 shares, Supreme Ventures closed $1.36 lower to $14.01, after swapping 935,846 shares. Sygnus Credit Investments declined by $3.45 to end at $15.15, in trading 266,450 stock us and Victoria Mutual Investments shed 63 cents transferring 550,159 shares to finish at $7.17.
