Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange surged on Friday with MailPac dominating the market, just over 22 million shares accounting for 86 percent of the market share.
Junior Market in a recovery stage.
Market activity closed with 33 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 25,469,094 units valued at $48,110,589 compared to 13,283,703 units valued at $24,888,541 on Thursday.
At the close of market activities, the prices of 20 securities advanced, 6 declined and six remained unchanged. The Junior Market Index advanced by 11.40 points to close at 2,474.60. The average PE ratio of the Junior Market ended at 9.3 based on 2020/21 earnings.
Trading ended with an average of 771,791 units at $1,457,897 for each security traded, in contrast to 390,697 units for an average of $732,016 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to units 451,335 valued at $885,272 and previously 298,258 units valued at $611,409. In contrast, March closed with an average of 226,230 units, valued at $542,563 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows six stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and three with lower offers.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging closed 3 cents higher at $1.68, in trading 50,100 stock units, Blue Power ended with 19,862 shares changing hands, after rising 2 cents to end at $4.02, Cargo Handlers climbed 15 cents and exchanged 21,000 units at $5.53. Investors transferred 120,109 Caribbean Assurance Brokers shares and the price lost 7 cents to close at $1.94, Caribbean Producers traded 141,053 shares, after rising 18 cents to end at $2.50, Consolidated Bakeries climbed 27 cents exchanging 115,212 stock units at $1.65, Derrimon Trading shed 3 cents in trading of 9,300 units at $1.87. Dolphin Cove closed 4 cents higher at $7.79, with 5,600 shares trading, Elite Diagnostic ended trading with 25,000 shares, after rising 23 cents to end at $4.10, Everything Fresh closed 6 cents higher at 90 cents, with 62,414 stock units trading. Express Catering dipped 13 cents in trading of 150,117 units at $3, Fontana closed trading of 342,761 units and gained 40 cents to end at $5.90, Fosrich climbed 45 cents and exchanged 19,597 shares at $3.35. iCreate declined 3 cents in trading of 174,438 units at 50 cents, Indies Pharma closed trading of 46,000 units and gained 50 cents to end at $2.90. Knutsford Express close with a loss of 5 cents at $9.15, after swapping of 356 shares, Key Insurance closed 70 cents higher at $3, with 20,000 stock units trading, Lasco Distributors declined by 3 cents to settle at $2.95 in trading 202,783.
Lasco Financial closed trading of 116,341 units and gained 2 cents to end at $3.24, Lasco Manufacturing closed 5 cents higher at $3.65, with 149,773 stock units trading, Limners and Bards closed with 6,055 units changing hands and gained 2 cents to end at $2.20. Lumber Depot gained 1 cent to end at $1.21, trading 171,387 shares, MailPac lost 30 cents in exchanging 22,001,550 shares to close at $1.60. Medical Disposables climbed $1.74 to settle at $8.24 with 511,971 shares changing hands. Paramount Trading rose 27 cents and exchanged 616,305 shares at $2.25, the stock closed trading with 1,735,965 units on the bid at $2 with only two offers to sell, on the board amounting to 35,000 shares at $2.50 and $3. SSL Venture closed 21 cents higher at $1.06, with 9,500 stock units trading and Stationery and Office Supplies closed 11 cents higher at $7, with 62,074 stock units trading.
Prices of securities trading are those for the day’s last transaction unless otherwise stated.
Thursday gains reduced the market losses for the year, from a high of 39.3 percent in March to 26.5 percent presently. At the close of market activities, prices of 16 securities advanced, eight declined and ten remained unchanged with 34 securities changing hands. Trading resulted in an exchange of 13,283,703 units for $24,888,541 compared to 7,297,716 units at $17,298,654 on Wednesday. The average PE ratio of the Junior Market ended at 9.1 based on 2020/21 earnings.
Caribbean Assurance Brokers rose 1 cent in trading 196,792 shares to close at $2.01, Caribbean Flavours shed 50 cents trading of 139 units at $10, Consolidated Bakeries ended with an exchange of 10,000 shares, after rising 6 cents to end at $1.38. Derrimon Trading closed 7 cents higher at $1.90, exchanging 10,100 stock units, Elite Diagnostic climbed 57 cents and closed at $3.87, with 27,924 stock units changing hands, Everything Fresh ended trading with 6,009 shares, after rising 19 cents to end at 84 cents. Fontana gained 20 cents to end at $5.50 with 163,657 shares crossing the exchange, Fosrich traded of 6,000 shares, after rising 32 cents to end at $2.90, General Accident ended with a loss of 1 cent at $5.71 with 2,100 stock units changing hands. Indies Pharma ended market activity after 22,547 shares changed hands to close at $2.40 after falling 5 cents. Iron Rock Insurance closed 50 cents higher at $3, trading 18,308 stock units, Jetcon Corporation fell 11 cents in trading of 187,000 units at 99 cents, Knutsford Express closed with 5,874 shares crossing the market after rising 55 cents to end at $9.20. Lasco Distributors close with a loss of 2 cents at $2.98, swapping of 26,344 shares, Lasco Financial closed with 5,700 units crossing the market to gain 22 cents and end at $3.22, Lasco Manufacturing ended 10 cents higher at $3.60, in trading 80,700 stock units. 
Limners and Bards climbed 28 cents and exchanged 61,233 shares at $2.18, Lumber Depot added 1 cent and swapped 3,106,285 shares at $1.20, MailPac rose 14 cents in trading 8,397,683 shares to close at $1.90. Main Event closed 90 cents higher at $5, with 9,729 stock units trading, Medical Disposables ended with a loss of 5 cents at $6.50, after swapping 157,053 shares. Paramount Trading closed 8 cents higher at $1.98, with 85,812 stock units trading, SSL Venture fell 19 cents in trading of 1,000 units to close at a 52 weeks’ low of 85 cents and Stationery and Office Supplies closed with a loss of 11 cents at $6.89 after 7,200 shares changed hands.
Trading ended with an average of 208,506 units for an average of $494,247 in contrast to 431,990 units for an average of $1,058,626 on Tuesday. In contrast, March closed with an average of 226,230 units valued at $542,563 for each security traded.
Derrimon Trading shed 2 cents with ownership of 118,857 units being switched and closed at $1.83, Everything Fresh shed 12 cents in trading of 65,000 units at 65 cents. Fontana closed 31 cents higher at $5.30, with 874,689 stock units crossing the exchange, Fosrich declined 31 cents in trading of 50,250 units at $2.58, Honey Bun close market activity with a loss of 50 cents in ending at $6, after 68,861 shares changed hands. iCreate closed 2 cents higher at 53 cents, with 8,542 stock units trading. Iron Rock Insurance fell 50 cents in trading of 5,100 units at $2.50, ISP Finance climbed $2.50 to settle at $16 with 104 shares changing hands, Lasco Distributors closed trading of 47,412 units and gained 2 cents to end at $3. Lasco Financial closed trading of 81,600 units and gained 5 cents to end at $3, Lasco Manufacturing closed trading of 80,689 units and gained 32 cents to end at $3.50, Limners and Bards fell 38 cents in trading of 177,041 units at $1.90, Lumber Depot ended trading with 811,825 shares, after rising 1 cent to end at $1.19.
MailPac ended with 3,203,608 stock units changing hands, after rising 7 cents to end at $1.76, Main Event lost 42 cents in exchanging 10,093 shares to close at $4.10, Medical Disposables closed trading of 3,325 units and gained 4 cents to end at $6.55. Paramount Trading fell 4 cents to close at $1.90, after swapping 19,724 shares, SSL Venture closed 4 cents higher at $1.04, with 11,490 stock units crossing the exchange and Stationery and Office Supplies gained $1.30 to end at $7, trading 11,190 shares.
At the close of trading for March, the Junior Market Index climbed 51.34 points to 2,304.14 to claw back 210 points in the last three days of the massive 818 points loss the market suffered on March 26. At the end of the month, the market shed 31 percent for the year to date after declining 21 percent for the month.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows nine stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and one with a lower offer.
Indies Pharma closed 45 cents higher at $2.45, with 170,125 stock units changing hands, Iron Rock Insurance lost 45 cents in trading 10,658 shares to close at $3. KLE Group picked up 20 cents and exchanged just 880 shares at $1.45, Knutsford Express closed trading of a mere two units and gained 65 cents to end at $8.65. Lasco Financial closed trading of 98,998 units with gains of 40 cents to close at $2.95, Lasco Manufacturing closed trading of 119,295 units, after picking up 28 cents to finish at $3.18. Limners and Bards rose 22 cents and exchanged 131,091 shares at $2.28, Lumber Depot closed 3 cents higher at $1.18, with 21,273 stock units trading. MailPac traded 1,469,821 shares, after rising 9 cents to end at $1.69, Main Event gained 1 cent to close at $4.52, after 700 shares crossed the exchange, Paramount Trading declined by 4 cents to settle at $1.94, with 249 units changing hands.
At the close of the market, Access Financial gained $1.69 to end at $20 with the trading of 40,954 stock shares, AMG Packaging traded 100 units and gained 14 cents to settle at $1.65, Caribbean Cream finished 4 cents higher at $2.80 with 17,624 shares changing hands. Caribbean Producers added 15 cents to close at $2.40 with a market-leading trade of 5,133,280 stock units, Consolidated Bakeries ended with 100 shares traded after rising 9 cents to close at $1.55, Derrimon Trading gained 39 cents to finish at $1.85 in the exchange of 12,500 units. Elite Diagnostic swapped 28,192 stock units and gained 35 cents to settle at $3.10, Everything Fresh ended trading with 45,295 shares after rising 3 cents to 60 cents, Express Catering picked up 18 cents and exchanged 2,110 shares to close at $3.18. Fontana finished 35 cents higher at $4.80 with 263,143 stock units trading, Fosrich advanced 10 cents to $2.60 in the exchange of 4,000 units, General Accident gained $1.22 to end at $5.72, after trading 31 shares. GWest Corporation dipped 5 cents in trading of 788 units at 80 cents, Honey Bun closed 10 cents higher at $6, with an exchange of 14,647 stock units, Indies Pharma swapped 423,719 stock units and added 3 cents to settle at $2. ISP Finance climbed 50 cents to $13.50 with 5,000 stock units changing hands, Jamaican Teas picked up 1 cent and exchanged 122,528 shares at $4, Jetcon Corporation traded 29,000 shares after rising 10 cents to end at $1.10.
Key Insurance closed 30 cents higher at $2.30 with 2,000 stock units trading, Knutsford Express climbed $1 to settle at $8 with 43,905 shares changing hands, Lasco Distributors fell 2 cents in trading of 54,677 units at $2.98. Lasco Manufacturing gained 15 cents and exchanged 272,661 shares at $2.90, Limners and Bards advanced 26 cents in trading 418,392 units to end at $2.06, Lumber Depot concluded market activity exchanging 883,100 shares to close at $1.15 after falling 6 cents. MailPac traded 310,705 shares after rising 10 cents to end at $1.60, Main Event gained 1 cent to settle at $4.51 in the trading of 70,148 shares, Medical Disposables exchanged 8,237 shares after rising 1 cent to $6.51 and Stationery and Office Supplies shed 30 cents to close at $5.70 with 9,938 units crossing the exchange.
The Junior Market Index advanced by 50.32 points to close at 2,144.08 after an exchange of 3,982,260 units accounting for $9,382,200 compared to 4,329,260 units valued at $9,680,619 on Thursday.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging declined 14 cents in trading of 23,450 units at $1.51, CAC 2000 ended market activity exchanging 3,000 shares to close at $10 after falling $1.40, Caribbean Cream ended trading with 15,433 shares, after rising 65 cents to end at $2.76. Caribbean Flavours ended with a loss of $1 at a 52 weeks’ low of $9 with 1,106 stock units changing hands, Caribbean Producers declined 25 cents in trading 98,606 units at $2.25, Elite Diagnostic climbed 15 cents and exchanged 57,904 shares at $2.75. Everything Fresh closed with a loss of 3 cents at 57 cents in swapping 10,000 shares, Express Catering ended trading with 69,873 shares, after rising 10 cents to end at $3. Fontana closed 20 cents higher at $4.45, with 189,405 stock units changing hands. Fosrich closed 25 cents higher at $2.50, in trading 1,000 stock units, General Accident declined by 5 cents to settle at $4.50 trading 44,789 shares, GWest Corporation closed 13 cents higher at 85 cents, with 9,824 stock units changing hands. Honey Bun ended trading 32,000 shares, after rising 20 cents to close at $5.90, iCreate ended with 19,557 shares crossing the exchange, after rising 5 cents to end at 50 cents. Indies Pharma climbed 47 cents and exchanged 370,612 shares at $1.97, Iron Rock Insurance climbed 45 cents to $3.45, in swapping 1,000 units, ISP Finance lost $1 to close at $13 with 5,000 stock units changing hands. 
Jamaican Teas gained 6 cents and exchanged 16,160 shares at $3.99, Knutsford Express gained $1 to end at $7, with 1,740 stock units trading. KLE Group closed trading of 1,000 units and gained 4 cents to end at $1.25, Lasco Distributors added 10 cents in exchanging 537 shares at $3, Lasco Manufacturing lost 90 cents in trading of 1,457,018 units at $2.75. Lumber Depot rose 1 cent, transferring 787,765 shares at $1.21, MailPac closed trading of 451,161 units and gained 9 cents to end at $1.50, Main Event jumped 65 cents and closed at $4.50 after transferring 27,477 units. Medical Disposables climbed 80 cents and exchanged 14,650 shares at $6.50, Stationery and Office Supplies traded 2,112 shares, after rising 20 cents to end at $6 and tTech closed 75 cents higher at $4.25, with 50,000 stock units changing hands.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows five stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and four with lower offers.
Key Insurance ended with a loss of 1 cent at 2 with 80,000 stock units changing hands, KLE Group closed with 47,367 shares, changing hands after rising 1 cent to end at $1.21, Knutsford Express ended with a loss of $1 to finish at $6 with 3,211 stock units changing hands. Lasco Distributors shed 10 cents in trading of 30,601 units at $2.90, Lasco Financial climbed 5 cents and exchanged 344,486 shares at $2.55, Lasco Manufacturing rose 15 cents and transferred 40,200 shares at $3.65. Limners and Bards lost 5 cents in trading 209,671 shares to close at $1.80, Lumber Depot closed 5 cents higher at $1.20, with 1,302,525 stock units trading, MailPac ended with 402,140 shares crossing the exchange, after rising 4 cents to end at $1.41. Main Event declined by 65 cents in trading of 69,210 units at $3.85, Medical Disposables ended market activity exchanging 72,841 shares to close at $5.70 after falling 40cents, Paramount Trading closed 8 cents higher at $1.98, with 4,000 stock units trading. Stationery and Office Supplies picked up 30 cents and exchanged 6,782 shares at $5.80 and tTech ended market activity trading 5,000 shares to close at $3.50 after falling 20 cents.
Trading ended with 32 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 2,522,568 units valued at $6,848,779 compared to 3,161,624 units valued at $9,205,109 from 33 companies’ securities on Tuesday.
Caribbean Assurance picked up 2 cents and traded 168,230 shares to close at $1.98, Caribbean Producers fell 67 cents in trading of 544,576 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $2.33, Consolidated Bakeries closed 18 cents higher at $1.48 with 118,186 stock units crossing the exchange. Dolphin Cove declined by 10 cents to settle at $6.40 with a transfer of 5,133 shares, Elite Diagnostic swapped 35,610 shares after rising 19 cents to end at $2.90, Everything Fresh closed at a 52 weeks’ low of 60 cents after slipping 2 cents and exchanging 52,075 shares. General Accident lost 10 cents in trading 5,780 shares to close at $4, Honey Bun gained 30 cents to close at $6 with 26,694 stock units changing hands, Indies Pharma lost 30 cents in trading 300 shares to close at 52 weeks’ low of $1.25. Jamaican Teas climbed 26 cents and exchanged 66,135 shares at $3.96, Jetcon Corporation closed 3 cents higher at $1.03 with 20,965 stock units trading, 
Lasco Distributors ended trading of 111,827 units and gained 8 cents to settle at $3. Lasco Financial dropped 35 cents in the exchange of 25,455 units at $2.50, Limners and Bards lost 3 cents in trading 5,000 shares to close at $1.85, Lumber Depot ended trading with 338,706 shares, after rising 11 cents to $1.15. MailPac lost 2 cents in swapping of 76,242 units at $1.37, Main Event climbed 69 cents and exchanged 11,000 shares to close at $4.50, Medical Disposables closed at $6.10 after adding 40 cents in exchanging 3,113 shares. Stationery and Office Supplies ended with a loss of $1 at a 52 weeks’ low of $5.50 with 40,000 stock units changing hand and tTech climbed 20 cents to $3.70 with 2,478 shares crossing the exchange.
Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange ended on Tuesday with the market Index diving 52.80 points to close at 2,100.86, down 37 percent for the year as 33 securities changed hands, with prices of nine securities rising, 15 falling and nine remaining unchanged.
Caribbean Cream exchanged 20,000 stock units and gained 1 cent to end at $2.11, Caribbean Flavours fell 50 cents in trading of 600 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $10. Caribbean Producers declined 10 cents to settle at $3, with 10,000 shares changing hands, Dolphin Cove traded 14,156 shares and fell 50 cents to close $6.50, Elite Diagnostic dropped 39 cents in trading of 95,816 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $2.71. Fosrich ended market activity in exchanging 63,565 shares to close at $2.50 after falling 45 cents, Fontana shed 20 cents in trading of 385,577 units at $4, General Accident dropped 90 cents to settle at $4.10 after exchanging 181,000 stock units and trading at an intraday 52 weeks’ low of $3.89. Indies Pharma closed 5 cents higher at $1.55, with 28,655 stock units trading, Jamaican Teas lost 30 cents in trading 105,774 shares to close at $3.70, Jetcon Corporation dipped 10 cents with 205,925 units changing hands at $1, Knutsford Express declined 25 cents in trading of 79 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $7. KLE Group shed 40 cents in trading of 957 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $1.20, Lasco Distributors closed 32 cents higher at $2.92, with 25,111 stock units changing hands, 
Lasco Financial closed 29 cents higher at $2.85, with 24,070 stock units trading. Lasco Manufacturing exchanged 39,019 units and gained 64 cents to end at $3.50, Limners and Bards rose 18 cents to end at $1.88 and closed with 137,535 units crossing the exchange, Lumber Depot closed with a loss of 21 cents at 52 weeks’ low of $1.04, swapping of 356,449 shares. MailPac closed trading of 92,679 units and gained 8 cents to end at $1.39. Medical Disposables declined by 50 cents to settle at $5.70, after exchanging 60,381 stock units, Paramount Trading lost 10 cents in trading 34,500 shares to close at 1.90 cents, Stationery and Office Supplies traded 12,974 shares and gained 50 cents to end at $6.50 and tTech declined 20 cents in trading of 1,000,620 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $3.50.
Market activities resulted in an exchange of 3,024,296 units valued at just $6,277,143 compared to 3,640,594 units valued at $10,061,535 on Friday. The average market PE ratio ended at ten times, 2019 earnings.
Cargo Handlers fell 40 cents trading 842 stock units to close at $5.10, Caribbean Assurance declined 1 cent to end at $1.94 with 188,778 units traded, Caribbean Cream closed with a loss of 65 cents at a 52 weeks’ low of $2.10 in the swapping of 100,000 shares. Caribbean Producers dropped 15 cents to settle at $3.10 as 11,008 units changed hands, Consolidated Bakeries ended 4 cents higher at $1.30 with 54,386 stock units crossing the exchange, Elite Diagnostic dropped 40 cents in trading of 93,115 units at $3.10. Express Catering finished with a loss of 60 cents at $3.20 with an exchange of 66,107 shares, Fontana ended trading with 230,426 units, after rising 20 cents to end at $4.20, Fosrich closed trading of 115,510 units and gained 55 cents to end at $2.95. General Accident closed 13 cents higher at $5, with 3,101 stock units trading, GWest Corporation declined 9 cents in trading of 106,669 units at 70 cents, iCreate closed with a loss of 2 cents at 45 cents after swapping 435,204 shares. Indies Pharma lost 45 cents in trading 117,958 shares to settle at a 52 weeks’ low of $1.50, Jamaican Teas closed with a loss of 15 cents at $4 swapping 37,073 shares, Jetcon Corporation ended market activity exchanging 10,100 shares to close at $1.10 after slipping 2 cents. Knutsford Express fell 25 cents to $7.25 with 1,300 shares traded, Lasco Distributors concluded trading of 9,994 units and gained 20 cents to finish at $2.60, Lasco Financial closed 6 cents higher at $2.56 with 78,306 units traded. 
Lasco Manufacturing rose 4 cents after exchanging 136,184 shares at $2.86, Limners and Bards ended trading with 42,154 shares, after rising 10 cents to close at $1.70, Lumber Depot exchanging 429,151 shares and lost 3 cents to close at $1.25. MailPac fell 9 cents to $1.31 with 478,451 units traded, Main Event declined by 39 cents to settle at $3.81 with 8,332 shares changing hands, Medical Disposables closed trading of 1,889 units and gained 50 cents to end at $6.20. Paramount Trading gained 30 cents and exchanged 4,956 units to end at $2, SSL Venture closed at $1 after falling 10 cents and swapping 10,543 shares and tTech declined by 55 cents to $3.70 with 1,660 stock units crossing the exchange.
