Activity on the Junior Market picked up on Thursday with a number on new highs recorded as investors increased their exposure to the segment of the market that has been late to the rally.
The market closed with 10 securities traded and ending with 2,839,792 units changing hands valued at $6,035,405. The JSE Junior Market Index rose 28.36 points to close at 785.93, with the price of 6 stocks advancing and 1 declining. At the close of the market, two stocks closed at new 52 weeks’ high and two hit 52 weeks’ high during trading but retreated. At the end of trading there were 4 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 with the offer lower. The junior market ended with 3 securities closing with no bids to buy and 10 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, Access Financial traded 2,000 units and lost $1.89 to end at all-time high of $15.09. AMG Packaging price moved up in trading to $3 with 9,000 and closed with a gain of 74 cents, the stock was halted during trading for an hour and then was reopened at minutes before the close at which time it officially traded. Caribbean Producers traded 1,089,045 units between $2.75 and $3, where it closed with a gain of 25 cents. 
Dolphin Cove gained 30 cents with 1,000 shares trading, to close at a new 52 weeks’ high, of $9.50. General Accident Insurance had 1,152,419 shares trading, at a new 52 weeks’ high of $2, the stock traded as low as $1.75 but closed 10 cents higher than Wednesday’s closing price, at $1.80, Lasco Distributors had 177,909 shares trading to close with a loss of 3 cents at $1.40, but traded between $1.37 and $1.43. Lasco Financial Services closed with a gain of 7 cents as 175,000 shares traded, to end at $1.20. Lasco Manufacturing trading of 212,000 as high as $1.30, a new 52 weeks’ high but ended with a closing price of $1.20, Medical Disposables traded only 2,000 shares at $1.70 after losing 10 cents and Paramount Trading had 19,419 units trading at $3.60.
Junior market trading picks up
Juniors down but pregnant to go
Bids are building for Caribbean Cream. the company recently reported strong 9 months’ results.
At the close of the market, there were 8 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and just 1 with a lower offer. The junior market ended with 4 securities closing with no bids to buy and 9 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Bids are building for some of the junior market stocks, included in this list are Caribbean Cream with 194,000 units at 75 cents and below 6,535,715 units between 70 and 71 cents, Blue Power with 100,000 units at $8.50, Dolphin Cove 96,171 shares at $9.20, General Accident 76,207 units at $1.73.
and Lasco Manufacturing 187,544 shares at $1.10Stocks trading in the junior market are, Caribbean Producers had 70,000 shares trading at $2.75, with a gain of 5 cents. Dolphin Cove closed at $9.20, with 2,693 shares changing hands, Knutsford express traded 11,534 shares and closed unchanged at $6, Lasco Distributors had 75,720 shares trading at $1.30 for a loss of 7 cents and Lasco Financial Services with 5,500 units traded at the close at $1.15 after gaining 5 cents.
Juniors still not partying
Activity on the Junior Market closed with 7 securities trading and ending with only 85,855 units changing hands, valued at $268,199. The JSE Junior Market Index declined 4.29 points to close at 739.38. At the close 2 stocks fell and none record a price increase, as investors shun the juniors in favour of the main market stocks.
At the close of the market, there were 6 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with offers that were lower. The junior market ended with 4 securities closing with no bids to buy and 7 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, Consolidated Bakeries traded 3,234 shares at 82 cents, Dolphin Cove had 10,000 shares trading at $2.70, Eppley traded just 221 units unchanged at $380, Knutsford Express closed unchanged at $6 with just 300 shares changing hands. Lasco Distributors traded 31,100 shares to close at $1.37 after losing 3 cents, Lasco Financial Services had 40,000 units trading at $1.10 with a fall of 5 cents and Lasco Manufacturing with only 1,000 shares ended at $1.07, but had a bid at $1.15 at the close.
Junior market trading picks up
Activity on the Junior Market closed with 9 securities trading and ending with units changing hands valued at $1,843,466. The JSE Junior Market Index declined 9.51 points to close at 732.52, with the price of 3 stocks advancing and 4 declining.
At the close of the market, there was only 1 stock with the bid higher than the last selling prices and 1 with a lower offer. The junior market ended with 4 securities closing with no bids to buy and 10 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, Caribbean Producers had 100,000 shares trading at $2.32 with a gain of 1 cent, General Accident Insurance closed at $1.82 with 1,765 shares changing hands, Honey Bun gained 2 cents in trading 28,300 shares to end at $1.82. Consolidated Bakeries traded 37,388 shares at 82 cents, Lasco Distributors 525,321 shares traded between $1.43 and $1.46 to close at $1.43.
Access Financial traded 800 units and lost 1 cent to end at $13.20, Caribbean Cream had 79,230 units changing hands between 65 cents and 75 cents and ended 10 cents lower at 65 cents. Lasco Financial Services 631,000 units traded at the close at $1.08 after losing 7 cents but traded as high as $1.10. Lasco Manufacturing traded 26,717 shares between $1.07 and $1.10 and closed at $1.07 with a loss of 6 cents.
Moderate gains for Tuesday morning
The Jamaica Stock Exchange all Jamaica composite index rose just 65 points to 96,446.34 and the Jamaica Stock Exchange index is up 58 points to 87,409.64 in a moderate sessions to 10:30 on Tuesday. Some of the stocks to trade are Caribbean Cement with 479,113 units at $2.25, National Commercial Bank with 7,780 shares at $26, Sagicor Group traded 15,500 units at $10.50. Scotia Group that was the stock accounting for the major push in the market yesterday is yet to traded but has a bid for 10,000 at $22.01 with the offer to sell 1,000 shares at $24.05.
In the junior market Lasco Distributors traded 336,621 units at $1.43 and Lasco Financial Services 31,000 shares at $1.10.
Low junior market activity on Friday
The Junior Market closed out the week with very low activity as just 3 securities traded compared to 9 on Thursday, ending with 226,263 units changing hands valued at $227,820. The JSE Junior Market Index is up 0.53 points to close at 741.27, with the price of none advancing, 1 declining and 1 remaining unchanged from the last traded prices on Thursday.
At the close of the market, there were 2 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 with the offer that was lower. The junior market ended with 5 securities closing with no bids to buy and 11 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Some buyers have backed off their bids with the interested party in AMG Packaging dropping the bid that was at $2.50 up to Thursday. The bid is now back at $2.26 the last price the stock traded at Caribbean Cream closed with the bid for 73,530 shares at 68 cents 3 cents higher than the last price of 65 cents. Offers for the stock are over $1.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, Consolidated Bakeries trading 101,388 shares in closing at 82 cents, Knutsford Express had 896 shares trading at $5.80 and Lasco Manufacturing traded 123,979 units and lost 3 cents to $1.10.
JSE up slightly after 1 Hour
A total of 2.64 million shares traded coming from 9 securities after an hours trading on Thursday, with nearly 2 million coming from Cable & Wireless. 
National Commercial Bank seemed to have reacted to the announcement of dividend consideration at the board meeting later this month and traded first at $25.50 and then at $26 with 105,554 shares trading. The stock remains scare and could be rising in the days ahead. Grace Kennedy had 46,721 changing hands at $62.05, Scotia Investment traded 76,000 units at $23.01. Lasco Manufacturing traded 352,851 units at $1.13, Margaritaville (Turks) had 68,510 units trading at 10 US cents as the company reported profit of 0.6 US cents per share for the nine months.
The main indices are up over 100 points so far and the junior market is up 7 points to 741.
Volume up for juniors Wednesday
Knutsford Express stock price, gained in trading as investors responded positively to 9 months’ results.
At the close of the market, there were 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 1 with a lower offer. The junior market ended with 4 securities closing with no bids to buy and 11 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale. There has developed a widening gap between most bids and offers as investors have a standoff between where the stocks last traded and where those wanting to sell are prepared so to do. Improving profit out turn has made the situation worse.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, Knutsford Express fresh from reporting a 92 percent increase in pretax profits for the February quarter and 45 percent for the nine months, to $48.5 million, the stock gained 40 cents in closing at $5.60, having traded 87,603 shares. Caribbean Producers trading 993,178 as high as $2.35, closed at $2.30 for a 10 cents decline, General Accident Insurance had 224,010 units changing hands at $1.71 for 1 cent gain, Lasco Distributors gained 3 cents in trading 14,800 and closed at $1.43 and Lasco Manufacturing had only 12,230 shares trading to end at $1.06.
4 juniors up 2 down on Tuesday
Activity on the Junior Market closed with 6 securities traded ending with 149,771 units changing hands valued at $179,558. The JSE Junior Market Index gained 4.29 points to close at 732.18, with the price of 4 stocks advancing and 2 declining.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, Access Financial Services traded 200 shares at $13.21, as the price eased 1 cent, Caribbean Cream closed trading with 10,000 shares, to end with a 5 cents decline at a new low of 60 cents. The stock was initially recorded as trading at 76 cents at the start of market, but that trade was eventually cancelled, as the price it attempted to trade at, was in excess of 15 percent initially permitted, effectively triggering the initial circuit breaker and thus the freeze.
Trading in the stock was suspended for an hour before it was permitted to trade again. At the close there was a bid to buy 47,000 units at 60 cents.Caribbean Producers traded only 100 shares at $2.40, Lasco Distributors saw 51,418 units changing hands at $1.40 to gain 3 cents, Lasco Financial Services had 84,053 units trading to close at $1.10, after gaining a cent, after trading as high as $1.15 and Lasco Manufacturing put through 4,000 shares at 1.06 to gain 1 cent.
The market closed with AMG Packaging having a bid for 41,000 shares to buy at $2.50, compared to a last sale of $2.26.
7 junior stocks set to rise
The bid on AMG is at $2.50 v $2.26 last sale, after reporting a 35% rise in profit.
At the close of the market, there were 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 1 with the offer that was lower. The junior market ended with 5 securities closing with no bids to buy and 12 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale. Noted amongst the stocks with higher bids are AMG Packaging with a bid of $2.50 against the last selling price of $2.26. The company reported 35 percent increase in 6 months profit and an even greater increase in the November quarter Caribbean Cream reported increased profit for the full year and the February quarter of $49 million or 13 cents for the twelve months and 5 cents for the quarter or $18 million. .
The bid for the stock is 66 cents versus the last price of 65 cents. Caribbean Flavours, Lasco Financial, Lasco Manufacturing and Medical Disposables all have bids higher than the last selling prices. The three Lasco companies should be reporting full year results at the end of April.Stocks trading in the junior market are, Cargo Handlers that gained 10 cents in trading 2,200 shares, to close at an all-time high of $20.10. Caribbean Producers with 2,100 units put on 5 cents to $2.35, Jamaican Teas gained 2 cents to end at $2.55 while trading 11,606 shares, 15,400 Lasco Distributors’ shares traded at $1.37 and Lasco Manufacturing lost 5 cents in closing at $1.05 while trading 63,531 shares.