Barita at record high on Monday

The main market stocks of the Jamaica Stock Exchange declined for the second consecutive day with moderate fall in the indices at the close on Monday. Barita Investments, the subject of a proposed takeover bid closed at a new all-time high of $10.80 at the close.
The All Jamaica Composite Index declined 515.97 points to close at 274,561.37, the JSE Market Index declined 470.10 points to 250,156.51 and the JSE US dollar market index lost 2.04 points to close at 186.22.
At the close of trading, 26 securities changed hands in the main market with 2 trading in the US dollar market, leading to 8 stocks advancing and 9 declining. The main market ended with 6,318,090 units valued at $56,287,458 changing hands compared to 7,902,262 units valued at $237,278,617 at the close on Friday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 243,556 units valued at US$58,933, bringing the total of all trades to J$63,830,938.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and US dollar markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 4 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with lower offers.
The main market ended trading with an average of 243,003 units valued at $2,164,902 for each security traded compared to an average of 395,113 units valued at $11,863,931. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at 161,636 units with an average value of $3,152,342 compared with an average of 150,012 units with an average value of $3,293,405 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for July ended at 160,668 units with an average value of $2,691,438.
In market activity, Barita Investments traded $1.40 higher to close at an all-time high of $10.80 with 30,000 shares changing hands, Berger Paints gained 95 cents and closed at $16.95 trading 1,218 shares, Cable and Wireless closed at $1.23, after gaining 16 cents with an exchange of 3,513,068 shares, with investors reacting positively to the report of profit in the June quarter. Caribbean Cement lost 51 cents to end at $27.50 with 16,500 shares,Carreras closed at $108, with 88,618 shares switching owners, Grace Kennedy jumped $1.15 to close at $41.15 trading 20,997 shares. Jamaica Broilers lost 50 cents exchanging 332,468 shares to close at $17.50, Jamaica Producers closed at $14.66, with a loss of 44 cents trading 42,186 shares, Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at $6.48 with 13,000 shares changing hands, JMMB Group lost 28 cents to close at $20.22, with 341,624 shares. Kingston Properties exchanged 1,000 shares at $8, Kingston Wharves traded $1 higher to $30, with an exchange of 7,000 shares, Mayberry Investments gained 21 cents to close at $4.70, with 465,061 shares changing hands, NCB Financial Group dipped 50 cents to $90.50, after exchanging 111,568 shares, 1834 Investments lost 5 cents to close at $1.35 while trading 1,834 shares, 138 Student Living traded 26,498 shares at $5.50, PanJam Investment closed $1 higher to $31 trading 127,297 shares,Proven Investments exchanged 26,560 shares at $25.02, Pulse Investments closed at $1.86 trading 39,165 shares, Radio Jamaica lost 20 cents exchanging 52,658 shares to close at $1.40, Sagicor Group closed $2.36 lower to $31.99, with 142,899 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund exchanged 18,151 shares at $12.05, Scotia Group closed at $45.90 with trades of 28,304 shares, Supreme Ventures traded 468,136 shares at $8. Margaritaville Turks US ordinary share was down 3 US cents to 33 US cents trading 5,000 units, Proven Investments US ordinary share closed at 24 US cents with 238,566 units changing hands, JMMB Group 7.5% preference share gained 4 cents, closing at $1.15, with 399,500 units changing owners and Proven 8.25% preference share closed at $4.99 exchanging 2,780 units.

 

SOS trades at a record $5.75

With about 8 minutes to the opening of the Jamaica Stock Exchange this morning there are orders to purchase 5.38 million units of Stationery and Office Supplies shares and only 208,000 units being offered.
The bids range from 2.60 to a high of $5.10 while the offers start at $5.75. Including in the bids are two amounts totalling 2.34 million units at $2.60 each. The stock eventually traded at $5.75 with 38,000 units after the market opened with the bid moving to $5.75.

Main market drops over 3,000 points – Friday

Sagicor Group traded 5m shares on the JSE main market on Friday.

The main market stocks of the Jamaica Stock Exchange lost ground at the close on Friday with sizable declines in the indices but with increased trading volume as Sagicor Group traded more than 5 million share, but fewer securities traded than on Thursday.
Trading ended with the All Jamaica Composite Index diving 3,359.30 points to close at 275,077.34, the JSE Market Index dropped 3,060.70 points to 250,626.61, bringing the gains for 2017 to more than 30 percent. The JSE US dollar market index added 1.37 points to close at 188.26.
At the close of trading, 20 securities changed hands in the main market with 1 trading in the US dollar market, leading to 8 stocks advancing and 6 declining. The main market ended with 7,902,262 units valued at $237,278,617 changing hands compared to 1,374,903 units valued at $47,150,828 at the close on Thursday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 659,944 units valued at US$158,387 bringing the total of all trades to J$257,552,096.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and US dollar markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 with a lower offer.
The main market ended trading with an average of 395,113 units valued at $11,863,931 for each security traded compared to an average of 54,996 units valued at $1,886,033. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at $161,778 units with an average value of $3,293,405 compared with an average of 122,889 units with an average value of $1,864,984 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for July ended at 160,668 units with an average value of $2,691,438.
The volume and last traded prices of securities changing hands on Friday are, Barita Investments that gained 63 cents to close at a record high of $9.40 with 5,850 shares, Berger Paints dropped $2.69 to $16 exchanging 44,705 shares, Cable and Wireless gained 3 cents to close at $1.07, with 1,000 shares changing hands, Caribbean Cement gained 1 cent, closing at $28.01 with 37,365 shares,Carreras fell $1.50 to $108, with 140,539 shares, Grace Kennedy closed at $40, trading 161,570 shares. Jamaica Broilers lost 10 cents exchanging 1,057,803 shares at $18, Jamaica Producers closed at $15.10 trading 7,050 shares, Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at $6.48 with 29,355 shares changing hands, JMMB Group gained 51 cents to close at $20.50, with 13,100 shares. Mayberry Investments lost 14 cents to close at $4.49, with 9,996 shares changing hands, NCB Financial Group traded $1 higher to $91, after exchanging 156,542 shares, PanJam Investment shed $1 to $30 trading 29,077 shares, Proven Investments exchanged 600,000 shares at $25.02, Pulse Investments lost 13 cents to close at $1.86 trading 6,000 shares, Radio Jamaica gained 10 cents in exchanging 28,000 shares to close at $1.60. Sagicor Group traded 5,012,508 shares at $34.35, Scotia Group closed $1.90 higher to $45.90 with 75,721 shares, Supreme Ventures exchanged 3,500 shares at $8. Proven Investments US ordinary shares, traded 659,944 units at 24 US cents and JMMB Group 7.5% preference share gained 1 cent, closing at $1.11, with 482,581 units.

C&W reports profit

Jamaica’s telecom provider, Cable & Wireless, is reporting profit from operation in the June quarter this year, compared to a loss in the same period in 2016.
The company enjoyed an 11 percent rise in revenues helped mainly by a 22 percent increase in mobile revenues to generate $6.8 billion in revenues up from $6 billion in 2016 and profit of $222 million versus a loss of $695 million in the June quarter of 2016. Operating cost fell to $4.24 billion from $4.5 billion in the 2016 quarter to generate profit before finance cost of $1.59 billion. For the six months, revenue of $13.2 billion was generated with a loss of $311 million compared to a profit of $1.1 billion in 2016 from revenues of $11.85 billion.
Subsequent to the quarter the company announced a series of price increases that is set to boost revenues and help the bottom-line. the stock closed on Friday on the Jamaica Stock Exchange at $1.07. The latest information makes this stock one to watch next week.

Stationery shares set to gain over 150%

SOS executives at the listing ceremony at the JSE.

Stationery & Office Supplies shares were listed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Thursday.
The price of the stock is set to gain more than 150 percent when trading resumes on Friday, if interest in the stock shown on Thursday is anything to go by.
After a successful public offering of the stock in July that was priced at $2, investors traded 278,046 units between $3.50 up to $5 on the opening day. The trades were outside the limit of $2.60 it could trade at based on the limitation of the exchange circuit breaker rule and were cancelled. The circuit breaker rule limits price movement to no more than 30 percent from the last price on the previous trading day. Normally the price would be the last closing stock price, subject some variation to this, when the bids or offers are higher than the previous closing price or the offer is lower. The stock closed with the bid at $4.70 which is the effective price on which a 30 percent change can take place in Fridays trading and could result in the price going as high as $6.11.
The market closed with bids to buy up to 4.36 million shares with offers to sell 106,922 units between $5 and $12, but supply is expected to increase on Friday with the price reaching the $5 level.
The listing brings the total of Junior Market ordinary shares listed to 32, which exceeds the listing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange main market listings. Total Junior Market listings are now 36 with 4 preference shares listed.

New record close -Thursday

Main market stocks of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at record levels at the close on Thursday with the market indices climbing over 2,300 points but with advancing stocks being edged out by declining ones.
The All Jamaica Composite Index surged 2,567.56 points to a record close of 278,436.64, the JSE Market Index jumped 2,339.33 points to a record at the close of 253,687.31 and the JSE US dollar market index lost 10.81 points to close at 186.89.
At the close of trading, 25 securities changed hands in the main market with 1 trading in the US dollar market, leading to 8 stocks advancing and 9 declining. The main market ended with 1,374,903 units valued at $47,150,828 changing hands compared to 1,809,394 units valued at $47,308,355 at the close on Wednesday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 631,286 units valued at US$150,176 bringing the total of all trades to J$66,373,329.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and US dollar markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 4 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with lower offers.
The main market ended trading with an average of 54,996 units valued at $1,886,033 for each security traded compared to an average of 69,592 units valued at $1,819,552. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at 109,162 units with an average value of $1,864,984 compared with an average of $119,995 units with an average value of $1,860,774 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for July ended at 160,668 units with an average value of $2,691,438.
In market activity, Barita Investmentslost 23 cents to close at $8.77 trading 800 shares, Berger Paints advanced $2.51 to $18.69 while exchanging just 179 units, Cable and Wireless lost 1 cent to close at $1.04, with 218 units changing hands, Caribbean Cement lost $1 in closing at $28, 1,500 shares,Carreras dipped 50 cents to $109.50, with 121,812 shares switching owners and Grace Kennedy closed at $40, with a loss of 49 cents trading 9,790 shares. Jamaica Broilers exchanged 68,558 shares at $18.10, Jamaica Producers closed at $15.10, with a loss of 90 cents trading 460 units, Jamaica Stock Exchange lost 1 cent, closing at $6.48 with 34,250 shares changing, JMMB Group closed at $19.99, gaining 79 cents with 267,627 shares. Kingston Wharves exchanged 283 units at $29, Mayberry Investments gained 14 cents to close at $4.63, with 2,435 shares changing hands, NCB Financial Group held firm at $90, after exchanging 27,309 shares, 1834 Investments traded 50,000 shares at $1.40, PanJam Investment closed $2 lower to $31 trading 614,451 shares, Portland JSX gained 30 cents to $9.30, with an exchange of 3,350 shares, Proven Investments added 1 cent, closing at $25.02, with trades of 80,000 shares, Pulse Investments gained 1 cent to close at $1.99 trading 20,000 shares and Radio Jamaica closed at $1.50 exchanging 2,438 shares. Sagicor Group closed at $34.35, with gains of 35 cents trading 28,700 shares, Salada Foods gained 39 cents, closing at $9.50 with 128 units, Scotia Group ended at $44 with 23,318 shares, Seprod closed at $32.55, losing 85 cents with 7,443 shares changing hands. Proven Investments US ordinary share traded 631,286 units at 24 US cents, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.5% preference share closed at $1.99 with 2,934 units traded and Proven 8.25% preference share exchanged 6,920 units at $4.99.

10 for 1 split for Carreras shares

Carreras as high as $110 after stock split announcement.

The directors of Carreras advised that they will be recommending a 10 for 1 stock split to members of the Company at its Annual General Meeting scheduled for September 6.
In order to facilitate the proposed subdivision of the existing ordinary shares in the capital of the Company, the maximum number of shares that the Company is authorized to issue is to be increased by a subdivision into 10 ordinary shares for each one that currently exists and thus raising the authorized capital to $4.8544 billion units with effect from the close of business on September 20, 2017. The existing issued shares are to be increased from 485,440,000 units of no par value to 4,854,400,000 ordinary shares of no par value. The ex-stock split date is September 18, 2017.
Carreras stock trades at $110 on the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange.

Strong demand for SOS after listing

Stationery & Office Supplies was listed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Thursday. The stock was offered to the public in mid-July at $2 each and was heavily oversubscribed, has bids to buy 98,660 units as high as $3.50 and 19,800 shares at $3.51.
No trade has taken place with 10,346 units being offered at $4.50, 10,000 units at $6 and 34,105 shares at $12 in the morning session.
Currently bids amount to buy more than 3.2 million units down to $2.50 up to $3.51. The stock exchange circuit breaker rule would restrict the maximum price the shares can trade at today at $2.60, and if it does not trade by the close, the maximum it can trade at on Friday would be $2.90. With bids at $3.50 and above currently, then it may not trade on Friday either if investors starts bids above $2.90 on Friday. Unless management intervene as they did for Express Catering it likely to be well into next week before the first trades would start.

Main market drops 2,000 points – Wednesday

Main market stocks suffered a reversal of fortunes on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Wednesday with the main indices slipping over 2,000 points in spite of a $5 jump for Carreras and $2 for Sagicor Group. Trading closed moderately with 1,809,394 units valued at $47,308,355 changing hands.
On Tuesday just 909,094 units valued at $30,837,797 traded in the main market. Trading in the US dollar market on Wednesday accounted for 297,250 units valued at US$77,073 bringing the total of all trades to J$57,173,667.
At the close of trading, 26 securities changed hands in the main market with 2 trading in the US dollar market, leading to 9 stocks advancing and 8 declining.
The All Jamaica Composite Index declined 2,289.06 points to close at 275,869.08, the JSE Market Index lost 2,085.59 points to 251,347.98 and the JSE US dollar market index gained 5.10 points to close at 197.70.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and US dollar markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 6 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with lower offers.
The main market ended trading with an average of 69,592 units valued at $1,819,552 for each security traded compared to an average of 39,526 units valued at $1,340,774. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at $119,995 units with an average value of $1,860,774 compared with an average of 132,596 units with an average value of $1,871,080 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for July ended at 160,668 units with an average value of $2,691,438.
In market activity, Barita Investments gained 15 cents, closing at $9 with 211,900 shares changing hands, Berger Paints traded $2.37 lower to $16.18 in exchanging 43,980 shares, Cable and Wireless lost 10 cents to close at $1.05, with 54,029 shares changing hands,
Caribbean Cement closed at $29 after gaining $1 with 48,058 shares, Carreras jumped $5 higher to $110 while exchanging 112,582 shares, Grace Kennedy closed at $40.49, with a loss of 51 cents trading 114,173 shares. Jamaica Broilers lost 39 cents, in closing at $18.10 with an exchanging 28,436 shares, Jamaica Producers gained 90 cents to close at $16 trading 17,120 shares, Jamaica Stock Exchange added 1 cent, closing at $6.49 with 11,852 shares, JMMB Group closed at $19.20, losing 79 cents with 92,071 shares. Mayberry Investments closed at $4.49 after losing 51 cents with 17,010 shares changing hands, NCB Financial Group held firm at $90, after exchanging 42,893 shares, 1834 Investments traded 42,637 shares at $1.40, 138 Student Living gained 50 cents to close at $5.50 exchanging 5,000 shares, PanJam Investment remained at $33 trading 260,026 shares, Proven Investments exchanged 202,170 shares at $25.01, Pulse Investments gained 3 cents to close at $1.98 trading 76,971 shares, Radio Jamaica closed at $1.50 exchanging 117,708 shares. Sagicor Group closed at $34, with gains of $2 while trading 39,221 shares, Salada Foods lost 19 cents to $9.11, with 2,430 shares switching owners, Scotia Group closed at $44 with trades of 80,236 shares, Scotia Investments exchanged 100 units at $35, Seprod gained 85 cents to close at $33.40, with 301 units changing hands, Supreme Ventures traded 181,490 shares at $8. Margaritaville Turks US ordinary shares closed at 36 US cents trading 13,497 units, Proven Investments US ordinary shares closed at 24 US cents, with an exchange of 283,753 units, Proven Investments 8.25% preference share exchanged 3,000 units at $5 and JMMB Group 7.5% preference share lost 1 cent to close at $1.10 with 4,000 units traded.

JSE jumps to new record close – Tuesday

Investors pushed the Jamaica Stock Exchange indices up sharply to hit new record highs at the close on Tuessday. During the morning session, the All Jamaica Composite Index hit a new all-time high of 279,335.69, after surging a huge 6,471.87 points at 11:50 AM. 
The JSE Market Index jumped 5,896.61 points to a record 254,506.45 points. By the close gains eased with the market closing a bit lower but well above Friday’s close.
Trading ended with the All Jamaica Composite Index jumping 5,294.32 points to a record close of 278,158.14, the JSE Market Index leapt 4,823.73 points to 253,433.57 and the JSE US dollar market index gained 3.76 points to close at 192.60.
At the close of trading, 23 securities changed hands in the main market with 1 trading in the US dollar market, leading to 11 stocks advancing and 6 declining. The main market ended with 37,879 units valued at $30,837,797 changing hands compared to 2,489,517 units valued at $21,640,002 at the close on Friday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 404,258 units valued at US$99,647 bringing the total of all trades to J$83,856,037.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and US dollar markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 8 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with lower offers.
The main market ended trading with an average of 39,526 units valued at 1,340,774 for each security traded compared to an average of 124,476 units valued at $1,082,000. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at $132,184 units with an average value of $1,857,113 compared with an average of 163,620 units with an average value of $2,047,849 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for July ended at 160,668 units with an average value of $2,691,438.
In market activity, Barita Investments traded 85 cents higher to close record high of $8.85 in exchanging 4,555 shares, Berger Paints closed at $18.55, with a loss of 45 cents trading 1,325 shares, Cable and Wireless added 10 cents to close at $1.15, with 25,100 shares changing hands, Caribbean Cement fell $1.80 to $28, exchanging 27,929 shares, Carreras dropped $4 lower to $105 with 69,288 shares, Grace Kennedy closed at $41 trading 78,696 shares. Jamaica Broilers gained 49 cents, closing at $18.49 with 100 units, Jamaica Producers traded 9,374 shares at $15.10, Jamaica Stock Exchange added 1 cent to end at $6.48 trading 61,767 shares, JMMB Group closed at $19.99, with 58,070 shares. Kingston Wharves closed at $29,after gaining $1.80 with 9,143 shares changing hands, NCB Financial Group traded $4.99 lower to $90, after exchanging 36,483 shares, PanJam Investment closed at $33 trading 47,000 shares, Proven Investments exchanged 139,570 shares at $25.01, Pulse Investments gained 45 cents to close at $1.95, with 76,936 shares, Radio Jamaica closed at $1.50, with gains of 9 cents exchanging 11,097 shares. Sagicor Group closed at $32 trading 31,475 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund gained 13 cents to close at $12.05, with 13,605 shares, Scotia Group closed at $44 with trades of 160,588 shares, Scotia Investments lost 12 cents , closing at $35 in exchanging 3,742 shares, Seprod closed at $32.55, with gains of $1.55 and 928 units changing hands, Supreme Ventures gained 15 cents, closing at $8 with 41,913 shares exchanged. Proven Investments US ordinary shares closed at 24 US cents, with trades of 404,258 units and JMMB 7.5% preference share rose 9 cents and closed at $1.99 with 410 units traded.