Medical Disposables closed at a new high on Wednesday.
The market closed with 3 stocks rising, while 5 declined out of 13 securities that traded. The junior index gained 4.42 points, to close at a record 2,366.31 and is up 31.9 percent ahead of the close of 2015.
Trading volume and value rose from Tuesday’s levels, ending with 759,344 units changing hands, 54 percent more than on Tuesday, while the value traded climbed by 71 percent to $3,870,697, from $2,264,166 on Tuesday.
Market activities ended with 5 securities closing with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 ending with lower offers.Cargo Handlers stock has not traded since it closed at $86.10 on September 12, the market closed with the bid at $90 to buy 3,000 units, with no units offered for sale, next in line to buy is 6,540 shares at $89, there were stocks offered for sale at the close. Key Insurance remains under pressure with the offer at $2.30 to sell 30,000 units compared with the last sale of $2.49. There were no bids to buy the stock at the close.
AMG Packaging lost 1 cent in ending trading at $17.51 with 591 units changing hands, Blue Power closed at $25 with 8,500 units changing hands, Caribbean Cream gained 50 cents with 32,400 shares changing hands to close at $9.50, Consolidated Bakeries slipped 5 cents in trading 37,949 shares to close at $2.45. General Accident fell 10 cents and ended at $2.20 with 52,600 shares changing hands,
Honey Bun with 16,248 shares changing hands and closed at $6, Jetcon Corporation had just 30,993 units changing hands, to end at $4.70, Lasco Distributors closed with a loss of 5 cents as 130,170 units traded at $7. Lasco Financial ended with 124,025 shares changing hands at $3.05, after declining by 17 cents, Lasco Manufacturing rose 2 cents and closed at $5 with 252,795 shares trading. Medical Disposables traded 44,073 shares to end at a new record high of $4.36 trading as high as $4.60 but gained just 1 cent at the close, Sweet River Abattoir with 24,000 units traded with a rise of 1 cent to end at $3.85 and tTech ended with 5,000 shares changing hands at $6.50.
Market activities ended with 5 securities closing with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 ending with lower offers.
Caribbean Producers traded 135,746 units to end at $3.30 with the loss of 10 cents, C2W Music closed with a gain of 1 cent as 7,539 units changed hands to close at 24 cents, Consolidated Bakeries gained 25 cents in trading 135,825 shares to close at $2.50. Derrimon Trading ended at $4 with 12,360 shares changing hands, Jetcon Corporation had just 100 units changing hands, to end at $4.70, Lasco Distributors closed with 125,554 units trading and ended at $7.05. Lasco Financial ended with 16,097 shares changing hands at $3.22, after declining by 3 cents, Lasco Manufacturing fell 2 cents and closed at $4.98 with 2,278 shares trading and Medical Disposables traded 21,442 shares to end at a new record high of $4.35 after gaining 35 cents.
Market activities ended with 7 securities closing with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 ending with a lower offer.
Iron Rock Insurance traded 10,750 shares and gained 2 cents to end at $3.30, Jamaican Teas traded 122,341 units to end at $4, Jetcon Corporation had 15,745 units changing hands, to end at $4.70, KLE group traded 1,100 shares with the price rising 1 cent to $1.85. Knutsford Express closed with a loss of 2 cents, at $24.48 with just 190 units changing hands, Lasco Distributors closed with 386,432 units trading and ended at $7.05. Lasco Financial ended with 15,850 shares changing hands at $3.25, after declining by 3 cents, Lasco Manufacturing rose 25 cents and closed at $5 with 138,708 shares trading and tTech traded 12,528 shares to end at a new record high of $6.50 after gaining 70 cents.
Prices on the Jamaica Stock Exchange are on the move again as the last quarter of the year approaches. As prices rise so does the PE ratio. The top PE in the main market is at 17 while in the junior market is around 18. 
Watch these stocks for action this week – 
At the close, Cargo Handlers stock price closed with the bid at $90.05 with 3,000 units, nearly $4 ahead of the last sale price with no units offered for sale, next in line to buy is 5865 shares at $90, there were 1,000 units offered at $100. Key Insurance that reported poor second quarter results continued with the offer at $2.35 to sell 18,566 shares, immediately below, is an offer of 152,290 units at $2.38, compared with the last sale of $2.49. There were no bids to buy the stock at the close.
C2W Music ended at 23 cents with 1,200 shares changing hands after rising 3 cents. Derrimon Trading rose 40 cents to end at $3.50 with 2,000 shares trading, General Accident closed trading with 600,171 units at $2.10, Honey Bun gained 10 cents in trading just 86,500 units to end at $6.25. Jetcon Corporation had 17,344 units changing hands to end at with a loss of 25 cents at $4.70. Lasco Distributors closed with 312,271 units trading and ended at $7, Lasco Manufacturing fell 5 cents and closed at $4.75 with 119,872 shares trading, Medical Disposables traded 16,733, shares with the price remaining unchanged at $4 and tTech traded 11,273 shares to end at $6.
reported poor second quarter results has not traded with the offer at $2.37 to sell 152,290 units compared with the last sale of $2.49, there continues to be no bids on the stock at the close.
Jamaican Teas had 116,983 units changing hands at $4. Jetcon Corporation rose 45 cents in trading at new record high of $4.95, with 51,980 units changing hands, KLE Group ended at $1.80 with 45,000 shares changing hands after rising by 30 cents, Knutsford Express had 2,191 units changing hands to end at $24. Lasco Distributors closed with 44,000 units trading and ended with a loss of 24 cents at $6.80, Lasco Financial had 16,585 shares changing hands to close at $3.25, Lasco Manufacturing closed at $4.80 with 60,576 shares trading, Medical Disposables traded 78,577 shares with the price remaining unchanged at $4 and tTech traded 4,867 shares at $6.
As was the case on Monday, Key Insurance did not trade but seems set to trade at a new low when next it does with the offer at $2.37 to sell 152,290 units compared with the last sale of $2.49, there were no bids on the stock at the close.
Knutsford Express lost 50 cents with 1,559 units changing hands to end at $24, Lasco Distributors closed with 76,469 units trading and ended with a gain of 14 cents at $7.04. Lasco Financial gained 15 cents with 1,165 shares changing hands to close at $3.25. Lasco Manufacturing lost 10 cents to close at $4.80 with 146,842 shares trading, tTech traded 46,953 shares and closed at $6, Derrimon Trading preference share gained 5 cents and ended with 500 units changing hands to close at $2.20 and Eppley 9.5% preference share, fell 20 cents in trading 176,300 shares, to end at $6.30.
Trading ended with 835,628 units changing hands, 83 percent less than on Friday, while the value traded dropped 87 percent, with $4,086,204, compared to $32,514,713 changing hands on Friday.
The market commenced the week with more than 1 million shares each trading in Cable & Wireless 1,591,675 units as the price held firm, Carreras traded 1,136,267 units as the price fell 50 cents for and National Commercial Bank had 319,588 shares trading at $40. Volume traded in other stocks was very moderate.
While some investors focus on trailing quarterly earnings as the basis for valuing stocks, they tend to miss out on companies with explosive growth in profits. There is also the tendency to ignore one off time items. The case of Caribbean Cement is an excellent one. A Brokerage house has the earnings at just over $2 for 2016, but the ongoing earnings are likely to be in the $5.50 region for 2016 and this is what they should be using to value the company. Investors seem to miss the main point. The company incurred cost for reducing labour which will show up as lower operating cost in future periods, but investors don’t seem to appreciate that fact, added to what now appears to be an economy that is growing and could grow even more making Cement, a huge buy. The same can be said for National Commercial Bank and Scotia Group that are having a great 2016.