Market activity ended on Friday with a rise in all three indices after a huge jump in the volume and value of trading but with fewer securities trading at the close of the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange, after the volume of stack trading rocketed 326 percent and the value spiked 269 shares above Wednesday trades.
At the close of trading, 16 traded compared to 19 on Wednesday, with three stocks rising, four declining and nine ending unchanged. The Composite Index rose 3.26 points to 1,388.88, the All T$T Index gained 4.62 points to 1,881.07 and the Cross-Listed Index popped 0.25 points to end at 120.82.
A total of 2,464,269 shares traded for $27,008,235 compared to 578,611 units at $7,318,842 on Wednesday.
Trading averaged 154,017 units at $1,688,015 compared to 30,453 at $385,202 on Wednesday. The average trade for the month to date amounts to 90,757 shares at $1,018,150, compared to 64,804 units at $743,333 on Wednesday. May averaged 25,935 units at $406,593.
The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows one stock ending with the bid higher than its last selling prices and three with lower offers.
At the close, Agostini’s traded 313,225 shares at $24.40, Angostura Holdings closed at $14.95 after exchanging 183 stock units, Clico Investment Fund ended at $26.96 with 59,110 stock units changing hands, First Citizens Bank rose by 10 cents to $50, after 37,856 stocks crossed the exchange. Grace Kennedy lost 17 cents in closing at $5.08 with 4,805 shares changing hands, Guardian Holdings spiked $1.05 higher to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $35.05 in switching ownership of 48,766 stocks. JMMB Group rose 6 cents to $1.81 with a transfer of 464,743 stock units, Massy Holdings remained at $69.76 after exchanging 61 units, National Enterprises closed at $3 with the swapping of 634 stocks. National Flour exchanged 3,000 shares at $2.30, NCB Financial Group remained at $8.50, trading 1,519,193 shares, Republic Financial Holdings traded 35 stock units at $134.95, Scotiabank ended at $57 after exchanging 4,649 shares, Trinidad & Tobago NGL slipped 1 cent to $17.49 in trading 3,320 units Unilever Caribbean finished at $16.33 with the swapping of 1,384 stocks and West Indian Tobacco lost 30 cents to close at $32.20 in transferring 3,305 shares.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
Trinis missing the salient points
Another Trinidad company (Massy Holdings) is set to list on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on the basis that the sophistication and growth opportunities are evident in the Jamaican securities market that has become increasingly more dynamic over the past few years.
They may be right about the Jamaican capital market, but they are missing the real issues. The stock prices of listed companies in T&T Stock Exchange have been priced out of the reach of the average Trinidadians and the directors don’t seem to understand that or worse seem to care about the smaller investors. Guardian Holdings with 232,024,923 million shares issued and Massy with nearly 98 million shares will just not have the liquidity to trade frequently in good volumes in either the Trinidad or Jamaican market. Unfortunately, those are not the only companies in that market that are so affected. The companies need to have the issued number of shares increased. for decent trading in the Jamaican market around two to three billion issued shares will be an appropriate level.
The other factor is the need to put the companies on a growth path for profits that investors can have confidence in acquiring and holding the shares. The weakness in this area of profitability, is not the sole purview of the companies, as the government has a role to play in this.
Guardian Holdings hit 52 weeks high on TTSE.
The evidence is crystal clear, investors love stock splits and they help move stock prices as investors buy up shares they previously ignore for being overpriced. This has been without a doubt the clear case in the Jamaican market. For years PanJam Investments directors resisted recommending to shareholders the splitting of the company’s stocks but relented a few years ago, with the stock price that was stagnant for years coming to life and rewarded shareholders with much higher value afterward. It is therefore difficult to understand why directors, with the evidence so clear, want to have elevated stock prices and limited liquidity of their stock. Last year Apple and Tesla sand split their stocks to much investors acclaim, just this week Nvidia Corporation in the USA, with the price jumping after announcing a four for one split.