Main market stocks declined on the Jamaica Stock Exchange at the close on Tuesday and just barely taking a small bite out of the strong gains on Monday. At the close, the All Jamaica Composite Index declined 335.47 points to close at 259,509.13, the JSE Market Index fell 305.65 points to 236,442.21 and the JSE US dollar market index dropped 5.99 points to close at 174.47.
At the close of trading, 23 securities changed hands in the main market with 2 trading in the US dollar market, leading to 10 stocks advancing and 9 declining. Three securities ended trading at a new closing high. The main market ended with 3,076,517 units valued at $75,479,037 changing hands compared to 2,897,944 units valued at $74,825,788 at the close on Monday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 2,038,184 units valued at US$473,952.
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 3 with lower offers.
The main market ended trading with an average of 133,762 units valued at $3,281,697 for each security traded compared to an average of 120,748 units valued at $3,117,741. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at 127,255 units with an average value of $3,199,719 compared with an average of 120,748 units with an average value of $3,117,741 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for June ended at 218,951 units with an average value of $3,871,959.
In market activity, Berger Paints gained $1.50 to close at $16.50 while exchanging 7,536 shares, Cable and Wireless lost 1 cent and closed at $1.10, with 100,957 stock units switching owners, Caribbean Cement closed at $28, with 1,350 shares traded, Carreras traded $1.01 higher, closing at a 52 weeks’ high of $90.01, with 1,725 shares changing hands, Grace Kennedy gained $2 to close at $42 in trading 1,400 units. Jamaica Broilers lost 30 cents, closing at $17.70, with an exchange of 26,548 shares, Jamaica Producers closed at $15.70 with gains of 70 cents while trading of 28,804 shares, Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at $7.10, gaining 5 cents trading 18,990 shares, JMMB Group closed at $20 exchanging 2,648 units, Kingston Wharves lost 50 cents to close at $29.50 trading 90,917 shares, Mayberry Investments closed at $4.60, with 1,112 shares changing hands. 
NCB Financial Group closed at $68.55, with a loss of $1.45 after exchanging 145,990 shares, PanJam Investment closed at $35.20, losing 31 cents with trades of 16,532 shares, Portland JSX lost 99 cents, with 1,052 units traded, Proven Investments added 1 cent to close at a 52 weeks’ closing high of $24.01 in exchanged for 2,200,900 shares, Pulse Investments closed at a new high of $4.35, with gains of 60 cents and with 65,062 shares changing hands. Radio Jamaica traded 69,640 shares at $1.60, Sagicor Group closed at $33.10, with gains of 50 cents in trading 147,145 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund exchanged 1,000 units at $12.10. Scotia Group closed at $45, with a loss of 70 cents and an exchange of 42,725 shares while Supreme Ventures closed at $7.77, and lost 1 cent with 50,318 shares changing hands. Proven Investments US ordinary shares, closed at 22 US cents, having lost 0.02 US cent trading 2,068,184 units, JMMB Group US 6% preference share gained 0.02 US cents to close at US$1.12 with trades of 15,718 units, JMMB Group 7.5% preference share lost 2 cents, closing at $1.11 with 51,966 units exchanged and JMMB 7.5% preference share closed at $1.85, with 2,200 units traded.
This SOS IPO who are the connections?
The McDaniel family owned Stationery and Office Supplies (SOS) after 50 years of serving their more than 3,000 clients, are heading in a new direction. No longer content to hug up 100 percent of the company the family is now are embarking enjoining the public to ride on with them to the next level.
In furtherance of this new thrust SOS is now seeking to list on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market with an initial public offering 50,024,100 ordinary shares, to raise approximately $95,048,200 before expenses. The issue is inclusive of 22,500,000 reserved shares some of which are being sold at $1.60 for staff, with the rest being made available to the general public at $2 per share the offer opening at 9 on July 19th, with the closing set for 4:30 P.M. on July 26th.
The Company reported pretax profits of $53 million in 2016, from sales of $702 million, with earnings of 26.5 cents per share, resulting in a PE of 7.5 before tax. Earnings for 2017 is estimated at around 40 cents on a pretax basis at an attractive PE of 5.6 times 2017 earnings. Revenues for the first six months of 2017, are up almost 20 percent over the similar period in 2016. Office furnishing and fixtures account for approximately 60 percent of sales revenues and stationery and office supplies for 40 percent management advised IC Insider.com.
The Company estimates that the expenses in the invitation will not exceed $12,000,000 inclusive of General Consumption Tax and an expanded marketing and publicity spend, expected to not only drive interest in the IPO but create greater awareness about the company. and its products.
Minimum raise| The Company needs to raise at least $50,000,000 to qualify for listing on the Junior Market. If that amount is not achieved an application will not be made for the shares to be admitted to the Junior Market and all funds will be returned to the persons who made them.
History| The Company started business in July 1965 under the guidance of Richard Hing, George Hew and David McDaniel. In 1970, the Company became wholly owned by the McDaniel family when all of the issued ordinary shares were acquired by David and Marjorie McDaniel. The Company now operates out of a 35,000 square feet warehouse, office and showroom on Beechwood Avenue in Kingston 
and a 3,000 square feet location in Montego Bay that houses 1,200 square feet of office and showroom space and a 1,800 square foot warehousing facility supported by a staff complement of sixteen. The Head Office currently employs eighty-three team members. Eleven delivery vehicles are operated by the company including trucks, which support delivery to customers.
Products|The Company now sells and market office supplies and stationery items, modular office furniture, partitions, metal products, chairs, cabinets and shelving. The Company is the sole local distributor for the leading international brands in office furniture – Fursys and Boss. In 2011, lower priced items were introduced to meet growing demand, by introducing the first of two proprietary brands, the first being the “Image” brand and shortly thereafter in 2012, the Company introduced its second brand “Torch”. SOS also does a small amount of sales to the eastern Caribbean and will be seeking expand business into that Region. According to the company’s management, the increased warehouse space will be critical to this effort. A lesser known service the company carries out, is the servicing of office equipment. This area they indicate has room for increased revenues and profit.
During the last six years, the Company added commercial shredding to its suite of services offered to the general public. The service has become popular among entities which have large volumes of waste paper and other sensitive material that stores data, but are concerned about improper disposal methods. The Company’s states that its “shredding facility meets international best practice standards and has the capacity to shred up to 5,000 pounds of paper per day as well as the destruction of tapes, hard drives and compact discs. The Company’s shredding facility offers the customer the ability to view an on-line real-time video stream of the shredding process being undertaken on-site on their behalf, or if preferred the customer may also be present when the shredding process is being undertaken”.
The directors of the company are, David McDaniel, Marjorie McDaniel, Allan McDaniel, Stephen Todd, Kerri (McDaniel) Todd, Kelli (McDaniel) Muschett, Anthony Bell, Gary “Butch” Hendrickson and Evan Thwaites.
Stationery & Office Supplies heads to market
The Mcdaniel family owned Stationery and Office Supplies are heading for listing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market with an initial public offering 50,024,100 ordinary shares.
The issue is inclusive of 22,500,000 reserved shares, some of which are reserved for staff at $1.60 per share, with the rest being made available to the general public at $2 per share the offer opening at 9 on July 19th, with the closing set for 4:30 P.M. on July 26th.
The Company reported pretax profits of $53 million in 2016 for earnings of 26.5 cents per share resulting in a PE of 7.5 before tax. Earnings for 2017 is estimated at around 36 cents on a pretax basis or a PE of an attractive 5.6 times 2017 earnings.
JSE majors make big gains again – Monday
Scotia Group accounted for 46 percent of the volume traded on Monday.
Big movement in a number of main market stocks of the Jamaica Stock Exchange drove the indices up sharply at the closed on Monday and adding to the big gains on Friday. The All Jamaica Composite Index jumped 1,871.36 points to close at 259,844.60, the JSE Market Index climbed 1,705.02 points to 236,747.86 and the JSE US dollar market index lost 0.51 points to close at 180.46.
At the close of trading, 24 securities changed hands in the main market with 1 trading in the US dollar market, leading to 10 stocks advancing and 7 declining. Pulse Investments, fresh from a 6 for 1 stock split closed at a new 52 weeks’ high at the conclusion of trading. The main market ended with 2,897,944 units valued at $74,825,787.51 changing hands compared to 1,531,947 units valued at $26,473,230 at the close on Friday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 83,800 units valued at US$19,274.
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 120,748 units valued at $3,117,741 for each security traded compared to an average of 66,606 units with an average value of $1,151,010 on Friday. The average volume and value for June ended at 218,951 units with an average value of $3,871,959.
In market activity, Barita Investments gained 50 cents to close at $7 trading 20,000 shares, Berger Paints traded $2.97 lower to close at $15 in exchanging 6,667 shares, Cable and Wireless lost 5 cents and closed at $1.11, with 43,470 stock units switching owners, Caribbean Cement closed at $28, with 21,600 shares traded. Carreras traded 8,560 shares at $89, Grace Kennedy closed at $40, but lost $1 trading 25,931 units, Jamaica Broilers gained 40 cents to close at $18, with 25,055 shares changing hands, Jamaica Producers lost $1 and closed at $15 with 39,402 units trading. Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at $7.05, gaining 5 cents and trading 21,349 shares, JMMB Group closed at $20, with gains of 3 cents while exchanging 22,733 units, Kingston Wharves gained 15 cents to close at $30, trading 23,419 shares, 
Mayberry Investments closed at $4.60, losing 50 cents with an exchange of 888 shares. NCB Financial Group closed at $70, after exchanging 107,711 shares, PanJam Investment closed at $34.89, with 36,102 shares changing hands, Portland JSX traded 1,002 units at $11, Pulse Investments closed at a new high of $3.75 after a 6 for 1 stock split, with 58,504 shares changing hands, Sagicor Group closed at $32.60, with a loss of 49 cents trading 19,778 shares, Sagicor Real Estate fund gained 10 cents to close at $12.10, with 8,519 shares changing owners. Scotia Group accounted for 46 percent of the volume traded in the market and the price jumped $2.70 to close at $45.70, with 1,337,205 shares having been traded, Seprod added $1.93 to close at $30 in exchanging 7,966 shares while Supreme Ventures closed at $7.78, with a rise of 33 cents with 12,351 shares changing hands. Proven Investments US ordinary shares closed at 23 US cents, with an exchange of 83,800 units, JMMB Group 7.5% preference share closed at $1.13, with 996,000 units exchanged, JMMB 7.5% preference share closed at $1.85, with 26,358 units traded and Proven 8.25% preference share lost 5 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $5.10, with 27,294 units traded.
Radio Jamaica looks promising
Radio Jamaica generated revenues of $1.2 billion in the March 2017 quarter, $156 million less than the December quarter but had $49 million more in direct expenses in the March quarter when it was expected that direct expenses would have fallen in keeping with the reduced income.
The group also reported lower profits in the March quarter compared with the December quarter and suffered a loss before taxation of $30 million and $65 million after an increased taxation charge of $35 million, bringing the full year taxation provision to $75 million. RJR ended the fiscal year with profit after tax of $145 million or just 6 cents per share. Results for 2018 should be much better as staff cost will fall with reduction in staffing while some one off cost that affected profit, should not recur.
In the March quarter, general expenses fell by $110 million from the December quarter to reach $562 million. The sharp change could result from reclassification of some expenses to direct cost, resulting in the jump in this area in the last quarter of the fiscal year. In the December quarterly report, the company stated that “increased cost of $64 million was incurred largely from further operational investments and one- off costs”. The areas that incurred the cost are continued rollout of 1 Spot Media, legal expenses incurred in protecting copy rights and defending legal action and repairs to broadcast transmitters. This was reconfirmed by Managing Director, Gary Allen in response to questions posed by IC Insider.com as the reason why profit in the Television segment had fallen even as revenues rose.
“The figures have seven months of the old structure. Only five months of HR synergies were realised in the financial year under review, as redundancies took place in September/November” Gary Allen, Managing Director advised IC Insider.com, in response to our question of how much staff cost is in the 2107 figures for person who were made redundant?
Prior to the merger investors were advised of major cost reduction and improved revenues that will flow from the merged entity. Allen stated ‘they have started with the HR synergies. Others are being realised as we integrate systems in the operations. Most elements will be implemented by the end of 2018/2019.”
Cash flow from operating activities was $363 million but $248 million was spent on acquiring fixed assets with the group ending with cash and equivalent of $291 million at the end of the year. RJR also has investments in bonds and Government of Jamaica securities amounting to $487 million.
Gleaner & RJR execs signing merger agreement in 2015
The RJR Group underwent major changes with the acquisition of the Gleaner media business. Comparing the 2017 fiscal year’s results with that of 2016 makes little sense with the latter having very little financial data of the acquired business.
Data contained in the segment results, provide some indication as to the performance of various parts of the group. The performance of the segments in 2017 over 2016 show, Audio Visual generating just $65 million more in revenues in 2017 to end with $1.868 billion and contributed $72 million to profits compared to $157 million in 2016, Audio comprising radio operations had revenues of $711 million compared to $567 million and contributed profit of $238 million versus $112 million, Independent Radio coming on stream and growth in Outside Broadcasts contributed to the increase. The print division showed revenues of only $78 million in 2016 and a loss of $190 million saw a major about turn, with revenues of $2.8 billion and profit of $173 million for 2017.
Allen went on to state that “the market will remain competitive and the economic conditions of Jamaica will continue to impact media spend. Improvements will come from those able to leverage market leadership positions, product diversification, overseas earnings and new marketing strategies. RJR has all the necessary ingredients to meet these challenges and the opportunities on the horizon.”
The stock traded at $1.60 on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Friday and with IC Insider.com projecting earnings of 25 cents per share for 2018 fiscal year ending in March, the stock seems attractive coming against a back ground of continued growth in the Jamaican economy.
Jamaica Broilers’ profit jumps 28%
Jamaica Broilers
The financial year to April 2017 was a good one for Jamaica Broilers Group, with attractive revenue and profit growth. For the full year, profit after tax attributed to the company’s shareholders rose 28 percent to $2.23 billion from $1.74 billion in 2016.
Sales revenues grew 15.3 percent to $44.44 billion for the year from $38.52 billion in 2016. The group enjoyed a 17% increase in revenues in the fourth quarter to $12.32 billion up from $10.52 in 2016 but profit but rose from $900 million to $1 billion at a slower pace than the growth in revenue.
A fall in the pace of growth in gross profit was a major factor in the slower growth in the last quarter as direct cost rose limiting gross profit to a rise of 13 percent to $3.57 billion in the quarter from $3.16 billion in 2016.
Segment results showed the Jamaican segment generating revenues of $31.96 billion up from $28.4 billion but segment results fell from $3.6 billion to $2.87 billion. Revenues for the US based operations grew to $10.86 billion from 8.8 billion and generated segment profit of $1.3 billion compared to $1 billion in 2016. Other Caribbean Countries generated revenues from third parties of $1.6 billion up from $1.3 billion in 2016 and contributed $944 million to profit up from $254 million in 2016.
While some Jamaican companies are by passing cheap borrowed funds for expansion purposes, Jamaica Broilers with equity capital of $14.4 billion has $7.7 billion in debt. The group holds $2.76 billion in cash with loan receivable of $2.55 billion of which $500 million is due within 12 months. Cash flow from operations is attractive at approximately $3 billion for 2017. During the past year $749 million was expended on the acquisition of fixed assets compared to $800 million in 2016 and the group paid dividends of $420 million for the 2017 fiscal year, up from $311 million in the prior period.
Forecast for 2018 is for EPS of $2.60, up from $1.85 for 2017. The stock closed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Friday at $18 at 10 times 2017 earnings but 7 times 2018 earnings compared to an average of the main market of 13.7. IC Insider.com rates the stock a buy for growth and income.
Stocks end Friday with big gains
Trading in the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed on Friday with a big jump in the indices as the number of stocks rising climbed to 15 with just 7 declining out of a total of 26 securities trading in the US dollar and main markets. A number of stocks recorded big price movements by the close.
At the close, the All Jamaica Composite Index advanced 1,704.13 points to 257,973.24, the JSE Market Index gained 1,552.66 points to 235,042.84 and the JSE US dollar market index fell 6.29 points to close at 180.97. Trading in the main market ended with 1,531,947 units valued at $26,473,230 changing hands compared to 797,671 units valued at $13,179,281 at the close on Thursday. The US dollar market, closed with 3 securities trading and accounted for 117,720 units valued at US$56,637.
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 13 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 with a lower offer.
The main market ended trading with an average of 66,606 units valued at $1,151,010 for every security traded compared to an average of 37,984 units valued at $627,585 on Wednesday. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at 218,951 units with an average value of $3,871,959 compared with an average of 226,206 units with an average value of $4,001,529 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for May ended at 358,008 units and $9,037,303.
In market activity, Berger Paints jumped $2.97 to close at $17.97 trading 3,109 shares, Cable and Wireless closed at $1.16, with 37,558 stock units changing hands, Caribbean Cement climbed $2.50 higher to close at $28 in the exchange of 24,200 shares, Carreras advanced $2.40 to close at $89, with 5,200 units trading, Grace Kennedy closed at $41, losing 50 cents with an exchange of 33,303 units, Jamaica Producers gained 5 cents to close at $16, with 14,263 units crossing the exchange platform. Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at $7 and gained 10 cents trading 319,683 shares, JMMB Group closed at $19.97, after surging $1.47 while exchanging 274,716 units, Kingston Properties traded 182 units at $9.95, Kingston Wharves gained 95 cents to close at $29.85, trading of 101,472 shares, Mayberry Investments closed at $5.10, with a rise of 55 cents, exchanging 53,120 shares. NCB Financial Group closed at $70, with a loss of $1 after exchanging 45,412 shares, 138 Student Living closed at $4.50 trading 19,823 shares, PanJam Investment closed at $34.89, with trades of 17,800 shares. Pulse Investments lost 49 cents to close at $17.50 exchanging 69,754 shares, Radio Jamaica gained 10 cents to close at $1.60, with 7,769 units changing hands,
Sagicor Group closed at $33.09, with a loss of 1 cent exchanging 49,302 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded $1 higher to close at $12, with 29,966 shares changing owners, Scotia Group closed at $43, gaining 49 cents trading 61,260 shares, Scotia Investments closed at $38, with gains of $1.42 exchanging 30,000 units. Seprod added 7 cents to close at $28.07, with trades of 1,149 shares while Supreme Ventures closed at $7.45, with a rise of 15 cents with 70,200 shares changing hands. Proven Investments US ordinary shares closed at 24 US cents, with an exchange of 20,364 units, after rising by a fraction of a cent, Margaritaville Turks US ordinary shares lost 0.02 US cents to close at 32 US cents, trading 73,174 units, JMMB Group US 6% preference share traded 0.03 US cents lower, closing at US$1.10 with 24,182 units exchanged and Proven 8.25% preference share lost 2 cents to close at $5.15, with 262,706 units traded.
Jamaican dollar strengthens
Authorised and cambio dealers sold US$10 million more than they bought on Thursday, an amount similar to the amount the central bank sold in their first monthly auction of US dollars trading, on Wednesday.
The increased take by the public did not have an adverse effect on the rate for trading the United States currency.
The Jamaican dollar that is set to close out June with a higher value than at the start of the month, gained more ground versus the United States dollar at the close on Thursday. The selling rate for the US dollar dipped to J$128.73 to US$1 as US dollar, down from J$128.81 on Wednesday. The buying rate for the US dollar fell to JS$127.95 from $128.16 at the end of trading on Wednesday.
Inflows of United States dollars reached US$36.58 million and selling $46.69 million. Overall foreign exchange of all currencies entering the market totaled the equivalent of US$45.3 million with US$53.2 million sold.
The selling rate for the Canadian dollar rose to J$99.07 compared to J$98.14 at the close on Wednesday while the British Pound cost slightly more at the close on Thursday with J$165.40 buying the British currency versus J$165.10 on Wednesday and the Jamaican dollar gained value against the euro, with it taking J$146.66 to buy the European common currency on Thursday versus Wednesday’s J$147.25.
Inflows in June is set to exceed out flows by a good level. With July being one of the best months for inflows of foreign exchange, the value of the local currency should see further gains in the days ahead, with the surplus for the month being higher than for June.
JSE majors drop 3,000 pts in 2 days
The Jamaica Stock Exchange closed on Thursday with the All Jamaica Composite Index shedding more than 3,000 points in two days and the JSE Market Index losing over 2,800 points over the same period as declining stocks dominated those rising, with one stock ending at an all-time high.
The All Jamaica Composite Index dropped 2,038.00 points to close at 256,269.11, the JSE Market Index declined 1,856.85 points to 233,490.18 and the JSE US dollar market index gained 4.14 points to close at 187.26.
At the close of trading, 21 securities changed hands in the main market with 2 trading in the US dollar market, leading to 7 stocks advancing and 11 declining. Trading in the main market ended with 797,671 units valued at $13,179,281 changing hands compared to 1,699,314 units valued at $60,267,634 at the close on Wednesday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 211,725 units valued at US$49,744.
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 none closing lower offers.
The main market ended trading with an average of 37,984 units valued at $627,585 for every security traded compared to an average of 77,242 units valued at $2,739,438 on Wednesday. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at 226,206 units with an average value of $4,001,529 compared with an average of 235,617 units with an average value of $4,170,226 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for May ended at 358,008 units and $9,037,303.
In market activity, Berger Paints closed at $15, after gaining 70 cents and trading 23,799 shares, Cable and Wireless closed at $1.16, with gains of 3 cents and 8,742 stock units changing ownership, Caribbean Cement traded $2.50 lower to close at $25.50 exchanging 14,000 shares,Carreras lost 20 cents to close at $86.60, with 12,614 units trading, Grace Kennedy gained $1.40 and closed at $41.50, with an exchange of 8,480 units, Jamaica Producers lost 5 cents to close at $15.95, with 2,674 units changing hands. Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at $6.90, after losing 9 cents and trading 11,700 shares, JMMB Group closed at $18.50, with 58,295 units changing owners, Kingston Properties traded 4,500 units at $9.95, Mayberry Investments closed at $4.55, after losing 20 cents with an exchange of 4,200 shares. NCB Financial Group closed at $71, gaining 1 cent after exchanging 54,489 shares, 1834 Investments closed 15 cents lower at $1.35 trading 33,400 shares, 
Palace Amusement gained $2, closing at an all-time high of $500, with an exchange of 586 shares, PanJam Investment closed at $34.89, gaining 2 cents with trades of 7,552 shares. Radio Jamaica lost 10 cents to close at $1.50 trading 40,900 units, Sagicor Group closed at $33.10, with a loss of 10 cents exchanging 32,601 shares, Sagicor Real Estate fund traded 50 cents lower to close at $11, with 5,380 shares changing hands, Scotia Group closed at $42.51, losing 1 cent in exchanging 18,762 shares, Scotia Investments closed at $36.58 trading 400 units while Supreme Ventures closed at $7.30, losing 15 cents with 450,810 shares changing owners. Proven Investments US ordinary shares closed at 23.99 US cents, gaining 0.01 US cent, with 203,725 units changing hands, Sterling Investments US ordinary shares traded 8,000 units at 0.11 US cents and JMMB Group 7.5% preference share closed at $1.13 exchanging 3,787 units.
JSE indices drop Wednesday
Trading in the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed on Wednesday with the number of stocks rising and falling being almost even. Trading volumes declined while the values increased compared to the prior day but the market indices closed lower.
The All Jamaica Composite Index fell 1,045.65 points to close at 258,307.11, the JSE Market Index declined 952.70 points to 235,347.03 and the JSE US dollar market index gained 1.72 points to close at 183.12.
At the close of trading, 22 securities changed hands in the main market, with 1 trading in the US dollar market, leading to 7 stocks advancing and 8 declining. Trading in the main market ended with 1,699,314 units valued at $60,267,634 changing hands compared to 2,115,285 units valued at $50,230,238 at the close on Tuesday. Trading in the US dollar market accounted for 5,145 units valued at US$1,201.
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 77,242 units valued at a mere $2,739,438 for every security traded compared to an average of 88,137 units valued at $2,092,927 on Tuesday. The average volume and value for the month to date ended at 235,617 units valued at $4,170,226 compared with an average of 243,952 units with an average value of $4,245,530 on the previous trading day. The average volume and value for May ended at 358,008 units and $9,037,303.
In market activity, Barita Investments closed at $6.50, with a loss of 50 cents exchanging 122,700 shares, Berger Paints closed at $14.30, after gaining $1.30 trading 3,468 shares, Carreras gained 30 cents to close at $86.80, with 10,436 units trading, Grace Kennedy dropped $1.90 to close at $40.10, with an exchange of 468,413 units, Jamaica Broilers closed at $17.60, with a loss of 40 cents trading 11,000 shares, Jamaica Producers exchanged 4,742 units at $16. Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at $6.99 trading 47,474 shares, JMMB Group closed at $18.50, with 32,333 units changing owners, Kingston Properties traded 5,000 units at $9.95, Kingston Wharves closed at $28.90, with trades of 1,370 shares. Mayberry Investments closed at $4.75, gaining 20 cents with an exchange of 52,105 shares, 
NCB Financial Group closed at $70.99, with a loss of 41 cents after exchanging 56,856 shares, 1834 Investments gained 5 cents to close at $1.50 trading 17,269 shares, PanJam Investment lost 2 cents to close at $34.87, with trades of 14,326 shares. Portland JSX advanced $2 to close at $11, with 62,072 shares changing hands, Pulse Investments closed at $17.99, with an exchange of 4,584 shares, Radio Jamaica gained 10 cents to close at $1.60 trading 17,627 units, Sagicor Group closed at $33.20, with a loss of $1.33, trading 3,921 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund gained 50 cents to close at $11.50, with 3,450 shares changing hands. Scotia Group traded $2.98 lower to close at $42.52 exchanging 734,967 shares, Scotia Investments closed at $36.58 trading 10,100 units while Supreme Ventures closed at $7.45, losing 20 cents with 15,101 shares changing owners. Proven Investments US ordinary shares closed at 23 US cents, with 5,145 units changing hands.