Trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Tuesday resulted in 16 securities changing hands compared to 13 on Monday. One Caribbean Media was the dominant trade with 70 percent of the value of securities exchanged, while NCB Financial inched 1 cent higher, to end at a closing high of $6.21.
At the close, 4 stocks advanced, 8 declined and 4 remained unchanged as 656,483 shares traded at a value of $7,023,258 compared to Monday’s trades of 327,937 valued at $2,161,206.
The Composite Index gained 1.08 points to 1,284.03, the All T&T Index declined 1.80 points to 1,754.53 and the Cross Listed Index gained 0.55 points to close at 109.65.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 2 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 6 with lower offers.
Gains| The last traded price of the securities rising and the volumes changing hands are JMMB Group with gains of 4 cents, closed at $2.04 trading 181,662 shares valued at $352,263, NCB Financial Group ended at a 52 weeks’ closing high of $6.21, rising 1 cent with 1,084 units, earlier the price hit a record high of $6.34 before pulling back by the close. Prestige Holdings gained 1 cent to close at $10.76 with 3,000 shares and Sagicor Financial closed 5 cents higher to $8 in exchanging 3,158 shares.
Losses| The last traded price of the securities declining and the volume changing hands are Angostura Holdings with a loss of 5 cents, ended at $15 with 450 units, Ansa McAL lost 5 cents and closed at a 52 weeks’ low of $62.95, with 6,388 shares trading valued at $402,448. 
First Citizens slipped 8 cents, settling at $31.81 while exchanging 1,042 units, Guardian Holdings lost 1 cent, closing at $15 with 2,747 shares, Massy Holdings slid 35 cents to $49.50 with 400 units changing hands. Point Lisas ended at $3.96, with a loss of 4 cents in trading 25,000 shares, Trinidad Cement declined by 5 cents to settle at $3.95 with 400 units changing hands and Trinidad & Tobago NGL close down 1 cent, to $23.49 with 6,177 shares.
Firm Trades| the securities closing with unchanged prices at the close are Clico Investment closing at $21 after exchanging 37,694 shares valued at $791,524, while Grace Kennedy traded 33,150 shares at $3, One Caribbean Media settling at $14 with 354,031 shares valued at $4,956,434 and Republic Financial Holdings exchanging 100 units at $101.76.
Mixed trading in Trinidad
JSE main market falls back – Friday
Trading on the Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange ended on Friday with the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index declined by 1,443.17 points to close at 320,147.12 and the JSE Index declined by 1,314.89 points to close at 291,690.24.
At the close of market activity, 25 securities changed hands in the main market, 11 advanced, 10 declined and 4 traded firm with 4,118,253 units valued at $67,698,071 compared to 7,356,609 units valued at $123,516,599 on Thursday.
In US dollar market activity, the US dollar market index slipped 0.21 points to 180.67 as 3 securities traded with 2 declining and one remaining unchanged, leading to the 61,625 units trading with a value of US$54,145. Total trading in the two markets amounted to $74,574,532.
Trading ended with an average of 164,730 units for an average of $2,707,923 in contrast to 294,264 units for an average of $4,940,664 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 200,104 units valued at $3,492,546 and previously 218,920 units valued at $3,909,899. In contrast, October closed with average of 1,185,251 units valued at $16,528,582 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading for the main and US dollar market shows 7 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
Prices mostly slipped on TTSE – Friday
Trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange closed on Friday with 14 securities changing hands compared to 15 on Thursday and ended with 1 advancing, 4 declining and 9 holding firm.
Market activity resulted in 909,312 shares traded at a value of $3,281,614 compared to Thursday’s trades of 329,493 valued at $2,207,158.
The Composite Index was down 0.75 points to 1,283.07, the All T&T Index declined 1.82 points to 1,754.27 and the Cross Listed Index gained 0.05 points to close at 109.42.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 3 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 6 with lower offers.
Gains| First Citizens was the sole stock rising and ended with a gain of 10 cents, closing at $31.90 with 1,139 units.
Losses| JMMB Group pulled back from its recent record run to end with a loss of 4 cents, and closed at $2.11 with 592,986 shares valued at $1,270,760 traing. Massy Holdings settled at $49.98, losing 2 cents with 197 units, National Flour Mills closed at a 52 weeks’ low of $1.95, down 3 cents exchanging 26,307 shares and Republic Financial Holdings traded 76 cents lower to a 52 weeks’ low of $101, with a mere 10 units.
Firm Trades| The stocks traded unchanged at the close of trading are Clico Investment that closed at $21 with trades of 18,800 shares valued at $394,801, First Caribbean International Bank exchanged 5,100 shares at $9, Grace Kennedy remained at $2.95 with 194,500 shares valued at $573,775. NCB Financial Group closed at $6.20 trading 35,052 shares, Readymix closed at $11 with 280 units.Sagicor Financial traded 14,776 shares at $7.95, Scotiabank exchanged 2,559 shares at $58.10, Trinidad Cement closed at $4 with 200 units and Trinidad & Tobago NGL ended at $23.50 with17,406 shares valued at $410,465.
All Jamaica in major recovery – Thursday
NCB closes at new record high of $109 on Thursday.
The JSE All Jamaican Composite Index advanced 2,455.94 points to close at 321,590.29 and the JSE Index advanced 2,237.64 points to close at 293,005.13 as NCB Financial jumped $2.99 to a record close of $109.
Trading ended on the Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Thursday with 25 securities changing hands, 8 advanced, 8 declined and 9 traded firm with 7,356,609 units valued at $123,516,599.
There was trading in 2 securities In the US dollar market leading to the JSE US dollar Index falling 4.82 points to 180.88 as 5,802 shares with a value of US$1,474, bringing the total trades in the two markets to J$123,703,808. Wednesday’s trading in contrast to the increase trading on Thursday was 2,932,638 units valued at $60,248,652 on Wednesday.
Trading ended with an average of 294,264 units for an average of $4,940,664 in contrast to 133,302 units for an average of $2,738,575 on Wednesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 218,920 units valued at $3,909,899 previously.
In contrast, October closed with average of 1,185,251 units valued at $16,528,582 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading for the main and US dollar market shows 7 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
In the main activity Berger Paints closed 30 cents higher at $16.30, with 16,296 shares, Cable & Wireless ended trading at $1.10, with 530,316 shares, Caribbean Cement climbed $3.44 higher at $34.95, with 2,500 stock units. Carreras settled at $11.50, with 712,762 units, Grace Kennedy ended trading with a loss of 1 cent at $41.99, with 97,977 shares, Jamaica Broilers traded at $18.60, with 354,001 stock units, Jamaica Producers concluded trading with a loss of 10 cents at $15.80 and with 4,035,262 units trading. Jamaica Stock Exchange settled 4 cents higher at $6.80, with 16,170 shares, JMMB Group ended with a loss of $1.19 at $28.51, with 84,297 shares, Kingston Properties concluded trading at $8, with 15,950 stock units, Kingston Wharves finished trading with a loss of 15 cents at $32.50, with 35,770 units. 
Mayberry Investments finished trading 5 cents higher at $4.35, with 306,697 shares, NCB Financial Group ended $2.99 higher at a record close of $109, with 60,063 shares, 138 Student Living closed with a loss of 10 cents at $5.40, with 22,900 shares, 1834 Investments finished with a loss of 20 cents at $1.15, with 109,594 stock units, PanJam Investment closed at $42, with 82,529 units, Pulse Investments concluded trading with a loss of 6 cents at $1.90, with 4,064 shares. Radio Jamaica settled at $1.15, with 161,673 stock units, Sagicor Group settled 95 cents higher at $39, with 407,273 units, Sagicor Real Estate Fund settled 30 cents higher at $14.50, with 75,122 shares, Salada Foods Jamaica settled with a loss of $1.30 at $8.50, with 10,000 shares. Scotia Group ended $1.28 higher at $51.79, with 131,230 stock units and Supreme Ventures settled at $11.80, with 42,177 shares. In the main market preference segment, JMMB Group ended with a loss of 1.19 cents at $28.51, with 84,297 stock units, and in the US dollar market Productivity Business Solutions traded 402 units at 58 US cents and Proven Investments traded 5,400 units at 23.99 US cents.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
JMMB Group heads to new high
JMMB traded a new high on the TTSE.
JMMB Group closed at a new record high of $2.15 in Thursday’s trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange. Market activity ended with 17 securities changing hands compared to 12 on Wednesday with 2 stocks posting gains, 3 declining and 12 unchanged.
At the close, 328,493 shares traded at a value of $2,207,158 compared to Wednesday’s trades of 382,785 valued at $4,215,303.
The Composite Index dropped 2.51 points to 1,283.82, the All T&T Index declined by 5.64 points to 1,756.09 and the Cross Listed Index advanced 0.09 points to 109.37.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 4 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
Gains| In trading on Thursday Angostura Holdings ended with a 5 cents gain, to close at $15.05 with 1,350 units and JMMB Group surpassed the previous day’s 52 weeks’ high to close at a new high of $2.15,after rising 5 cents with 67,087 shares trading.
Losses| Securities closing with losses are Clico Investment that traded 46 cents lower to $21 while exchanging 16,680 shares valued at $350,280, Guardian Holdings dropping 50 cents, and closed at $15 with 1,713 units and 
West Indian Tobacco dropped $2 to end at a 52 weeks’ low of $121, trading only 8 units.
Firm Trades| At the close of trading First Citizens closed at $31.80 with 1,061 units, Grace Kennedy held firm at $2.95 with 2,200 shares changing hands, Massy Holdings exchanged 3,331 shares at $50, National Flour Millsclosed at $1.98 with 2,500 shares. NCB Financial Group remained at $6.20 trading 125,205 shares valued at $776,301, One Caribbean Media closed at $14 with 195 units, Republic Financial Holdings settled at $101.76 with 1,873 shares trading. Sagicor Financial closed at $7.95 with trades of 4,290 shares, Trinidad Cement exchanged 100,000 shares at $4 valued at $400,000 and Bourse Brazil Latin Fund US Dollar shares closed at $8.08 with 1,000 units changing hands.
Main market pulls back on Wednesday
The JSE All Jamaican Composite Index declined by 2,335.17 points to close at 319,134.35 on Wednesday as the JSE Index declined by 2,127.60 points to close at 290,767.49 and the JSE US dollar Index rose 0.43 points to 185.70.
Trading on the Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed with 22 securities changing hands, 10 advanced, 6 declined and 4 traded firm with 1 rising in the US dollar market. A total of 2,932,638 units valued at $60,248,652 traded compared to 7,565,517 units valued at $85,572,923 on Tuesday.
Trading ended with an average of 133,302 units for an average of $2,738,575 in contrast to 328,936 units for an average of $3,720,562 on Tuesday.
In contrast, October closed with average of 1,185,251 units valued at $16,528,582 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading for the main and US dollar market shows 7 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with lower offers.
In the main activity, Berger Paints concluded trading with a loss of 2 cents at $16, with 6,952 shares, Cable & Wireless ended 3 cents higher at $1.10, with 518,300 units, Caribbean Cement ended trading with a loss of $4.59 to $31.51, with 22,377 units, Carreras concluded trading 10 cents higher at $11.50, with 108,200 stock units, Grace Kennedy ended trading $2 higher at $42, with 110,784 units, Jamaica Broilers traded at $18.60, with 32,449 shares, Jamaica Producers finished with a loss of 10 cents at $15.90, with 560 stock units, Jamaica Stock Exchange finished with a loss of 14 cents at $6.76, with 18,180 stock units, 
JMMB Group traded $1.95 higher to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $29.70, with 11,000 units, Mayberry Investments concluded trading at $4.30, with 4,000 shares, NCB Financial Group lost 99 cents and ended at $106.01, with 317,087 shares, 138 Student Living ended trading 10 cents higher at $5.50, with 1,400,000 stock units, PanJam Investment settled 40 cents higher at $42, with 173,919 stock units, Pulse Investments settled with a loss of 1 cent at $1.96, with 6,500 shares, Radio Jamaica settled at $1.15, with 21,330 units, Sagicor Group concluded trading 5 cents higher at $38.05, with 57,923 units, Sagicor Real Estate Fund ended trading 6 cents higher at $14.20, with 6,544 shares, Scotia Group closed 1 cent higher at $50.51, with 4,000 units and Supreme Ventures finished at $11.80, with 42,564 shares. In the main market preference segment, Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded at $1.85, with 67,869 units, JMMB Group ended at $1.15, with 2,000 stock units and in the US dollar market Productivity Business Solutions traded 598 units and rose 0.50 cent to 58 US cents.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Record close for 3 Jamaican stocks
Grace Kennedy traded at a new high on the TTSE.
Grace Kennedy, JMMB Group and NCB Financial ended trading at record closing highs of $2.95, $2.10 and $6.20 respectively on Wednesday on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange, while Trinidad & Tobago NGL accounted for 80 percent of the value of securities exchanged.
Market activities ended with 12 securities changing hands compared to 16 on Tuesday and closed with 6 stocks advancing, 6 holding firm and no losses as 382,785 shares traded at a value of $4,215,303 compared to Tuesday’s trades of 290,111 valued at $3,885,729.
The Composite Index rose 12.04 points to 1,286.33, the All T&T Index advanced 2.40 points to 1,761.73 and the Cross Listed Index added 2.97 points to 109.28.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 5 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 6 with lower offers.
Gains| The securities recording gains at the end of trading are First Caribbean International Bank that gained 50 cents to close at $9, in exchanging 1,225 shares, Grace Kennedy gained 5 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $2.95, with 3,300 units, Guardian Holdings advanced 50 cents to $15.50, with 2,143 shares. JMMB Group 
climbed to a 52 weeks’ high of $2.10, after rising 5 cents and the trading of 224,110 shares valued at $471,767, NCB Financial Group added 5 cents, closing at a 52 weeks’ high of $6.20 with 1,000 units changing hands and Republic Financial Holdings gained 3 cents and closed at $101.79, with 31 units.
Firm Trades| Securities that closed with unchanged prices are First Citizens closing at $31.80 with 1,894 shares, Massy Holdings trading 5,000 shares at $50 and National Enterprises exchanging 30 units at $10. Prestige Holdings trading 26 stock units at $10.75, Sagicor Financial that remained at $7.95 with trades of 1,070 shares and Trinidad & Tobago NGL closed at $23.50 trading 142,956 units valued at $3,360,895.
JSE suffers temporary relapse
Trading on the Main and US dollar markets of the Jamaica Stock Exchange ended on Tuesday with 26 securities changing hands, 7 advanced, 13 declined and 6 traded firm as the main market indices dropped.
The JSE All Jamaican Composite Index declined by 2,137.38 points to close at 321,469.52 and The JSE Index declined by 1,947.39 points to close at 292,895.09 with 7,565,517 units valued at $85,572,923 trading.
In the main activity, Berger Paints finished trading $2 higher at $18, with 26,175 stock units, but closed with an offer at $16.90. Cable & Wireless rose 4 cents to $1.07, with 115,615 shares, Caribbean Cement finished trading with a loss of 85 cents to $36.10, with 12,250 units, Carreras finished with a loss of 10 cents at $11.40, with 649,192 shares, Grace Kennedy traded $3 lower at $40, with 144,598 
stock units, Jamaica Broilers concluded trading 10 cents higher at $18.60, with 188,364 shares. Jamaica Producers concluded trading at $16, with 6,919 stock units, Jamaica Stock Exchange closed 45 cents higher at $6.90, with 1,800 units, JMMB Group closed with a loss of 35 cents at $27.75, with 908,504 stock units, Kingston Wharves traded with a loss of 35 cents at $32.65, with 59,517 shares, Mayberry Investments settled at $4.30, with 16,385 units. NCB Financial Group lost $1 to end at $107, with 159,165 shares trading, 1834 Investments concluded trading with a loss of 2 cents at $1.35, with 21,592 units, PanJam Investment fell $2.40 to end at $41.60, with 110,977 shares changing hands, Pulse Investments concluded trading 7 cents higher at $1.97, with 22,705 stock units trading, Radio Jamaica closed at $1.15, with 1,732,474 units. Sagicor Group 
traded with a loss of $1 at $38, with 46,295 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund finished with a loss of 26 cents at $14.14, with 20,818 units, Scotia Group finished with a loss of $1.50 at $50.50, with 112,944 stock units, Seprod ended with a loss of $2 at $28, with 3,800 shares and Supreme Ventures finished with a loss of 20 cents at $11.80, as 237,350 units traded. In the main market preference segment, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.5% concluded trading at $1.85, with 2,769,878 shares, JMMB Group 7.5% concluded trading 4 cents higher at $1.15, with 198,200 units. In the US dollar market Proven Investments rose 0.49 US cents in trading 415,521 ordinary shares at 23.99 US cents and Productivity Business traded 15,881 US dollar denominated ordinary shares at 57.5 US cents and JMMB Group 6% US dollar preference share traded 6,300 units at $1.12.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
JMMB at J$39 NCB at J$117 on TTSE
NCB trades at TT$6.15 or J$117 on the TTSE on Tuesday.
JMMB Group and NCB Financial Group surpassed previous highs to close at $2.05 or J$39 compared to a close of $28 in Kingston and $6.15 or the equivalent for $117 on the Jamaica Stock exchange respectively in Tuesday’s trading on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange.
Market activity resulted in 16 securities changing hands compared to 9 on Monday as 4 stocks advanced, 3 declined and 9 held firm as 290,111 shares traded at a value of $3,885,729 compared to Monday’s trades of 401,886 valued at $3,227,519.
The Composite Index climbed 12.56 points to 1,274.29, up a mere 5.35 percent for 2017, the All T&T Index fell 0.65 points to 1,759.33 and is down slightly by 4 percent for the year and the Cross Listed Index trended higher by 3.53 points to 106.31, up 36 percent for the year to date.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 3 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 7 with lower offers.
Gains| Trading ended as First Caribbean International Bank closed at $8.50, after rising 25 cents with 5,000 shares changing hands, JMMB Group advanced 20 cents to close at a new 52 weeks’ high of $2.05, while trading 41,736 stock units, NCB Financial Group rose 15 cents to a 52 weeks’ high of $6.15 exchanging 25,000 units and Trinidad & Tobago NGL added 1 cent to close at $23.50 with 19,487 shares valued at $457,831 changing hands.
Losses| At the close of market activities, Ansa McAL ended at $63, with a loss of 1 cent trading 37,552 shares valued at $2,365,776, Guardian Holdings slid 10 cents to close at $15 with 10,537 stock units and National Flour Mills closed at a 52 weeks’ low of $1.98, losing 2 cents with 6,700 shares traded.
JMMB traded at the equivalent of J$39 on the TTSE v $28 in Kingston.
Firm Trades| At the end of trading Clico Investment closed at $21.46 exchanging 5 units, First Citizens remained at $31.80 with 2,322 shares and Grace Kennedy exchanged 117,461 shares at $2.90, valued at $340,637. Massy Holdings traded just 9 stock units at $50. National Enterprises ended at $10 with 785 units, One Caribbean Media closed at $14 with 800 shares trading. Point Lisas settled at $4 with 3,442 stock units changing hands, Sagicor Financial held firm at $7.95 exchanging 19,115 shares and Scotiabank closed at $58.10 with 160 units trading.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.
Can NCB ignore compelling Guardian buy?
NCB Financial acquisition of 29.99 percent stake in Guardian Holdings cost $28 billion 2016. Make it the largest shareholder in an attempt to return it to majority ownership to which it previously belong.
If NCB were to increase their holdings to more than 50 percent it would strengthen their hands in greater integration of the group with the focus on cost reduction and income enhancement. Two areas would be, a possible merger of the two general insurance companies that would increase the muscle in the market and cut out lots of duplicated cost, the life insurance could also generate savings and increase potential income. An on the capital market side there is much to be gained with an increased financial strength that could become a real powerhouse in raising and providing capital within the region. But there at least one more compelling reason, Guardian’s profit for the six months to June is 83 Trinidad cents per share and is ahead of the 70 cents earned in 2016, earnings for 2018 should end up around TT$1.90 up from $1.61 last year. NCB currently trades in
Guardian Holdings closed at a 52 weeks’ high of $16.75 on TTSE..
Jamaica at a PE of 12 times 2017 earnings while Guardian earnings is below 7, any acquisition around the current price would be a huge steal for NCB and would be a big boost to the growth in 2018 earnings and by extension the stock price. That is far too attractive a deal for NCB to forego at this time. Raising the shareholder to 75 percent would create increased profits around J$2 billion and add about $12 to the stock price and that is without any group synergies.
At the time the acquisition, some 36 percent of the company was available for sale not including International Financial Corporation block which NCB acquired. Had they gone for the full amount, it would have triggered the takeover rule of the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange and would have required the group to have much more funds available, to swallow a much larger amount. A year and half having elapsed since that acquisition NCB has amassed more of its own funds by way of retained earnings and lately, from a floatation of bonds on the local market that initially raised $18 billion, the equivalent of US$138 million in September and a further attempt to raise US$105 million at attractive interest rates.
The funds raised was said to be used for regional and local expansion and acquisitions by the group. Acquisition of more Guardian shares seems to most logical more, along with more JMMB Group shares.
market capital is TT$3,538,793,786, a 20 percent stake that would take NCB’s stake to just under 50 percent, could cost around US$105 million, an amount that is well below the amounts raised recently and with the amounts they went to the market for giving them the financial muscle to acquire an additional 45 percent at current prices, that could take the ownership to 75 percent.
The case of acquiring JMB shares is compelling NCB with 26.3 percent of the issued ordinary shares is by far the largest shareholder with next being JMMB ESOP with 9.6 percent but Trinidad’s Colonial Life Insurance with a block of 6.3 percent can no longer be seen as long term holder and these shares may well become available for sale which NCB maybe best suited to acquire. The reality is that the Duncan’s family no longer holds a commanding interest in the group and based on the top 10 listing may just be able to muster votes of about 23 percent.
