Investors pumped up the prices of Lasco Distributors and Lasco Manufacturing to new highs and pushed the junior market up by 8.19 percent increase or 167.21 points to land at 2,259.58 well over resistance level around 2,200 points.
The market closed with 16 securities trading 9 of which advanced, 6 declined with 6 closing at a new 52 weeks’ highs. A volume of 2,024,430 units changed hands, valued at $9,319,672.
At the close, 1 security ended with no bids to buy and 10 securities had no stocks being offered for sale. A total of 7 stocks closed with bids higher than their last traded prices while 1 closed with a lower offer.
In trading, newly listed CAC 2000 shares, did not trade but closed with the bid at $5.80 to buy 4.900 units, on Friday the stock traded at $5.68. C2W Music ended 1 cent down to close at 50 cents while 185,344 units changed hands, Cargo Handlers traded 125 units to close 15 cents higher at $37.65, Caribbean Cream ended with 126,619 shares changing hands as the price declined 13 cents to end at $4.55. Caribbean Flavours traded 14,252 units to close with a loss of 12 cents at $8.88, Caribbean Producers had 44,000 units changing hands, gained 10 cents to close at $5.60, Consolidated Bakeries fell 20 cents and ended at $1.20, with 222,198 units trading, General Accident traded 32,334 shares to close with a gain of 5 cents, to end at $2.05. Honey Bun gained 10 cents with 12,241 shares changing hands, to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $6.80, Jamaican Teas had 4,300 shares trading, to close with a loss of 8 cents at $5.42, 
KLE Group ended with a fall of 35 cents to $1.50, with 97,024 shares changing hands. Knutsford Express traded only 3,000 shares to close at a new 52 weeks’ high of $12.30 after rising $1.65, Lasco Distributors closed with 400,262 shares changing hands for a gain of $1.60, to end at a 52 weeks’ high of $9, Lasco Financial rose 15 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $5.15 with 445,308 shares changing hands. Lasco Manufacturing traded 318,785 shares and rose 45 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $4.60, Medical Disposables ended with 47,644 shares changing hands to close at $3.30, and tTech closed at a new 52 weeks’ high of $4.15 with 70,994 units changing hands to gain 55 cents.
Junior market jumps 8.7% to new high
Junior market stocks is racing into resistance at 2,200 points, raising questions about the rally’s pace
Investors pushed the junior market to one of the highest moves in a day, with an 8.72 percent increase or 167.78 points to land at 2,092.37 or just over 100 points from the next resistance level around 2,200 points. The move was helped in no uncertain manner by big moves in the prices of the three Lasco companies and to a big move up in the price of Caribbean Cream following release of financial results showing earnings of 33 cents or $124 million for the nine months to November compared with just 8 cents in 2014.
The market closed with 18 securities trading 10 of which advanced, 3 declined with 8 closing at a new 52 weeks’ high. A volume of 10,672,995 units changed hands, valued at $46,214,999, with big volumes from Caribbean Cream 1,647,902 shares with a value of $7,340,719 and Lasco Manufacturing with 7,260,133 units valued at $29,899,891.
At the close, 2 securities ended with no bids to buy and 9 securities had no stocks being offered for sale. A total of 5 stocks closed with bids higher than their last traded prices while 1 closed with a lower offer.
In trading, newly listed CAC 2000 shares, rose 25 cents to end at $5.68 compared to its IPO price of $4.85 with 15,000 shares trading and tTech that issue shares tin its IPO at $2.50 traded at a new high of $3.60 with a gain of 56 cents from Thursday’s close, with 69,981 shares changing hands. Elsewhere, AMG Packing gained $1.69 to close at a 52 weeks’ closing high of $9.05 with 200 shares trading, C2W Music ended with a rise of 6 cents to close at 51 cents while 20,500 units changed hands, Caribbean Cream ended with 1,647,902 shares changing hands as the price rose 50 cents to end at $4.68. Caribbean Flavours traded 7,000 units to close with a gain of 12 cents at $9, Caribbean Producers traded 104,165 units and gained 2 cents to close at $5.50, Consolidated Bakeries fell 10 cents and ended at $1.40, with 159,245 units changing hands, Derrimon Trading Company had 503,000 units trading, to close at $4.05. Dolphin Cove ended at $15.60 with 4,846 shares trading, General Accident traded 89,100 shares to close with a loss of 10 cents, to end at $2, Honey Bun gained 20 cents with
16,683 shares changing hands to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $6.70, Jamaican Teas had 27,000 shares trading, to close at $5.50, KLE Group ended with a fall of 2 cents to $1.85, with 15,000 shares changing hands. Lasco Distributors closed with 525,060 shares changing hands for a gain of 89 cents, to end at a 52 weeks’ high of $7.40, Lasco Financial rose 89 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $5 with 153,000 shares changing hands. Lasco Manufacturing rose 30 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $4.15, Medical Disposables ended with 4,000 shares changing hands to close with a loss of 25 cents at $3.30 and Paramount Trading closed at a new 52 weeks’ high of $10 with 66,180 units changing hands to gain $1.
tTech & CAC 2000 trades on Thursday
tTech’s executives
At the close, 1 security ended with no bid to buy and 6 securities had no stocks being offered for sale. A total of 5 stocks closed with bids higher than their last traded prices while 1 closed with a lower offer.
In trading, AMG Packaging gained 16 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ closing high of $7.36 with 1,000 shares trading and closed with the bid at $8.10 to buy 1,140 units. C2W Music closed with 64,290 units changing hands at 43 cents for a 52 weeks’ high, having risen 3 cents, Cargo Handlers traded at a new high of $37.65 with 126 shares changing hands, Caribbean Cream ended with 54,293 shares changing hands as the price slipped by 11 cents to end at $3.89. Caribbean Producers traded 1,500 units but lost 82 cents to close at $4.68, Consolidated Bakeries rose 8 cents to end at $1.50, with 355,700 units changing hands,
Derrimon Trading Company had 4,930 units trading, to close up 25 cents to a 52 weeks’ high of $4.05. General Accident traded 1,318,600 shares to close with a loss of 1 cent, to end at $2.18, Honey Bun gained 10 cents with 1,150 shares changing hands and closed at a 52 weeks’ high of $6.28, Jamaican Teas rose 45 cents and ended at a 52 weeks’ high of $5.50 while 1,689 units were traded, KLE Group ended at $1.87 with 49,632 shares changing hands. Lasco Distributors closed with only 4,538 shares changing hands for a gain of 31 cents, to end at a 52 weeks’ high of $6.01, Lasco Financial lost 5 cents to close at a $3.95 with 4,200 shares changing hands. Lasco Manufacturing rose 5 cents to $3.60 with 1,483,881 shares trading and Medical Disposables ended with 2,000 shares changing hands at the close at $3.55.
Juniors move to higher heights
AMG Packaging closed at a new high of $7.20 on Tuesday.
At the close, 2 securities ended with no bids to buy and 8 securities had no stocks being offered for sale. A total of 5 stocks closed with bids higher than their last traded prices while 4 closed with lower offers.
The junior market will have two new listing when trading commences on Thursday with tTech and CAC 2000 being added following successful IPO offerings. The listings were approved today by the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
In trading, Access Financial Services closed with a gain of 6 cents at $16.06 with 5,900 units changing hands, AMG Packaging gained 20 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ closing high of $7.20 with 9,954 shares trading, C2W Music closed with 174,441 units changing hands at 40 cents. Caribbean Cream ended with 153,300 shares changing hands as the price slipped by 8 cents to end at $4, Caribbean Flavours traded 11,474 units to close with a loss of 50 cents at $8.50, Caribbean Producers traded 3,636 units to close at $5.50, Consolidated Bakeries fell 7 cents to end at $1.42 with 8,000 units changing hands. Derrimon Trading Company had 16,550 units trading at $3.80 but ended the day with a bid at $4. Dolphin Cove ended at $15.60 with only 4,000 shares trading to gain 10 cents, General Accident traded 63,115 shares to close with a gain of 14 cents, to end at a 52 weeks’ high of $2.19.
Jamaica Teas ended at $5.05 with a while 39,500 units traded, but rose earlier to a 52 weeks’ intraday high of $5.25, KLE Group ended at $1.87 with 123,397 shares changing hands, Knutsford Express rose $1.05 with 7,678 shares trading to end at $10.65. Lasco Distributors closed with 750,787 shares changing hands for a gain of 20 cents, to end at a 52 weeks’ high of $5.70, Lasco Financial gained 10 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $4 with 64,737 shares changing hands. Lasco Manufacturing dipped 5 cents to $3.55 with 388,215 shares trading and Paramount Trading ended with 2,916 shares changing hands at the close at $9 after it traded at an intraday high of $9.10.
BUY RATED top Carib markets with 830%
The JSE stock racked up huge gains in 2015
IC BUY RATED stocks were top of the Caribbean markets in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago for 2015, with Jamaica Stock Exchange share, chalking up a massive gain of 830 percent since IC Insider elevated it to BUY RATED status.Caribbean Cement followed with gains of 640 percent, Caribbean Cream with 444 percent and Trinidad Cement with a 299 percent increase on the Trinidad market.
While it was easy to make money in Jamaica, with profits rising and interest rates falling, developments in Trinidad went in the opposite direction, with interest rates rising and profits under pressure with the economy ended in recession.
At the beginning of 2015 of the 14 junior market selections, few recorded gains and only Knutsford Express with a 17 percent increase reflecting any meaningful positive movement. Losses were large, with AMG Packaging down 39 percent, Blue Power 31 percent, Caribbean Cream 23 percent, Jamaica Teas 28 percent, Lasco Financial 37 percent and Lasco Manufacturing 32 percent. What a difference a year can make? By the end of 2015, gains were all over the place with the list having 17 companies with two being dropped. There were no losing stocks in the list that had a new addition, tTech which could be listed this week. Honey Bun was added to the listing in November and gained 9 percent since. Eight stocks have more than doubled, four gained 40 percent to 91 percent. Caribbean Cream jumped 292 percent to be the top selection in this market, followed by Lasco Distributors up 274 percent. Blue Power was removed from the list in July with a small gain.
In the JSE main market, at the start of 2015, Hardware and Lumber was the best performing stock with gains of 62 percent followed by Cable & Wireless with 47 percent and Jamaica Broilers had the worst performance with a loss of 24 percent. In all, 7 of the 15 selections were lower than at the time they were BUY RATED.
By year-end, all selections in the JSE main market were up, with Scotia Investments having a mere 15 percent increase, being the poorest performer. This stock is being moved to Market Watch as the 2015 profit performance was far too disappointing to warrant buying now, while Hardware and Lumber remains a hold. The rest, present opportunities for continuing profit making. 
JMMB Group ended with just 28 percent gain, but seems undervalued at the current price. While the list had a few lousy performers, the same can’t be said about a 640 percent gain in Caribbean Cement and 830 percent increase for Jamaica Stock Exchange share. In all, 9 stocks posted gains in excess of 100 percent and 4 below 100 percent but with a 50 percent increase and more.
There were 13 selections in the Trinidad market with Trinidad Cement being the best performer with gains of 150 percent, the next was Point Lisas with 11 percent at the start of 2015. Five stocks suffered losses with the highest being 22 percent and the next 18 percent. For 2015 the price of Trinidad Cement is up 299 percent followed by National Flour with a 59 percent gain.
Looking ahead, the junior stocks should continue to grow, with several of the companies actively expanding resulting in profits climbing at a fast pace. There are a few stocks to be cautious of just now. Lasco Distributors selling at almost 16 times 2016 March earnings. Growth should be strong but unless investors have a long term objective they should be careful buying at current price level, the same applies to Lasco Financial that is selling at 15 times earnings. Dolphin Cove remains a hold at this time.
The Trinidad market needs to be watched at this stage, with the country needing to adjust to the lower price of oil and the recession now being endured.
Juniors close 2015 with 8 up 3 down
Honey Bun closed at a new 52 weeks’ high on Thursday
At the close, 1 security ended with no bids to buy and 6 securities had no stocks being offered for sale. A total of 3 stocks closed with bids higher than their last traded prices while 2 closed with lower offers.
In trading, C2W Music closed with a gain of 1 cent as 20,000 units changed hands at 39 cents, Caribbean Cream ended the year with 264,288 shares changing hands for a gain of 10 cents to $4.08, Caribbean Producers traded 6,000 units to close with a gain of 45 cents at $5.45. Consolidated Bakeries gained 15 cents to end at $1.45 with 2,922 units changing hands, Derrimon Trading had 3,135,140 shares trading for a gain of 7 cents to close at $3.87, Dolphin Cove ended with 3,900 shares changing hands at $15.50, after falling 25 cents, General Accident ended with 20,000 shares trading close at $2.05 for a loss of 3 cents. Honey Bun rose 4 cents to end at a 52 weeks’ high of $6.15, with 1,800 units changing hands, Jamaica Teas traded at a new 52 weeks’ high of $5.10 with a gain of 5 cents while a mere 850 units traded, at the close the stock was offered at $5.05.
KLE Group ended at $1.87 with 4,000 shares changing hands to record a loss of 1 cent, Lasco Distributors rose by 10 cents and closed with 95,306 shares changing hands at $5.50 for a closing 52 weeks’ high. Lasco Financial closed at $3.70, with 3,899 shares changing hands, Lasco Manufacturing closed at $3.50 with 246,352 shares trading, Medical Disposables traded 10,000 shares to close unchanged at $3.55, Sweet River ended with 100,000 units changing hands at $3.91 after losing 4 cents and Eppley 9.5% preference share traded 135,111 units at $6.
161% up for junior record – Wednesday
New closing high for Lasco Distributors on Wednesday.
The market closed with 11 securities trading 7 of which advanced, 1 declined with 2 closing at a new 52 weeks high. Volume changing hands amounted to 886,844 units, valued at $4,712,436.
At the close there was 1 security ending with no bid to buy and 6 securities had no stocks being offered for sale. A total of 4 stocks closed with bids higher than their last traded prices while 2 closed with lower offers.
In trading, C2W Music closed with 4,000 units changing hands at 38 cents, Caribbean Cream rose 18 cents with 64,025 shares changing hands at $3.98, Caribbean Producers traded 8,730 units to close at $5. Dolphin Cove ended with 2,908 shares changing hands at $15.75 by gaining 13 cents, General Accident ended with 1,000 shares trading close at $2.08.
KLE Group ended at $1.86 with 86,054 shares changing hands to record a gain of 3 cents to close at a new 52 weeks’ high, Knutsford Express ended at $9.60 with 178,474 shares changing hands, Lasco Distributors rose by 40 cents and closed with 124,055 shares changing hands at $5.40 for a 52 weeks’ closing high, Lasco Financial closed at $3.70, with 6,101 shares changing hands, Lasco Manufacturing closed at $3.50 with 278,997 shares trading and Eppley 2019 preference share gained 2 cents in trading 131,500 units at $6.10.
Juniors hits new record on Monday
The junior market closed at an all-time high on Monday.
Trading ended with 12 securities trading of which 6 advanced and 1 declined. Volume changing hands amounted to 9,625,941 units, valued at $21,462,981.
At the close there was 1 security ending with no bid to buy and 5 securities had no stocks being offered for sale. A total of 7 stocks closed with bids higher than their last traded prices while one closed with a lower offer.
In trading, AMG Packaging closed with 1,000 units changing hands at $7, Caribbean Cream gained 8 cents with 211,685 shares changing hands at $3.88, Caribbean Producers rose 1 cent in trading 40,000 units to close at $4.58, Consolidated Bakeries rose 10 cents with 38,000 shares changing hands at $1.30, Derrimon Trading ended with 100,000 shares changing hands at $3.80.
General Accident lost 2 cents with 8,576,273 shares trading valued at $17,143,022 to close at $1.88. Knutsford Express ended at $9.60 with 970 shares changing hands. Lasco Distributors rose by 5 cents and closed with 283,883 shares changing hands at $4.95 for a 52 weeks’ high, after trading earlier at an all-time high of $5.08. Lasco Financial rose 3 cents to close at $3.53, with 22,000 shares changing hands, Lasco Manufacturing gained 10 cents, to close at $3.50 with 259,030 shares trading, Medical Disposables closed with 9,100 shares trading at $3.55 and Eppley 9.5% preference share ended with 84,000 shares trading at $6.
4 new highs for juniors – Thursday
Lasco Distributors closed at a new high of $4.90 on Thursday.
The market closed with 14 securities trading of which 7 advanced and 4 declined. Volume amounted to 1,752,229 units, valued at $12,898,901 changing hands.
At the close there was 1 security ending with no bid to buy and 7 securities had no stocks being offered for sale. A total of 4 stocks closed with bids higher than their last traded prices while none closed with a lower offer.
In trading, Blue Power closed with 1,490 units changing hands to close at $13.10, Caribbean Cream gained 10 cents with 1,000 shares changing hands at $3.80, Caribbean Flavours rose 44 cents in trading 13,000 units to close at $9.44, Derrimon Trading ended with 20,767 shares changing hands at $3.80. Dolphin Cove closed at $15.50 after dropping 50 cents with 54,900 shares trading, General Accident lost 5 cents with 46,544 shares trading to close at $1.90. Honey Bun gained 11 cents with 1,500 shares changing hands, to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $6.11, KLE Group closed at a 52 weeks’ high of $1.55 with a gain of 35 cents as 6,000 shares changed hands, Knutsford Express rose 10 cents and ended at $9.60 with 910,117 shares changing hands.
Lasco Distributors rose by 30 cents and closed with 445,314 shares changing hands at $4.90 for a 52 weeks’ high, Lasco Financial lost 9 cents to close at $3.50, with 172,697 shares changing hands, the stock traded at $3.60 for an intraday high. Lasco Manufacturing gained 10 cents, to close at $3.40 with 67,000 shares trading, Derrimon Trading 11.75% preference share closed with a loss of 5 cents with 3,500 shares trading at $2.10 and Eppley 9.5% preference share lost 2 cents, to end with 8,400 shares trading at $6.Juniors have 5 new highs on Wednesday
Cargo Handlers ended at a new 52 weeks’ high of $37.50.
At the close there was 1 security ending with no bid to buy and 6 securities had no stocks being offered for sale. A total of 5 stocks closed with bids higher than their last traded prices while one closed with a lower offer.
In trading, Cargo Handlers ended with 700 shares changing hands, for a gain of $1.50 and closed at a 52 weeks’ high of $37.50, Caribbean Cream had 1,029,160 shares changing hands at $3.70, Caribbean Flavours fell $1 in trading 17,700 units to close at $9, Caribbean Producers closed at $4.57 and lost 5 cents with 20,000 units changing hands. Derrimon Trading ended with 89,128 shares changing hands at $3.80. Dolphin Cove closed at $16 after dropping $1 with 3,100 shares trading, Honey Bun gained 8 cents with 10,000 shares changing hands, to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $6.08, Jamaican Teas rose 3 cents with 1,250 shares trading to close at $4.50.
KLE Group closed at a 52 weeks’ high of $1.20 with a gain of 5 cents as 34,000 shares changed hands, Knutsford Express fell $1.15 and ended at $9.50 with 65,901 shares changing hands. Lasco Distributors closed with 225,870 shares changing hands at $4.60 after trading at an intraday 52 weeks’ high of $4.90. Lasco Financial rose 4 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $3.59, with 225,870 shares changing hands, Lasco Manufacturing gained 30 cents, to close at $3.30 with 402,487 shares trading and Medical Disposables closed 30 cents higher at $3.55 with 500 shares trading.
