With the value of the units traded down 52 percent from Tuesday’s level, the Junior Market Index declined by another 30.51 points to close at 2,921.32, the lowest point since May 2018 and is down 20 percent from the peak in Mid-August last year as three securities close at 52 weeks’ lows.
At the close of market activities on Wednesday, the prices of 9 securities advanced, 19 declined and 5 remained unchanged as 33 securities changed hands, resulting in an exchange of 2,930,240 units valued at $10,568,242 compared to 7,793,044 units valued at $20,336,108 from 29 securities trading on Tuesday.
Trading ended with an average of 88,795 units at $320,250 for each security traded in contrast to 268,726 units at $701,245 for each security traded on Tuesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 145,201 units valued at $423,579 and previously 154,689 units valued at $440,976. In contrast, January closed with 137,619 units valued at $521,935 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 five with lower offers. The average PE ratio of the market ended at 13 times 2019 earnings.
At the close of the market, Access Financial gained 98 cents to end at $25.98 with an exchange of 7,140 shares, Blue Power closed trading of 20,835 units and gained 1 cent to end at $4, Caribbean Cream swapped 15,100 shares, after rising 14 cents to end at $3.49. 
CAC 2000 ended at $13 after losing 50 cents with 16,949 shares traded, Derrimon Trading closed 5 cents higher at $1.93 with 109,232 stock units changed hands, Dolphin Cove ended with a loss of 30 cents at $10, in swapping 9,720 shares. Everything Fresh closed market activity exchanging 23,026 shares to close at 95 cents after falling 9 cents, Express Catering declined by 80 cents in trading of 93,252 units to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $5. Fontana ended the day with 441,319 shares exchanged, after rising 5 cents to $6.55, Fosrich closed with a loss of 52 cents at $3.45, in the transferring 112,257 shares. GWest Corporation traded 20,108 shares and declined by 9 cents to settle at $1, Honey Bun ended with a loss of 1 cent at $7.19 with 32,058 stock units changing hands, iCreate closed trading of 11,500 units and gained 2 cents to end at 75 cents. Indies Pharma fell 27 cents to settle at a 52 weeks’ low of $2.60 with an exchange of 49,568 shares, Iron Rock Insurance lost 5 cents trading 37,309 shares to close at $3.35, Jamaican Teas swapped 83,624 shares at $6 after shedding 28 cents. Jetcon Corporation closed trading of 89,849 units and gained 4 cents to end at $1.25, Key Insurance shed 24 cents in exchanging 23,150 units at $2.90,
Knutsford Express lost 88 cents to end at $9.02 with 7,450 units traded. Lasco Distributors closed trading of 85,482 units and gained 5 cents to end at $3.10, Lasco Financial fell 6 cents to settle at 52 weeks’ low of $3.50 with 182,375 units changing hands, Lasco Manufacturing lost 35 cents trading 121,500 units at $3.95. Limners and Bards lost 16 cents in exchanging 57,010 shares to close at $2.72, MailPac closed 2 cents higher at $2 with 417,777 stock units changing hands, Main Event lost 60 cents trading 2,093 shares to close at $5.80. Medical Disposables dipped 5 cents to $6.40 with 114,924 units changing hands, SSL Venture dropped 5 cents swapping 11,530 units at $1.05, Stationery and Office Supplies closed with a loss of 15 cents at $9.15 with 18,614 shares crossing the exchange.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Trading ended with 29 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 7,793,044 units valued at $20,336,107.93 compared to 5,323,805 units valued at $16,300,544.45 from 33 securities on Monday.
Key Insurance ended trading with an exchange of 3,850 shares to close at $3.14 after falling 11 cents, Knutsford Express shed 10 cents trading of 3,396 units at $9.90, Lasco Distributors closed 5 cents higher at $3.05, with 1,422,899 stock units trading. Lasco Financial dipped 44 cents in exchanging 45,322 units at $3.56, Lasco Manufacturing closed 30 cents higher at $4.30, with 277,235 stock units changing hands, Limners and Bards ended trading with 88,513 shares, after rising 15 cents to end at $2.88. Lumber Depot fell 2 cents in the swapping of 1,215,564 units at $1.50, MailPac dropped 8 cents in trading of 3,457,930 units at $1.98, Main Event closed 60 cents higher at $6.40, with 3,395 stock units trading. Medical Disposables traded 10,000 units and gained 15 cents to end at $6.45 and Stationery and Office Supplies climbed 30 cents and exchanged 29,938 shares at $9.30. CAC 2000 9.5% preference share fell 17 cents in trading of 49,621 units to close at $1.03.
Trading concluded on Monday with 33 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 5,323,805 units valued at $16,300,544 compared to 7,192,523 units valued at $17,864,788 from 33 securities on Friday. At the close of market activities, the prices of 11 securities advanced, 13 declined and 9 remained unchanged. The average PE ratio for the juniors closed at 12.8 times 2019 earnings.
Indies Pharma declined 10 cents in trading of 69,000 units at $2.85. Iron Rock Insurance shed 5 cents in the swapping 141,717 units at $3.40, Jamaican Teas lost 8 cents trading 74,943 shares to end at $6.27, Key Insurance closed trading of 21,000 units and gained 10 cents to rest at $3.25. Lasco Distributors finished market activity exchanging 208,659 shares to close at $3 after falling 2 cents, Lasco Financial ended trading 118,707 units and gained 30 cents to settle at $4, Lasco Manufacturing lost 5 cents to settle at $4 with 1,283,815 units crossing the exchange. Limners and Bards ended trading with 44,140 shares, after rising 1 cent to close at $2.73, Lumber Depot finished with a loss of 1 cent at $1.52 with 1,090,903 stock units changing hands and MailPac closed trading of 1,193,264 units and gained 5 cents to end at $2.06.
Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange ended on Friday with 33 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 7,192,523 units valued at $17,864,788 compared to 2,099,024 units valued at $7,953,736 from an exchange of 34 stocks on Thursday.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 4 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 8 with lower offers.
GWest Corporation swapped 100 units and gained 9 cents to end at $1.10, Honey Bun climbed 1 cent in exchanging 20,562 shares to end at $7, iCreate climbed 2 cents and traded 18,000 shares at 74 cents, Indies Pharma gained 10 cents with 46,501 shares changing hands at $2.95. Key Insurance shed 25 cents in trading of 100 units at $3.15, Lasco Financial added 5 cents with an exchange of 9,600 shares at $3.70, Lasco Manufacturing ended trading with 883,087 shares, after rising 10 cents to end at $4.05. Limners and Bards climbed 31 cents and exchanged 158,018 shares at $2.72, Lumber Depot closed trading of 712,522 units and gained 1 cent to end at $1.53, MailPac gained 1 cent to end at $2.01, after 857,836 shares changed hands and Paramount Trading climbed 21 cents and exchanged 3,282,300 shares at $1.71.
The company’s net results rose modestly, this is due to a hike in its tax bill from $28 million in the 2018 quarter to $71 million in 2019 and from $129 million for the nine months to December 2018, to $169 million in 2019. Before the increased tax charge, the latest quarter results were up a robust 28 percent to $289 million and 14.5 percent for the year to December at $949 million.
Trading ended with 34 securities changing hands the same as on Wednesday, resulting in an exchange of 2,099,024 units for $7,953,736, compared to 3,482,018 units valued at $11,901,548 on Wednesday.
At the close of the market, Access Financial lost $1.28 in trading 8,829 shares to close at $29.03, AMG Packaging fell 5 cents, exchanging 1,000 shares to close at $2. Blue Power declined by 15 cents to settle at $3.55 with 41,385 shares crossing the market after the stock traded at an intraday low of $3.29, Caribbean Cream closed 30 cents higher to end at $3.65, with 1,330 units changing hands. Derrimon Trading closed 16 cents higher at $2.19, after hitting an intraday low of $1.88 with 63,837 stock units traded, Elite Diagnostic gained 2 cents to finish at $4.05, in trading 26,549 stock units, Everything Fresh ended trading 106,378 shares at $1.03, after rising 3 cents. Express Catering declined 20 cents in exchanging 60,400 units at $5.60, Fontana climbed 15 cents to settle at $6.55 with 118,764 shares changing hands, Fosrich closed trading of 9,071 units and lost 20 cents to end at $3.80 after hitting an intraday low of $3.21. General Accident shed 50 cents in trading 9,068 shares to close at $6, GWest Corporation closed trading of 14,959 units and lost 9 cents to end at $1.01, Honey Bun ended market activity exchanging 11,413 shares to close at $6.99 after rising 43 cents. iCreate settled at 72 cents with a gain of 5 cents in the swapping 14,066 units, Indies Pharma closed trading of 54,675 units and lost 5 cents to end at $2.85, Jamaican Teas gained 35 cents to close at $6.35 in the swapping 43,984 shares. 
Jetcon Corporation rose by 8 cents in trading of 345 units at $1.50, Key Insurance closed 20 cents higher at $3.40, with 75,721 units trading, Knutsford Express fell 50 cents to close at $10 with 2,501 units crossing the exchange. Lasco Distributors ended with a loss of 1 cent at $3.02, with 78,081 units changing hands, Lasco Financial ended trading with 28,706 shares, after declining 6 cents to end at $3.65. Limners and Bards lost 20 cents to end the day at $2.41 with 115,393 shares traded, Main Event closed 30 cents lower at $5.80, with 11,381 stock units trading. Paramount Trading lost 30 cents in trading 21,563 units at $1.50, SSL Venture exchanged 31,675 units and gained 8 cents to settle at $1.10 and Stationery and Office Supplies declined 75 cents to end at $9 with 9,107 shares changing hands.
At the close of the market, the index is down 10.5 percent for 2020 to date and 18.2 percent since it peaked in August 2019.
At the close of the market, Blue Power climbed 20 cents in exchanging 19,694 shares at $3.70, Caribbean Cream dipped 35 cents in trading of 5,800 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $3.35, Cargo Handlers declined by 25 cents to settle at $8 with an exchange of 5,666 shares. Derrimon Trading ended the day with 57,595 shares changing hands after rising 3 cents to end at $2.03, Dolphin Cove closed 10 cents higher at $9.90, with 1,279 stock units traded, Elite Diagnostic fell 27 cents in trading of 48,099 units at $4.03. Everything Fresh declined 7 cents, swapping 217,903 units at $1, Fontana declined by 2 cents to settle at $6.40 with 110,646 shares changing hands, Fosrich closed trading of 8,000 units and gained 10 cents to end at $4. General Accident climbed 50 cents and exchanged 400 shares at $6.50, GWest Corporation closed trading of 5,000 units and gained 4 cents to end at $1.10, Honey Bun ended market activity exchanging 4,007 shares to close at $6.56 after falling 44 cents. iCreate settled at 52 weeks’ low of 67 cents after shedding 3 cents in the swapping of 37,619, Indies Pharma closed trading of 98,212 units and gained 4 cents to end at $2.90, Jamaican Teas ended the day with a loss of 35 cents at $6 in the swapping of 108,780 shares. 
Jetcon Corporation dropped 3 cents trading of 6,000 units at $1.42, Knutsford Express fell $1.50 to close at $10.50 with 6,655 units crossing the exchange, Lasco Financial ended trading with 35,602 shares, after rising 1 cent to end at $3.71. The Limners and Bards gained 11 cents to end the day at $2.61 with 36,617 shares traded, Lumber Depot ended market activity exchanging 544,386 shares to close at $1.52 after falling 3 cents, Main Event closed 30 cents higher at $6.10, with 100 stock units trading. Mailpac Group fell 10 cents in exchanging 567,179 units at $2, Medical Disposables closed with a loss of $1.30 to finish at $6.30 in the swapping of 2,300 shares and Stationery and Office Supplies climbed 5 cents to end at $9.75 with 11,000 shares changing hands.
Market activity ended with 33 securities changing hands, with the prices of nine advancing, 18 declining and five remaining unchanged. Trading resulted in an exchange of 4,430,356 units valued at $12,074,628 compared to 2,894,161 units valued at $6,925,513 on Monday. The average PE Ratio for the Junior Market stocks declined to 12.8 times, 2019 earnings.
Blue Power lost 50 cents with an exchange of 35,000 units to settle at $3.50, Caribbean Cream declined by 30 cents to close at $3.70 after trading 11,353 shares. Caribbean Producers ended with a loss of 1 cent at $4.80 with 9,662 stock units changing hands, Consolidated Bakeries finished the day exchanging 5,000 shares to close at $1.63 after falling 12 cents, Elite Diagnostic lost 15 cents in trading 491 units to close at $4.30. Everything Fresh ended the market activity with 23,773 shares crossing the exchange after rising 2 cents to end at $1.07, Express Catering lost 20 cents in trading of 17,406 units at $5.80, Fontana declined by 19 cents in swapping 88,897 units at $6.60. Fosrich dipped 30 cents in trading of 41,947 shares at $3.90, GWest Corporation closed trading of 7,000 units and gained 4 cents to end at $1.06, Honey Bun ended the day at $7 after rising 2 cents and trading 41,620 stock units. iCreate declined by 2 cents to settle at 70 cents with an exchange of 16,000 shares, Indies Pharma shed 5 cents in trading of 3,362 units at $2.86, Jamaican Teas declined by 15 cents trading 279,028 units at $6.35. Key Insurance lost 48 cents in exchanging 34,284 shares to close at $3.20, KLE Group shed 26 cents after swapping 4,931 at $2.04, Knutsford Express gained $1.12 to end at $12, after trading 35,702 shares. Lasco Distributors added 1 cent and exchanged 3,820 shares at $3.03, Lasco Financial gained 5 cents to finish at $3.70 with 142,546 crossing the exchange, 
Lasco Manufacturing ended with a loss of 1 cent at $3.95 with 51,170 stock units changing hands. Limners and Bards lost 40 cents in trading of 744,674 units at $2.50, Lumber Depot climbed 4 cents and exchanged 975,842 shares at $1.55, MailPac ended trading with 1,618,642 shares, after rising 10 cents to end at $2.10. Main Event lost 30 cents in exchanging 7,283 shares to close at $5.80, Medical Disposables ended with 14,571 shares changing hands, after rising 10 cents to end at $7.60, Paramount Trading climbed 25 cents and exchanged 2,530 shares at $1.80 and Stationery and Office Supplies ended market activity with 18,500 shares to close at $9.70 after falling 29 cents.
The decline left the market price-earnings ratio at 13.1 based on 2019 earnings.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging gained 12 cents to settle at $2.05, trading 6,424 stock units, Blue Power ended the day, 20 cents higher at $4 with 3,877 stock units crossing the exchange, Caribbean Producers climbed 1 cent, swapping 600 shares at $4.81. Dolphin Cove lost 20 cents in trading of 2,393 stock units at $9.80, Elite Diagnostic finished 45 cents higher at $4.45 with 42,851 stock units trading, Express Catering exchanged 7,722 units and gained 5 cents to end at $6. Fontana slipped 1 cent to close at $6.79 with 44,009 stock units changing hands, GWest Corporation ended with a loss of 1 cent at $1.02 in the trading of 30,000 stock units, Honey Bun declined 2 cents, in transferring 33,321 shares to close at $6.98. iCreate dropped 3 cents to settle at 72 cents in exchanging 506,791 stock units, Indies Pharma ended market activity exchanging 57,828 shares to close at $2.91 after falling 4 cents, Jamaican Teas lost 19 cents in trading of 159,866 shares at $6.50. Knutsford Express fell 62 cents with 424 stock units changing hands at $10.88, Lasco Distributors fell 8 cents in exchanging 83,905 units at $3.02, Lasco Financial closed trading of 10,000 units and gained 5 cents to end at $3.65. 
Lasco Manufacturing declined by 6 cents after 26,806 stock units crossed the exchange at $3.96, Lumber Depot lost 2 cents to settle at $1.51 with a transfer of 519,559 shares, MailPac Group fell 8 cents in trading of 753,122 units at $2. Main Event gained 30 cents and exchanged 22,578 shares at $6.10, Medical Disposables climbed $1 to end at $7.50 with 85,429 shares trading, SSL Venture declined 6 cents in trading 40,000 stock units at $1.02. Stationery and Office Supplies ended with 1,728 shares crossing the exchange, after rising 19 cents to end at $9.99 and tTech closed down 10 cents to $5.50 with 1,532 units changing hands.
The market closed with 38 securities changing hands, with prices of 8 securities rising, 23 declining and seven remaining unchanged, resulting in an exchange of 2,050,342 units valued at $12,142,583 compared to 2,189,745 units valued at $8,061,287 from 35 securities on Thursday.
At the close of the market, Access Financial gained $5.60 to end at $36 after trading 134,272 stock units, AMG Packaging shed 14 cents in exchanging 3,524 units at $1.93, Blue Power lost 21 cents with 99,797 shares crossing the exchange, to close at $3.80. Caribbean Cream closed trading of 5,000 units with a gain of 35 cents to end at $4, Caribbean Flavours ended with a loss of $1 at $16 with just 100 stock units changing hands, Cargo Handlers traded 12,000 shares, after rising 15 cents to end at $8.25. Caribbean Producers shed 20 cents in trading of 55,390 units at $4.80, Consolidated Bakeries declined by 7 cents to settle at $1.75, in exchanging 6,196 shares, Dolphin Cove lost 50 cents in trading 2,583 stock units to close at $10. Elite Diagnostic declined by 50 cents to settle at $4 with 27,497 shares changing hands, Everything Fresh added 1 cent after exchanging 175,600 shares at $1.05. Express Catering lost 11 cents, trading 58,084 units at $5.95. Fontana lost 20 cents in trading of 60,065 units at $6.80, Fosrich closed with a loss of 10 cents at $4.20, after swapping 33,383 shares, General Accident fell 20 cents in trading of 23,349 units at $6. GWest Corporation fell 3 cents in exchanging 5,773 units at $1.03, Honey Bun dipped 50 cents in trading of 3,732 units at $7, iCreate fell 5 cents with 14,020 units crossing the exchange at 75 cents, Iron Rock Insurance declined by 54 cents to settle at $3.45 after 27,022 units crossed the market. Jamaican Teas climbed 9 cents and exchanged 39,366 shares at $6.69, Jetcon Corporation closed 3 cents higher at $1.45, with 2,700 stock units trading, 
Knutsford Express rose $1.50 to end at $11.50 with 94,602 stock units changing hands. Lasco Distributors ended market activity, exchanging 42,460 shares to close at $3.10 after falling 9 cents. Lasco Financial shed 40 cents in trading 14,091 units to close at $3.60, Lasco Manufacturing dipped 28 cents in exchanging 1,873 units at $4.02, Lumber Depot closed 3 cents higher at $1.53, with 130,061 stock units trading. Medical Disposables ended market activity, exchanging 250,940 shares to close at $6.50 after falling 70 cents. Paramount Trading shed 18 cents in trading 248,370 units at $1.55, SSL Venture ended with a loss of 1 cent at $1.08 with 120 stock units changing hands, Stationery and Office Supplies declined by 10 cents to settle at $9.80 after exchanging 12,059 units and tTech slipped 2 cents in trading of 200 units at $5.60.
