FosRich price pressured by profit taking.
Trading activity picked up on the Junior Market on Wednesday, resulting from an exchange of 4,072,802 units valued at $15,715,409 compared to 1,055,665 units valued at $4,272,519 on Tuesday.
At the close of trading the market Index climbed 33.69 points to 2,768.08, with trading ending with 25 securities changing hands, up from 22 securities Tuesday, as the prices of 12 securities advanced, 8 declined and 3 remained unchanged.
The two new listings in December on the exchange saw profit taking place, with the prices retreating from their highs as sellers now dominate trading.
Trading ended with an average of 162,912 units for an average of $628,616 in contrast to 52,783 units for an average of $213,626 on Tuesday. 
Trading month to date amounts to an average of In contrast, December closed with average of 568,732 units valued at $3,447,957 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 2 stocks ending with bids higher than the last selling prices and 1 with a lower offer.
At the close of the market, Access Financial climbed $6 and closed at $42, with 3,025 shares trading, AMG Packaging ended with a loss of 10 cents at $2.90, with 51,680 stock units, Caribbean Cream traded 10 cents higher at $6.10, with 16,350 units, Caribbean Producers closed 6 cents higher at $4.36, with 2,500 shares, Consolidated Bakeries ended 10 cents higher at $1.90, with 758,052 stock units. Derrimon Trading concluded trading with a loss of $1 at $7, with 20,000 units changing hands, Dolphin Cove finished 15 cents higher at $16.15, with 400 shares, Eppley settled at $12, with 4,250 shares, Express Catering ended trading 30 cents higher at $4.30, with 60,339 stock units. FosRich Group traded with a loss of 19 cents at $3.01, with 605,532 units,
GWest Corporation closed with a loss of 70 cents at $3.30, with 506,563 shares trading, Honey Bun ended at $4.50, with 15,457 stock units, Iron Rock concluded trading 16 cents higher at $3, with 5,000 units. ISP Finance finished 50 cents higher at $12.50, with 5,000 shares, Jamaican Teas settled at $4.10, with 103,538 shares, Jetcon Corporation ended trading 5 cents higher at $5, with 379,918 stock units, Knutsford Express closed with a loss of 20 cents at $14.80, with 16,304 shares. Lasco Distributors ended with a loss of 34 cents at $3.52, with 170,855 stock units, Lasco Financial concluded trading 35 cents higher at $5.50, with 24,267 units, Lasco Manufacturing finished 13 cents higher at $3.50, with 263,914 shares, Main Event settled with a loss of 50 cents at $5.50, with 5,083 shares. Stationery and Office finished trading 45 cents higher at $5.25, with 1,043,448 shares and tTech ended with a loss of 39 cents at $6.50, with 6,000 stock units. In the junior market preference segment, Eppley 9.5% concluded trading at $7.20, with 642 units, Eppley 10% closed unchanged at $6, with 4,685 shares changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 8 stocks ending with bids higher than the last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
Last year (2017), was a great year for Jamaican stocks with prices of several stocks more than doubling on the Jamaican Stock Exchange and 10 new companies listing on the exchange.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 8 stocks ending with bids higher than the last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
Jamaican Teas settled at $3.70, with 13,330 shares. Jetcon Corporation ended trading 20 cents higher at $5, with 24,329 stock units, Lasco Distributors ended with a loss of 8 cents at $3.90, with 92,966 stock units, Lasco Financial concluded trading 12 cents higher at $5.30, with 432,955 units, Lasco Manufacturing finished 20 cents higher at $3.90, with 6,180 shares. Main Event settled at $5.28, with 5,724 shares, Paramount Trading traded at $3, with 133,000 units, Stationery and Office finished trading 5 cents higher at $4.95, with 25,370 shares and tTech ended with a loss of 11 cents at $6.89, with 9,800 stock units. In the junior market preference segment, Eppley ended at $5.50, with 5,000 shares trading.
In contrast, November closed with average of 107,477 units valued at $545,989 for each security traded.
Eppley settled at $12, with 20,000,400 shares, Express Catering ended trading 70 cents higher at $5, with 81,427 stock units, newly listed, GWest traded with a loss of 54 cents in trading 1,067,765 shares in closing price of $3.21, Honey Bun finished trading 9 cents higher at $4, with 500 shares, Iron Rock closed at $2.85, with 23,019 shares. Jetcon Corporation finished with a gain of 40 cents at $4.80, with 120,000 shares, Knutsford Express traded at $15, with 55,128 units, Lasco Distributors finished trading with a loss of 1 cent at $3.98, with 127,481 shares, Lasco Manufacturing ended with a loss of 23 cents at $3.70, with 130,028 stock units. Main Event concluded trading with a loss of 72 cents at $5.28, with 4,155 units, Paramount Trading settled at $3, with 22,885 shares and Stationery and Office ended trading at $4.90, with 828 stock units. In the junior market preference segment, Eppley 10% concluded trading at $7.20, with a mere 330 units trading.
Eppley traded 10 million of the 12 million shares to trade on Wednesday with the market index jumping 58.96 points to 2753.77 as 22 securities up from 19 on Friday. 
The average volume and value for the month to date, amounts to units 528,301 valued at $2,651,778 and previously 561,932 valued at $2,583,423. In contrast, November closed with average of 107,477 units valued at $545,989 for each security traded.
FosRich Group traded 311,953 shares and lost 4 cents to close at cents to end at $3.45, after trading at an intraday high of $3.55, General Accident traded with a loss of 25 cents at $2.75, with 272,416 units. GWest Corporation gained 45 cents in trading 265,396 shares and ended at a record close of $3.75, Jamaican Teas concluded trading 3 cents higher at $3.70, with 380 units, Jetcon Corporation finished with a loss of 30 cents at $4.40, with 36,924 shares, KLE Group ended trading at $2.50, with 6,787 stock units, Knutsford Express traded 20 cents higher at $15, with 6,300 units. Lasco Distributors finished trading at $3.99, with 416,117 shares, Lasco Financial closed 13 cents higher at $5.18, with 3,327 shares, Lasco Manufacturing ended 33 cents higher at $3.93, with 972 stock units, Main Event concluded trading 72 cents higher at $6, with 1,850 units. Paramount Trading settled at $3, with 2,410 shares, Stationery and Office ended trading at $4.90, with 200,281 stock units and tTech jumped $1.60 to $7, trading 160,087 shares.
Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange resulted in the Market Index dropping 45.82 points, to close at 2,694.81 on Friday as 19 securities changing hands with the prices of 8 securities advanced, 6 declined and 5 remained unchanged. 
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 2 stocks ending with bids higher than the last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
Jetcon Corporation finished 30 cents higher at $4.70, with 43,076 shares. Lasco Distributors finished trading at $3.99, with 183,483 shares, Lasco Financial closed with a loss of 13 cents at $5.05, with 87,901 shares, Lasco Manufacturing ended 10 cents higher at $3.60, with 29,350 stock units, Main Event concluded trading with a loss of 2 cents at $5.28, with 3,036 units. Medical Disposables finished with a loss of 5 cents at $4.95, with 100,000 shares, Paramount Trading settled at $3, with 6,520 shares, Stationery and Office ended trading at $4.90, with 27,591 stock units and tTech finished trading 22 cents higher at $5.40, with 2,451 shares.
In trading on the Junior Market Jamaica Stock Exchange on Thursday, 
The average volume and value for the month to date, amounts to 568,154 units valued at $2,642,716 and previously, 600,336 units valued at $2,793,615. In contrast, November closed with average of 107,477 units valued at $545,989 for each security traded.
GWest Corporation traded for the first time and ended at $2.87 with a gain of 37 cents from the IPO price of $2.50. Honey Bun finished trading with a loss of 50 cents at $4, with 11,850 shares, Knutsford Express traded 80 cents higher at $14.80, with 23,359 units, Lasco Distributors finished trading at $3.99, with 2,200 shares, Lasco Financial closed at $5.18, with 2,360 shares. Lasco Manufacturing ended with a loss of 1 cent at $3.50, with 121,239 stock units, Main Event concluded trading at $5.30, with 296,246 units, Paramount Trading settled with a loss of 2 cents at $3, with 33,833 shares, Stationery and Office ended trading with a loss of 9 cents at $4.90, with 50,780 stock units and tTech finished trading at $5.18, with 86,765 shares changing hands.
JSE board needs a huge shake up
Ian McNaughton, Chairman of the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
The Jamaica Stock Exchange needs to heal itself and fast, since no one else seems able to do so yet. There are some startling truths about Jamaica but not many persons want to talk about them.
The fact that we are seeing a repeat of this problem is a clear indication that there needs to be changes at the board level of the JSE.
One such truth, stock exchange board is not running the exchange in the interest of the wider investing public. The other is that the Financial Securities Commission is almost a waste of taxpayers’ money whether by government subvention or fees paid directly or indirectly by investors. If that were not the case how can the country explain that Berger Paints’ directors could make false statements about the acceptance and value of Berger Paints shares in response to Ansa Coatings offer to buy out minority shareholder and no one in authority called them to book and got them to support their claims with evidence.
In July this year, Express Catering shares were not being traded as demand exceeded supply by a wide margin and pushing the equilibrium price well ahead of prices that the circuit breaker rule at the JSE permitted. The stock did not trade for a number of days after listing, left to the rules as was being practiced, the stock would have taken much longer to trade than it finally did after management intervened. The same thing is now happening to FosRich shares that have not traded after two days of listing, with demand exceeding supply well above the permitted price of the JSE. When Wisynco and VM Investments list, one can expect the same situation to occur, unless the rule is modified.
Having hand the problem several months ago it seems implausible that the JSE has not moved speedily to correct what is clearly a problem when IPOs start trading. Why has the stock Exchange board not moved to correct what is clearly a problem for new listings. Why has the FSC not intervened to ensure it get sorted out, before new listings come to market?
Lest face some facts, time is money. The FosRich issue closed on December 4, as such, investors who would like to sell have to wait for nearly a month to be able to get their money out based on the Jamaica Stock Exchange price restriction. In the cases of Wisynco and VM Investments the situation will be vastly worse with both having protracted period to announce the allocation of shares much yet listing.
The Junior Market of the exchange has demonstrated the power of share ownership, to radically transform the economy and the wider society. Alas enough effort is not being given to it, the mechanical application of the circuit breaker rule is one such factor that is negatively affecting the market.
Finally, the Berger Paints takeover offer is once more pointing to the fact that a rule meant to protect minorities is not doing so at all, if it did how can one explain the fact that just over 6 million shares were surrendered as a result of the Ansa’s bid with the shares trading up to $18 since compared to an offer on $10.88. Clearly the big investors did not sell so it must be much smaller investors who are not adequately informed.