The Junior Market retreated from the record close when trading resumed on Tuesday, with the market index declining by 12.75 points to close at 3,356.37, back below the previous high of 2017.
Trading resulted in 25 securities, the same number that changed hands on Monday, leading to 12 advancing, 5 declining and 8 remaining unchanged.
Indies Pharma was the only security that closed at record high on Wednesday as investors exchanged 3,271,099 units valued at $12,971,060 in the overall market, compared to 2,700,219 units valued at $10,803,399 on Tuesday.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading had 7 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices, 2 closed with lower offers.
Trading closed with an average of 130,844 units for an average of $518,842 in contrast to 108,009 units for an average of $432,136 on Tuesday. Trading for the month to date averages 806,685 units for an average of $4,908,371 and on the prior trading day, an average of 898,015 units for an average of $5,501,550. 
Trading in August, averaged 244,613 units at $1,348,298 for each security traded.
At the close of trading, Access Financial closed $1.50 higher at $47.50, in exchanging 1,019 shares, Blue Power concluded trading of 32,929 units, 25 cents higher at $6, CAC 2000 finished of 7,000 shares at $9, Caribbean Flavours traded just 164 stock units, with a loss of 57 cents to $19.30, Caribbean Producers closed at $6, after exchanging 107,764 units. Consolidated Bakeries closed 5 cents higher at $2.50, with 100,000 shares changing hands, Derrimon Trading ended at $3, with an exchange of 815,062 shares, Elite Diagnostic finished 28 cents higher at $3.44, with 33,983 stock units trading, Everything Fresh gained 1 cent in trading 52,166 shares to end at $2.44, Express Catering ended trading at $8.18, with 160,774 shares changing hands. FosRich Group traded 15 cents higher at $3.05, with an exchange 127,726 shares, General Accident closed 15 cents higher at $4.40, trading 22,360 shares, Honey Bun ended 10 cents higher at $4, with 39,029 units, Indies Pharma gained 5 cents with 958,728 shares changing hands to end at a record close of $3.65,
Iron Rock concluded trading 30 cents higher at $3.50, with an exchange of 106,550 shares. Jetcon Corporation ended trading 300 stock units at $3.95, Knutsford Express closed at $11.50, in the swapping of 800 shares, Lasco Distributors ended with a loss of 5 cents at $4, with 363,914 shares changing hands, Lasco Financial concluded trading 13 cents higher at $5.90, after 110,176 stock units traded. Lasco Manufacturing finished with a loss of 2 cents at $3.99, with 36,000 units, Main Event settled with a loss of 4 cents at $5.98, trading 134,500 shares, Medical Disposables ended trading at $6.70, with 6,500 shares, Paramount Trading ended with a loss of 15 cents at $2.60, with 33,655 shares changing hands and Stationery and Office finished trading 29 cents higher at $8.99, with 10,000 stock units. In the Junior Market preference segment, Eppley 9.5% finished at $6, with 10,000 shares trading.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
NCB pushes All Jamaica within touch of 380K
NCB stock jumped to $124 in early trading on Wednesday.
The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange traded at a new record territory on Wednesday morning a mere 3 minutes of opening passing and went on to yet a higher level at 5 minutes later while passing other records along the way to the recent high.
The All Jamaica Composite Index rose 3,015.46 points to 379,946.02 and the JSE Index gained 2,747.43 points to a record 346,173.52.
The Junior Market that slipped 33.18 points in earlier trading is now down just 4.45 to 3,364.67.
Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded the most share of just under 8.7 million units at $11.75. NCB Financial now trades at $122 with the bid at the last sale price.
All Jamaica trades at new intraday record
The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange traded at a new record territory on Wednesday morning within 3 minutes of opening and went on to yet a higher level at 5 minutes later.
The Main market which has slipped back slightly since to be at 377,639.34 for the All Jamaica Composite Index for a gain over Tuesday’s close of 376,930.26. The All Jamaica Composite Index traded with a gain of 1,728.19 points to 378,658.45 and then went on to 378,793.40. The JSE Index rose 1,574.58 points to a record 345,000.67 and then went further to 345,123.62 for a total gain of 1,697.53.
The Junior Market Index slipped 33.18 points to 3,335.94 Derrimon Trading pulled back to $2.75 from $3 and Paramount Trading fell to $2.60 from $2.75 from the close on Tuesday.
Junior Market retreats from record close
The Junior market retreated from record high on Monday.
The Junior Market retreated from the record close when trading resumed on Tuesday, with the market index declining by 23.46 points to close at 3,369.12, to sit just below the previous record closing high of 3,375.24, on May 24, last year.
Trading resulted in 25 securities, compared to 30 that changed hands on Monday, leading to 9 advancing, 9 declining and 7 remaining unchanged. Indies Pharma was the only security that closed at record high on Tuesday, as investors exchanged 2,700,219 units valued at $10,803,399, compared to 1,652,479 units valued at $6,242,412 on Monday.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading had 7 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices, 2 closed with lower offers.
Trading closed with an average of 108,009 units for an average of $432,136 in contrast to 63,557 units for an average of $240,093 on Monday. 
Trading for the month to date averages 898,015 units for an average of $5,501,550 and on the prior trading day, an average of 1,021,454 units for an average of $6,293,646. Trading in August, averaged 244,613 units at $1,348,298 for each security traded.
At the close of trading, Access Financial closed at $46, trading 20,000 shares, AMG Packaging ended trading of 80,806 stock units and lost 4 cents in closing at $1.90, Blue Power fell 25 cents in trading 91,899 shares at $5.75, Caribbean Producers traded 215,385 units to close at $6, Derrimon Trading ended with a decline of 99 cents at $3, in the exchange of 457,427 shares. Elite Diagnostic finished at $3.16, with 11,300 stock units changing hands, Everything Fresh rose 3 cents in trading 724,980 shares to end at $2.43, Express Catering ended trading of 77,833 shares, 18 cents higher at $8.18, FosRich Group traded with a loss of 10 cents at $2.90, with 30,160 shares changing hands, GWest Corporation closed at $2.15, with 66,623 stock units trading. Honey Bun fell 10 cents to $3.90, trading 475 units, Indies Pharma gained 36 cents with 317,221 shares changing hands to end at a record closing high of $3.60, 
Iron Rock concluded trading of 299,025 shares with a fall of 30 cents at $3.20, Jamaican Teas settled at $4.20, exchanging just 1,059 shares, Jetcon Corporation ended trading 69,700 stock units and rose 8 cents higher to $3.95. KLE Group finished trading of 15,000 shares at $3, Knutsford Express closed with a loss of $1.20 at $11.50, with 28,316 shares trading, Lasco Distributors ended 5 cents higher at $4.05, while exchanging 67,800 shares, Lasco Financial concluded trading of 83,248 stock units after falling 13 cents to $5.77. Lasco Manufacturing closed 1 cent higher at $4.01, with 15,416 units being swapped, Main Event settled 4 cents higher at $6.02, trading 6,600 shares, Medical Disposables ended trading of 5,000 shares and gained 3 cents to $6.70, Paramount Trading ended 3 cents higher at $2.75, exchanging 464 shares and Stationery and Office finished trading with a loss of 15 cents at $8.70, with 13,982 stock units trading.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Junior Market jumps 80 points to record close
The Junior market close at a record high on Monday after trading under the old record for more than 15 months.
The Junior Market has now joined the main market in ending at a record close, when it hit an historical high on Monday, having gained 80.58 points to end at 3,392.58 and beating the record closing high of 3,375.24, on May 24 last year.
Monday’s gain raised the gain in the market for the year to date, to 24.3 percent.
Trading resulted in 30 securities, compared to 30 that changed hands on Friday, leading to 10 advancing, 4 declining and 15 remaining unchanged. Three securities traded at new highs during trading with just two, Derrimon Trading and Indies Pharma closing at record high. Investors exchanged 1,652,479 units valued at $6,242,412 compared to 150,624,130 units valued at $942,907,794 on Friday.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading had 7 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices, 2 closed with lower offers.
Trading closed with an average of 63,557 units for an average of $240,093 in contrast to 5,020,804 units for an average of $31,430,260 on Friday. 
Trading for the month to date averages 1,021,454 units for an average of $6,293,646 and on the prior trading day, an average of 1,207,314 units for an average of $7,396,642. Trading in August, averaged 244,613 units at $1,348,298 for each security traded.
At the close of trading, AMG Packaging ended trading of 6,540 stock units at $1.94, Blue Power jumped to a record intraday high of $7 but concluded trading at $6, exchanging 59,817 units, Cargo Handlers settled at $13, trading 19,309 shares, Caribbean Cream ended trading $1.21 higher at $7.10, with 6,700 shares changing hands, Caribbean Producers finished trading 81,015 units and climbed 50 cents higher $6. Derrimon Trading jumped 79 cents higher to a record close of $3.99, with 362,263 shares changing hands, Dolphin Cove concluded trading of 671 shares and rose 50 cents to $17, Elite Diagnostic finished 4 cents higher at $3.16, trading 6,400 stock units, Everything Fresh rose 5 cents in trading 77,000 shares to end at $2.40, Express Catering rose 10 cents to $8, in exchanging 19,992 shares. FosRich Group traded 46,950 shares at $3, GWest Corporation closed at $2.15, in exchanging 36,154 stock units, Honey Bun ended at $4, with 48,100 units changing hands, 
Indies Pharma gained 25 cents with 305,131 shares changing hands to end at a record close, at $3.25, ISP Finance closed at $20, trading 350 shares. Jamaican Teas climbed 25 cents higher to $4.20, after 28,050 shares were traded, Jetcon Corporation ended trading of 1,220 stock units with a loss of 23 cents at $3.87, KLE Group lost 5 cents to end at $3, with an exchange of 10,000 shares, Lasco Distributors ended at $4, with 99,646 shares changing hands. Lasco Financial concluded trading of 53,035 stock units at $5.90, Lasco Manufacturing finished with a loss of 1 cent at $4, trading just 475 units, Main Event recovered 78 cents of Friday’s loss to close at $5.98, with 4,465 shares changing hands, Paramount Trading traded with a loss of 28 cents at $2.72, with 3,000 shares and Stationery and Office finished trading 22,219 stock units at $8.85 and tTech ended at $6, exchanging 3,977 shares. In the Junior Market preference segment, Derrimon Trading ended at $2.51, with 350,000 stock units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Junior Market inching closer to record close
The Junior Market Index continues to move higher in search of a record high close.
The Junior Market Index advanced just 3.80 points to close at 3,312 on Friday, after touching 3,365 points, after just 20 minutes of market’s opening, to be just 10 points below the all-time high of 3,375.24 points reached in May last year.
Trading resulted in 30 securities, compared to 25 that changed hands on Thursday, leading to 8 advancing, 7 declining and 15 remaining unchanged.
Trading resulted in an exchange of 150,624,130 units valued at $942,907,794 compared to 2,641,236 units valued at $11,671,251 on Thursday. Express Catering fresh from reporting a near tripling of full year profit, traded a big block of 147,375 million shares with value of $912.23 million at $6.19 each. A check with the list of share holder show that the trade most likely came from National Insurance Fund from a holding of 181.783 million units which they held prior to Friday.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading had 6 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices, 2 closed with lower offers.
Trading closed with an average of 5,020,804 units for an average of $31,430,260 in contrast to 105,649 units for an average of $466,850 on Thursday. 
Trading for the month to date averages 1,207,314 units for an average of $7,396,642 and on the prior trading day, an average of 107,269 units for an average of $463,868. Trading in August, averaged 244,613 units at $1,348,298 for each security traded.
At the close of trading, Access Financial closed at $46, after investors cleared out the remanence of a block 445,392 shares that were on offer for several weeks, at the close there was a bid to buy 288,915 at $46 with selling now at $50. AMG Packaging ended with a loss of 1 cent at $1.94, in exchanging 1,000 stock units, Blue Power concluded trading of 15,123 units at $6, Cargo Handlers settled 20 cents higher at $13, exchanging 24,403 shares, Caribbean Cream fell 11 cents to close at $5.89, trading 53,205 stock units, Caribbean Flavours ended trading of 9,800 shares at $19.87, Caribbean Producers traded 1,000 stock units at $5.50, Consolidated Bakeries lost 5 cents to end at $2.45, with 50,000 units changing hands, Derrimon Trading closed with a gain of 50 cents to a new 52 weeks’ closing high of at $3.20, with 226,310 shares, earlier in trading the price hit $3.90. Elite Diagnostic concluded trading at $3.12, with 9,695 shares changing hands. Eppley finished with a loss of 13 cents at $10.05, trading 6,100 stock units, Everything Fresh rose 15 cents in trading 497,847 shares to end at $2.35, Express Catering settled with a loss of 10 cents at $7.90, with 147,638,521 units changing hands, but only after the bulk of the trades took place at $6.19 cents in the morning session. FosRich Group ended trading 37,874 shares 1 cent higher at $3, General Accident traded with a loss of 4 cents at $4.25, in exchanging 8,500 shares. 
Indies Pharma gained 2 cents as it continues to trade in relatively heavy volume, ending the day with 1,437,108 shares changing hands to close at $3. Iron Rock ended 30 cents higher at $3.50, with 10,000 units changing hands, ISP Finance concluded trading 600 shares at $20, Jetcon Corporation settled at $4.10, with 16,940 shares, Knutsford Express finished trading of 100 shares at $12.70. Lasco Distributors closed at $4, exchanging 46,485 shares, Lasco Financial ended at $5.90, trading 36,879 shares, Lasco Manufacturing concluded trading of just 3,165 stock units at $4.01, Main Event suffered a sharp drop of $1.80 to $5.20, with 6,848 units trading. Medical Disposables settled at $6.67, trading 3,548 shares, Paramount Trading ended trading of 2,000 shares at $3, Stationery and Office rose by 25 cents to $8.85, swapping 10,950 shares and tTech closed at $6, with 3,212 units. In the junior market preference segment, Derrimon Trading concluded trading with a rise of 1 cent to $2.51, with 20,000 units changing hands and Eppley 8.75% settled at $6, with 1,525 shares trading,
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Junior Market just 67 points from record
Blue Power closed at a new high of $6 on Thursday.
The Junior Market Index advanced 13.58 points to close at 3,308.21 on Thursday, just 67 points adrift of the all-time high of 3,375.24 points reached on May 24 last year, as 25 securities changed hands, the same number that did so on Wednesday, leading to 11 advancing, 5 declining and 9 remaining unchanged.
Trading resulted in an exchange of 2,641,236 units valued at $$11,671,251 compared to 3,770,261 units valued at $13,239,039 on Wednesday.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading had 6 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices, 3 closed with lower offers.
Trading closed with an average of 105,649 units for an average of $466,850 in contrast to 150,810 units for an average of $529,562 on Wednesday. Trading for the month to date averages 107,269 units for an average of $463,868 and on the prior trading day, an average of 107,782 units for an average of $462,924. 
Trading in August, averaged 244,613 units at $1,348,298 for each security traded.
At the close of trading, Access Financial closed $2.60 higher at $46, with 6,346 shares changing hands, AMG Packaging ended with a gain of 5 cents at $1.95, with an exchange of 500 stock units, Blue Power concluded trading of 3,750 units and rose $1.20 to a 52 weeks’ high of $6, Cargo Handlers settled 28 cents higher at $12.80, with 1,280 shares changing hands, Caribbean Flavours traded 100 stock units and rose 37 cents higher to a 52 weeks’ closing high of $19.87. Caribbean Producers finished trading of 86,480 units with a loss of 70 cents at $5.50, Consolidated Bakeries closed 5 cents higher at $2.50, with 35,000 shares changing hands, Dolphin Cove concluded trading of 6,690 shares at $16.50, Elite Diagnostic finished 2 cents higher at $3.12, with 8,000 stock units changing hands. Everything Fresh traded 31,000 shares to end at $2.20, Express Catering ended trading at $8, in exchanging 338,059 shares, FosRich Group traded 60,195 shares at $2.99, General Accident finished trading 40,121 shares at $4.29, Indies Pharma traded 1,056,527 shares and lost 2 cents to close at $2.98 after trading at an all-time high of $3.20, 
Iron Rock concluded trading of 350,700 shares at $3.20. Jamaican Teas settled with a loss of 25 cents at $3.95, with 42,728 shares changing hands, Jetcon Corporation rose 5 cents to end at $4.10, in exchanging 172,670 stock units, Lasco Distributors ended with a loss of 5 cents at $4, with 138,518 shares changing hands, Lasco Financial concluded trading of 57,204 stock units and rose 10 cents to $5.90. Lasco Manufacturing gained 1 cent to $4.01, with 5,499 units changing hands, Main Event settled with a loss of 2 cents at $7, in exchanging 141,983 shares, Paramount Trading closed at $3, in trading 4,000 shares, Stationery and Office finished trading 42,753 stock units and gained 10 cents to end at $8.60 and tTech ended at $6, with 4,424 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Gains outnumber losses on Junior Market
More prices fell in trading on the Junior Market on Wednesday, with 25 securities being active compared to 28 on Tuesday, leading to 12 advancing, 7 declining while 6 remained unchanged.
The market index advanced 28.89 points to close at 3,294.63 and is now only 80.61 points adrift of the all-time high of 3,375.24 points reached on May 24, last year. With Wednesday’s move the market index is up just under 21 percent for the year to date. Trading resulted in an exchange of 3,770,261 units valued at $13,239,039 compared to 2,437,685 shares valued at $12,670,997, on Tuesday.
IC bid-offer Indicator|At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading had 6 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices, 4 closed with lower offers.
Trading closed with an average of 150,810 units for an average of $529,562 in contrast to 87,060 units for an average of $452,536 on Tuesday. Trading for the month to date averages 107,782 units for an 
average of $462,924 and on the prior trading day, an average of 87,861 shares with an average value of $432,073. Trading in August, averaged 244,613 units at $1,348,298 for each security traded.
At the close of trading, Access Financial climbed by $1.90 to $43.40, with 2,580 shares changing hands, AMG Packaging ended with a loss of 2 cents at $1.90, exchanging 50,690 stock units, Blue Power concluded trading 54,643 units with a loss of 23 cents at $4.80, Caribbean Cream ended trading 171 shares at $6, Caribbean Flavours traded 3,100 stock units and rose 50 cents to end at a closing 52 weeks’ high of $19.50. Caribbean Producers finished trading 5,854 units with a loss of 30 cents at $6.20, Consolidated Bakeries closed at $2.45, with 16,000 shares changing hands, Derrimon Trading 10 for 1 stocks split took effect at the start of trading, but no official trade took place although attempts were made to trade but all trades were cancelled, being outside the permitted band. Dolphin Cove concluded trading with a loss of 50 cents at $16.50, after an exchange of 1,510 shares, Elite Diagnostic finished 10 cents higher at $3.10, trading 79,407 stock units. 
Everything Fresh fell 5 cents in trading 43,641 shares to end at $2.20, Express Catering ended trading 75,654 shares and climbed 45 cents higher to $8, FosRich Group traded 19 cents higher at $2.99, with 54,573 shares changing hands, GWest Corporation closed 3 cents higher at $2.15, trading 35,406 stock units, Honey Bun ended with a loss of 45 cents at $4, trading 22,501 units. Indies Pharma closed at a new closing high of $3, after adding 10 cents and exchanging 1,346,124 shares, Iron Rock concluded trading 1,065,830 shares, and lost 5 cents to end at $3.20, Jetcon Corporation gained 5 cents to end at $4.05, in exchanging 2,728 stock units, Knutsford Express closed 20 cents higher at $12.70, trading 3,736 shares, Lasco Distributors ended 5 cents higher at $4.05, with 408,545 shares changing hands. Lasco Financial concluded trading of 162,262 stock units, and rose 20 cents to $5.80, Lasco Manufacturing finished at $4, with 296,085 units changing hands, Main Event settled 2 cents higher at $7.02, exchanging just 1,249 shares, Paramount Trading traded at $3, with 3,000 shares and Stationery and Office finished trading at $8.50, with 16,528 stock units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
All Jamaica jumps 9,684 points to new record
NCB stock jumped to a record $125 in early trading on Wednesday.
With just 40 minute after opening, the All Jamaica Composite Index jumped sharply by 9,684.42 points to a new record of 375,307.08, breaking the record of 372,546.73 reached within 40 minutes of the market’s opening. NCB Financial jumped to a record high of $125 to make a huge indent on the market. The JSE Index surged 8,823.60 points to a record 341,947.18, after it hit a high of 339,432.19 after the NCB jump.
The Junior Market added less than a point to 3,267.31 but Derrimon Trading that will trade x split with the approval of a 10 to 1 stock split is yet to trade.
Big bounce in Fosrich profit
FosRich profits rose sharply in 2018
Fosrich Group reported profit of $30 million for the June quarter, an increase of 630 percent over the $4 million reported for the prior year’s reporting period.
Profit before tax climbed to $60.6 million for the half year to June, for an increase of 144 percent over the $25 million for the similar period in 2017 and by an increase of 234% over the post-tax profit of $18 million, reported for the prior reporting period.
Having listed on the Jamaica Stock exchange Junior market in 2017, profits are now free form taxes for a period of 5 years. Earnings per stock unit ended at 12 cents for the half year and 6 cents for the quarter and should end up just around 27 to 30 cents, if the trend continues.
During the second quarter, the company enjoyed an 18.7 percent hike in income to $320 million, from $270 million for the prior year. For the half year, sales revenues were just up by 5 percent to $592 million from $565 million in 2017.
Gross profit for the quarter, rose 23 percent to $141 million from $115 million, in the prior reporting period and for the six months to June gross profit increased just 6 percent to $269 million. Gross profit margin slipped from the first quarter to 44 percent with the margin for the six months ending at 45 percent. Other income for the year-to-date benefited from foreign exchange gains of $15 million.
Administrative expenses fell $14 million for the half year, to $198 million and slipped just slightly for the quarter to $102 million from $103 million. According to the Managing Director, Cecil Foster, “the decrease was driven primarily by efficiencies gained from the management of staff and related costs, reductions in selling and marketing expenses, reduced insurance costs and reductions in damaged goods write-off and warranty expenses. The cost savings were partially offset by increases in staff training, legal and professional fees, rent and bank charges,” management indicated.
Finance cost for the year-to-date was $28.5 million compared to $19.6 million for the prior reporting period, but rose 68 percent in the June quarter to $17.5 million. “This increase is being driven by a new working capital line of credit obtained to assist with the financing of operations. This new facility was obtained at more favourable rates than the previous bank facilities,” Foster advised, in his commentary on the interim results.
Inventories rose sharply from $625 million in December to $808 million in June, receivables declined to $148 million from $156 million. Amounts due to creditors fell sharply from $297 million as of December to just $35 million. The company paid off amounts due on overseas line of credit thus reducing foreign exchange risk. The switch contributed to a sharp rise in loans from $384 million to $795 million.
“The company continues to closely manage inventory balances and the supply-chain, with a view to ensuring that inventory balances being carried are optimised, relative to the pace of sales, the time between the orders being made and when goods become available for sale, to avoid both overstocking and stock-outs. Monitoring is both at the individual product level and by product categories,” foster advised shareholders.
Part of the loans was on lent to an affiliated company that is completing an apartment complex on Shortwood Road, the managing director confirmed to IC Insider.com. The financials show $243 million due form them. The amount due incurs interest at 12.5 percent rate, Foster stated. The line allowed the company to stock up on some commodities at low prices relative to what normally obtains in the trade.
Shareholders’ equity now stands at $670 million, up from the $609 million at December 2017. Fosrich trades on the Junior Market at $2.80 on Tuesday, just around 10 times earnings.