Scotia closed at a new 52 weeks’ high on Friday at $26
The big question with some profit taking on Friday is whether the market has enough fuel to clear resistance around 109,000 points on the all Jamaica Composite index on this leg of the rally, or will it have to wait until summer, when the market usually resumes it advance after what is normally a softening after mid-May. Even if it does scale the pending resistance there is another at 115,000 points which is likely to be the first real test before it moves on.
In the first hour of trading on Friday the all Jamaica Composite index was up 653.67 points to 108,085.44 and the JSE index put on 584.65 to 97,819.86, sometime after the indices slipped back with a fall in the price of a number of large company stocks.
At the close, theJSE Market Index advanced 184.32 points to 97,419.53, theJSE All Jamaican Composite index rose 206.07 points to close at 107,637.84 and the JSE combined index gained 287.20 points to close at 99,424.78.IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 12 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 with offers that were lower.
In trading, Barita Investments ended with 100,000 shares changing hands, 1 cent higher, at $2.31. Caribbean Cement closed with 66,000 units trading at $4.99 with a 1 cent slippage, Desnoes & Geddes finished trading with 264,406 shares to end at $6.60, by shedding 40 cents, Grace Kennedy saw trading in 13,244 units unchanged at $65.50, Jamaica Broilers ended with 40,831 shares trading but lost 20 cents to $4.80. Jamaica Stock Exchange closed with 375,000 units changing hands but remained at $2.93, JMMB Group finished trading with a fall of 29 cents with 867,080 shares to end at $8.71. Mayberry Investments concluded trading with 203,163 shares and gained 10 cents, at $2.75,
National Commercial Bank ended unchanged at $30, in trading 126,642 units, Sagicor Group had dealing in 157,550 units and ended at $12.10, with a 10 cents increase. Scotia Group contributed 1,967,501 shares with a $50 million value to close at a new 52 weeks high of $26 after rising $1, Seprod ended trading with 36,900 shares at $18.25, down 25 cents and Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share traded closed with 148,603 at $3.10.The stocks to watch for the week ahead include Barita with a bid at $2.30 with one offer at $5, Cable & Wireless with the bid of 44 cents, last sale 43 cents, Jamaica Producers with the bid of $18.52 and an offer at $25. JMMB Group having a bid at $8.72 versus last sale of $8.71, National Commercial Bank is well supported by NCB Capital Market with an undisclosed amount being bought at $30, Mayberry bid $2.75 to but 128,962 units. Pan Jamaican Investment bid at $58 and no stock on offer. Radio Jamaica with a last selling price of $2 and a bid at $2.20 and Scotia Investments with a bid at $24.80 against a last sale price of $24.50.
The company enjoyed increased sales of 11.6 percent, hitting $206 million and resulting in gross profit growing by 11.3 percent compared with the corresponding period last year. As gross profit margin fell slightly to 45.4 percent compared with 45.54 in 2013 and administrative and distribution costs rose by 17.4 percent, profit also declined, falling 17 percent for the quarter to $16.5 million or 17 cents per share. “This reduction was mainly due to increased distribution cost resulting from the takeover of a large contract distributor to maintain our customer service and the lease of vehicles due to accidents of two of our main distribution vehicles. Improvements in this area will be seen in the next quarter. Further, one time cost was incurred during this period as the building on the property acquired was demolished,” management reported, in a statement accompanying the financials.
