Stocks declined again in trading on the main market on Friday, with the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index declining 1,070.06 points to close at 327,520.83 and the JSE Index fell 974.94 points to 298,408.49.
Trading was characterized by big price movements in a number of stocks but with those declining outnumbering rising ones by a 3 to 1 margin.
The market closed with only 1,921,527 units valued at $46,900,896 trading, down from 7,688,997 units valued at $220,155,817 trading on Thursday. On Friday 22 securities changed hands, resulting in 9 advancing, 11 declining and 2 remaining firm.
In market activity, Barita Investments lost 15 cents and closed at $12.38, with 2,940 shares traded, Berger Paints ended at $20, after declining 21 cents with 262,929 stock units changing hands, Carreras concluded trading and gained 1 cent to $10.60, with 417,958 units, 
Caribbean Cement jumped $2 and finished at $37.50, with 104,243 shares trading, Ciboney Group rose 1 cents to 13 cents, with 10,850 shares. Grace Kennedy dropped $1.15 to end trading at $48.50, with 5,386 shares, Jamaica Broilers rose 20 cents to $21.70, with 11,080 stock units trading, Jamaica Producers lost 9 cents and finished trading at $16.51, with 22,786 units, Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at $7.40, with 7,579 shares. JMMB Group ended at $26.80, with 103,297 shares, Kingston Wharves declined by $1.60 and finished at $46.80, trading 7,000 stock units, Mayberry Investments settled at $6.17, with 8,100 units, NCB Financial Group rose 77 cents and ended trading at $95.75, with 24,497 shares. PanJam Investment gained $1 and closed at $47, with 23,518 stock units changing hands, 
Radio Jamaica finished 14 cents higher at $1.35, with 22,682 shares, Sagicor Group lost 2 cents to settle at $38, with 141,760 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund settled at $13.99, after falling $1.01 with 36,401 shares, Scotia Group dropped $1.90 to $49.10, with 315,705 units. Seprod finished trading at $36, with 7,000 shares, Supreme Ventures dived $2.75 and ended at $12.25, with 167,126 shares, Victoria Mutual Investments slipped 3 cents and concluded trading at $4.17, with 77,262 stock units and Wisynco Group finished at $10, with a rose of 30 cents and 141,428 units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place. For more details of market activities, see “JSE main market volume dives – Friday.”
Big JSE main market losses- Wednesday
Stocks declined sharply in trading on the main market on Wednesday, with the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index dropping 2,542.85 points to 326,768.75 and the JSE Index diving 2,316.83 points to 297,723.25.
The main market closed with 7,688,997 units valued at $220,155,817 trading from 22 securities changing hands, resulting from 5 securities trading more than 1 million units each and in 8 rising, 11 falling and 3 trading firm.
In market activity, Barita Investments lost 50 cents and closed at $12.50, with 2,500 shares trading, Berger Paints rose 4 cents to end at $20.50, with 4,608 stock units, Carreras rose 14 cents and concluded trading at $10.54, with 59,203 units, Grace Kennedy ended trading at $48.20, after rising 15 cents with 15,911 shares, Jamaica Broilers jumped $1.10 to $21.70, trading a mere 634 stock units. 
Jamaica Producers lost 38 cents in finishing trading at $16.60, with 17,774 units, Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at $7, with 1,033,290 shares, JMMB Group fell 50 cents to $26.50, with 1,999,978 shares changing hands, Kingston Wharves dropped $2.49 to $46.50, with 1,801,850 stock units. Mayberry Investments settled at $6.17, with 6,890 units traded after falling 8 cents, NCB Financial Group lost just 1 cent and ended trading at $94.98, with 41,620 shares, PanJam Investment dropped $1.64 and closed at $45.36, with 1,094,320 stock units, Proven Investments traded in the main market with a rise of $1.99 to $28.50 while trading just 100 shares, 
Pulse Investments fell 21 cents and concluded trading at $1.60, with 5,414 units. Radio Jamaica lost 1 cents and finished trading at $1.19, with 30,000 shares, Sagicor Group settled at $38.50, after rising 31 cents with 22,610 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund gained 20 cents and finished at $14, with 1,535 units. Scotia Group dived $3.39 to $50.10, with 70,981 units, Supreme Ventures rose 20 cents and concluded trading at $12.70, with 1,012,460 shares, Victoria Mutual Investments ended at $4.18, with 262,618 shares and Wisynco Group concluded trading at $9.55, after falling 16 cents with 204,701 stock units.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place. For more details of market activities, see “JSE main market volume jumps – Wednesday.”
Sagicor Group & Wisynco back in TOP 10
Salada Foods reported earnings of 78 cents for the half year and is now no 2 on the TOP 10.
Sagicor Group fell out of TOP 10 of main market stocks in the previous week, is back, with the price falling from $42 to $38 and Salada Foods surges to the number 2 spot with half year results.
Wisynco joins the TOP 10 after a very long absence as the price dipped to $10 on Friday. The two new listings replaced Grace Kennedy and PanJam Investment, with the latter jumping to a new 52 weeks’ high of $46.01. In the Junior Market there was only one change with Stationery and Office Supplies (SOS) climbing to a new record high of $7.50 after positing good first quarter results with earnings per share up 70 percent to 17 cents. Lasco Financial moved back into the TOP 10, replacing SOS that still have much more room to grow this year as profits should hit close to $1 per share for the year and investors could well see a stock split as a result of the rising profit and stock price.
Other changes of note, were the fall in price of Berger Paints to $20 from $22 at the end of the previous week, Caribbean Cement moved to $40.05 from $38.60 and Barita Investments rose to $11.50 from $10.49 as selling by investors dried up. 
Second quarter results may not be good enough to push the stock much higher but when the growth in other comprehensive income is factored in, the stocks is still extremely cheap.
On Thursday, a number of company results were released with some having the potential to help prices to move forward. On Friday, more results were released with Salada Foods and tTech posting good gains in profit. Salada earnings suggest full year results of $1.80 per share and pushed the stock to the number 2 choice in the TOP 10. Others will come on Monday and Tuesday, investors should be alert to news that they may provide that could impact prices in the short term.
The main market pulled back from record highs reached at the close of the previous week but is now sitting just below that level on Friday, as that market continues to grind its way slowly upwards ahead of the big breakout that is coming.
At the close of Friday, the average PE ratio for Junior Market Top stocks ended at 6.2 compared to an average PE for the overall main market of 10 based on 2018 estimated earnings. The main market PE is 7.2 for the top stocks, compared to a market average of 13.
IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 stocks now trade at an average discount of 38 percent to the average for the Junior Market Top stocks but it’s a third of what the average PE for the year is likely to be of 20 times earnings and main market stocks traded at a discount of 44 percent to the market.
Stocks to Watch this week include, Stationery and Office Supplies that should go higher based on the first quarter results that were released on Thursday. It should be interesting to see how investors treat with the lack of supply of 
Barita and Berger shares while Palace that jumped $300 on Friday could be pushed when the company’s third quarter results are released this coming week that should see very positive impact of the Black Panther movies now still being shown, although less frequently than previously, with Avengers seems to have taken over from it. NCB Financial pulled back to $95 during the past week and should be another interesting stock to watch as it is undervalued. Grace Kennedy posted decent first quarter results that should encourage more buying of the stock and PanJam Investment is very scarce. Increasing interest in Radio Jamaica pushed the price to $1.20 and is another that could move higher during the week.
Big gains for JSE main market – Friday
Palace jumped $300 back to $1,300 on small volume.
Trading activity was moderate on the main market on Friday, but the market gained much ground to recover a major portion of losses incurred since closing at record high on the previous Friday.
The main market closed with 3,690,667 units valued at $51,637,707 trading from 27 securities changing hands, resulting in 11 securities rising, 5 falling and 9 trading. There were three new intraday highs, with PanJam Investment closing at a new high of $46.01. Jamaica Broilers and Supreme Ventures traded at intraday highs of $22 and $13.50 respectively before pulling back by the close of trading.
The JSE All Jamaican Composite Index jumped 2,341.33 points to 330,728.92 and the JSE Index climbed 2,133.22 points to 301,331.41.
In market activity, Barita Investments rose by 50 cents and closed at $11.50, with 4,564 shares, changing hands, Berger Paints closed at $20 with 6,431 units trading, Carreras lost 20 cents and ended at $10.40, with 75,013 stock units, Caribbean Cement concluded trading at $40.05, after jumping $4.55 with 100,591 units, changing hands, Ciboney Group finished at 11 cents, with 402,832 shares, Grace Kennedy settled at $49, with 16,778 shares. Jamaica Broilers ended trading at $20.80, with 6,639 shares, after trading at an intraday high of $22. Jamaica Producers traded at $16.50, with 17,858 stock units, Jamaica Stock Exchange fell 14 cents and finished trading at $6.86, with 25,000 units, JMMB Group jumped $1 to close at $28, with 69,179 shares. Kingston Properties ended at $6.65, with 4,600 shares, Kingston Wharves concluded trading at $48.61, with 9,370 shares, after declining 29 cents, Mayberry Investments lost 9 cents and finished at $6.21, with 39,950 stock units, NCB Financial Group ended down by $1.25 to $95, with 71,713 shares changing hands, Palace Amusement ended trading after posting a $300 jump to $1,300, with just 104 shares. 
PanJam Investment gained just 1 cent to trade at a 52 weeks’ high of $46.01, with 5,000 shares, Pulse Investments fell 3 cents and closed at $1.75, with 40,150 stock units, Radio Jamaica rose 11 cents and ended at $1.20, with 74,597 units, Sagicor Group lost 26 cents and concluded trading at $38.02, with 31,526 shares. Salada Foods rose 1 cents and finished at $11.26, with 5,000 shares, Scotia Group added just 1 cents to settle at $50.01, with 325,267 shares after dropping $3.98, Seprod rose just 1 cent and ended trading at $35.01, with 2,500 stock units, Supreme Ventures traded at an intraday record high of $13.50 but finished trading up 1 cent at $12.21, with 89,182 shares. Victoria Mutual Investments lost 9 cents to close at $4.30, with 723,173 shares and Wisynco Group fell 30 cents and ended at $10, with 1,214,450 shares. In the main market preference segment, JMMB Group 7.25%concluded trading at $2.10, with 324,200 shares.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place. For more details of market activities, see “Big recovery for JSE main market – Friday.”
Record close for JSE main market – Friday
Investors pushed the Jamaica Stock Exchange the market up strongly to reach the highest levels ever on Friday with the price of 11 stocks rising, 5 falling and 11 trading firm.
Friday’s record move is fourth day for the week that the main market closed at new record highs.
At the close, the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index jumped 3,775.73 points to end at 332,501.11 and the JSE Index climbed 3,440.11 points to a record close of 302,946.08. Only Wisynco Group traded more than 1 million shares, ending with 1,188,978 units to be followed by JMMB Group 7.5% preference share with 841,700 stock units.
At the end of market activities, 27 securities traded, compared to 24 on Thursday, in the main and US dollar markets. Caribbean Cement rose $1 to close at $38.60, JMMB Group fell 99 cents to $26.01, NCB Financial ended with a rise of $1.20 to $99.95, and Sagicor Group jumped $4 to $42.
Trading activity resulted in 4,887,322 units valued at $81,394,524 changing hands, compared 39,156,142 units valued at $3,462,726,542 trading on Thursday.
Trading resulted in an average of 187,974 units valued at an average of $3,130,559 for each security traded. In contrast to 1,702,441 units for an average of $150,553,328 on Thursday. The average for the month to date is 613,556 shares with a value of $37,585,846 and previously 765,133 shares with a value of $49,857,592. In contrast, April closed with an average of 708,206 shares with a value of $6,395,518 for each security traded.
In the US dollar market, Proven Investments traded with 5,860 shares at 23 US cents and the market index ended at unchanged at 177.12.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 7 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 closing with a lower offers.
For more details of market activities see – JSE trading back to norm on Friday.
JSE trading back to norm on Friday
The Jamaica Stock Exchange main market closed at a record on Friday as the market continues to gradually grind its way forward.
Trading activity declined in main market on Friday, but the market gained much ground to land at a new record close, as 4,887,322 units valued at $81,394,524 traded, compared with 39,156,142 units valued at $3,462,726,542 on Thursday.
The main market closed with 26 securities changing hands, 11 securities rose, 5 declined and 10 traded firm, as the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index surged 3,775.73 points to end at a record high of 332,501.11 and the JSE Index jumped 3,440.11 points to a record close of 302,946.08.
In market activity, Barita Investments closed at $10.49, with 429 shares, Carreras concluded trading at $10.60, with a loss of 12 cents trading 581,969 units, Caribbean Cement jumped $1 and finished at $38.60, with 100,100 shares, Grace Kennedy ended trading at $49, with 40,820 shares, Jamaica Broilers traded at $20.49, with 1,570 stock units. Jamaica Stock Exchange last 5 cents and closed at $6.80, with 22,500 shares, JMMB Group fell 99 cent and ended at $26.01, with 124,624 shares, Kingston Properties concluded trading at $6.65, with 12,801 shares, Kingston Wharves gained 85 cents to finish at $48.90, with 7,735 stock units. Mayberry Investments lost 13 cents in settling at $6, with 23,702 units traded, NCB Financial Group climbed $1 and ended trading at $99.95, with 189,977 shares, 1834 Investments traded at $1.16, with 440,607 shares, PanJam Investment rose 55 cents and closed at $45, with 17,145 stock units. Portland JSX ended at $10, with 57,715 units, Radio Jamaica finished at $1.10, after rising 2 cents with 142,000 shares, Sagicor Group jumped $4 and settled at $42, with 53,733 shares and Sagicor Real Estate Fund gained 50 cents to close at $15, with 12,628 shares, Scotia Group added 25 cents to trade at $50, with 506,317 units changing hands. 
Seprod finished trading at $35, with 3,100 shares, Sterling Investments closed at $13, with 2,025 shares trded, Supreme Ventures rose 35 cents nd ended at $12.20, with 14,890 shares, Victoria Mutual Investments concluded trading at $4.25,fter declining 5 cents with 497,877 stock units trading and Wisynco Group rose 13 cents and finished at $10.68, with 1,188,978 units. In the main market preference segment, Jamaica Money Market 7.5% traded unchanged at $2, with 1,280 stock units, JMMB Group 7.25% concluded trading at $1.50, with 1,100 shares, JMMB Group 7.5% finished at $1, with 841,700 stock units, changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place. For more details of market activities, see “Record close for JSE main market – Friday.”
NCB dominates JSE trading – Thursday
NCB dominated trading with 35 million shares.
Trading activity resulted in 39,156,142 units valued at over $3,462,726,542 compared to 14,312,143 units valued at $130,374,672 trading on Thursday.
The market that enjoyed several record closes during the month ended on Tuesday The main market closed with 23 securities changing hands, 9 securities rose, 9 declined and 5 trading firm, as the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index lost 923.48 points to end at 328,725.38 and the JSE Index declined 841.39 points to a record close of 299,505.97.
In market activity, Barita Investments gained 49 cents and closed at $10.49, with 2,046 shares, Berger Paints jumped $2 to end at $22, with 38,452 stock units trading,
Carreras rose 7 cents and concluded trading at $10.72, with 608,357 units, Caribbean Cement lost 40 cents and finished at $37.60, with 12,424 shares, Ciboney Group settled at 11 cents, with 722,522 shares. Grace Kennedy ended trading at $49, with 15,229 shares, Jamaica Broilers lost 1 cent to trade at $20.49, with 14,967 stock units, Jamaica Producers gained 20 cents and finished trading at $17, with 22,818 units, Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at $6.85, with 50,000 shares. JMMB Group ended at $27, with a rise of 30 cents trading with 41,032 shares, Kingston Wharves dropped $1.75 and finished at $48.05, with 7,385 stock units changing hands, Mayberry Investments settled at $6.13, with 299,826 units, NCB Financial Group ended trading at $98.75, with 35,067,960 shares. 138 Student Living fell 35 cents to settle at $5.15, with 10,000 units,
PanJam Investment rose 25 cents and closed at $44.45, with 16,280 stock units, Radio Jamaica rose 1 cents and finished at $1.08, with 108,713 shares, Sagicor Group settled at $38, after falling 50 cents with 91,191 shares and Sagicor Real Estate Fund lost 50 cents and settled at $14.50, with 22,460 shares. Scotia Group lost 25 cents and closed at $49.75, with 82,208 units. Sterling Investments closed at $13.00, with 522 shares, Supreme Ventures fell 15 cents and ended at $11.85, with 148,791 shares, Victoria Mutual Investments rose 4 cents and concluded trading at $4.30, with 166,533 stock units and Wisynco Group rose 5 cents to settle at $10.55, with 1,606,426 units.Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place. For more details of market activities, see “JSE main market trades at record high – Tuesday.”
JSE majors close April on a record – Monday
Investors pushed the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange to record highs on Monday and closing April at a record high after ending with 6 closing record highs, during the month.
The market that enjoyed several record closes during the month ended on Monday with 29 securities changing hands, resulting in 12,309,558 units valued at $246,771,642 trading leading to a rise in the market indices.
The main market closed with 13 securities rising, 8 declining and 8 trading firm, as the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index surged by 2,366.31 points to a record close of 328,893.09 and the JSE Index climbed 2,155.97 points to record 299,658.77.
In market activity, Barita Investments lost 50 cents and closed at $9.50, with 42,960 shares traded, Berger Paints jumped 95 cents to end at $20, with 103,899 stock units crossing the exchange’s platform, Carreras finished at $10.60, with 2,041,313 shares, Caribbean Cement fell 50 cents and settled at $37.50, with just 500 shares trading, Grace Kennedy traded at $49, with 80,953 stock units.
Jamaica Broilers finished trading at $21, with 2,612,575 units, Jamaica Producers closed at $16.99, with 55,324 shares, Jamaica Stock Exchange lost 5 cents and ended at $6.80, with 44,641 shares, JMMB Group concluded trading at $26.87, with 44,847 shares after slipping 11 cents. Kingston Wharves jumped $1.95 to close at $50, with 2,346 units, Mayberry Investments gained 18 cents and ended trading at $6.20, with 5,000 shares, NCB Financial Group traded at $97, with 44,744 shares, 1834 Investments added just 1 cents and finished trading at $1.16, with 13,000 shares. PanJam Investment ended 25 cents higher at $44, with 25,274 units, Portland JSX lost 40 cents and concluded trading at $10, with 15,830 shares, Pulse Investments slipped 1 cent and finished at $1.78, with 9,000 shares, Radio Jamaica rose 2 cents and settled at $1.07, with 33,090 shares. Sagicor Group ended trading at $37.60, with 1,073,450 stock units and Sagicor Real Estate Fund rose 30 to $15.30, with 17,936 stock units. 
Scotia Group finished trading at $50, with 608,581 shares traded, Seprod rose 76 cents and concluded trading at $34.99, with 2,700 stock units, Supreme Ventures gained 13 cents and settled at $11.70, with 1,089,028 shares. Victoria Mutual Investments gained 5 cents and ended trading at $4.25, with 194,155 shares, Wisynco Group traded with a gain of 16 cents at $10.85, with 1,382,174 shares. In the main market preference segment, Jamaica Money Market 7.25% lost 5 cents and ended trading at $2.50, with 1,800 shares, Jamaica Money Market7.5% traded at $1.92, with 2,138 stock units, JMMBC 7.25% ended rose 10 cents to $2.10, with 50,000 shares, Proven Investments 8.25% rose 90 cent and closed at $5.90, with 712,300 stock units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place. For more details of market activities, see “JSE main market trades at record high – Monday.”
JSE main market climbs on Friday
Stocks closed much higher on the Jamaica Stock Exchange main market on Friday than on Thursday as the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index increased by 96.51 points to 325,799.33 and the JSE Index advanced by 87.93 points to 296,840.01.
At the close, 25 securities traded, compared to 26 on Thursday and ended with the prices of 7 stocks rising, 11 falling and 8 trading firm, in the main and US dollar markets.
At the close of trading, Kingston Properties gained $1.39 to $6.64, Kingston Wharves fell $1.45 to $48.05, NCB Financial rose $2 to $97 after the banking group posted increased profit for the six months to March and Portland JSX jumped $1.89 on positive year end results.
Main market activity ended with 22,131,577 units valued at $314,568,605 compared to 6,955,242 units valued at over $271,269,169 on Thursday. At the close of trading Wisynco Group ended with 8,307,655 units and accounted for 37.54 percent of the day’s volume followed by Ciboney Group with 7,063,873 units and 31.92 percent of the volume and Sagicor Group closed with 4,907,816 units and 22.18 percent of the day’s volume.
Trading resulted in an average of 922,149 units valued at an average of $13,107,025 for each security traded. In contrast to 289,802 units valued at an average of $11,302,882 on Thursday. The average for the month to date is 723,010 shares with a value of $5,999,413 and previously 713,135 shares with a value of $5,603,629.
NCB closed $2 higher on Friday.
In contrast, March closed with an average of 626,526 units with an average value at $20,492,207 for each security traded.
Trading in the US dollar market, ended with Proven Investments falling 3 cents to 22 US cents trading 183,095 units on Friday and leaving the Market index down 13.44 points to 164.44.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 11 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 closing with a lower offers.
For more details of market activities see – Trading on JSE main market elevated – Friday.
Trading elevated on JSE main market – Friday
Bulls may be lurching to pounce on Jamaican stocks.
Trading on the Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Friday ended with 24 securities changing hands, resulting in 22,131,577 units valued at $314,568,605 trading leading to a rise in the market indices.
The main market closed with 9 securities rising, 8 declining and 7 trading firm, as the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index increased by 727.45 points to 326,526.78 and the JSE Index advanced 662.79 points to close at 297,502.80.
In market activity, Barita Investments lost 25 cents and closed at $10, with 11,890 shares, Berger Paints ended at $19.05, with 25,531 stock units, Carreras concluded trading at $10.60, with 415,364 units, after rising 25 cents, Caribbean Cement lost 1 cents and finished at $37.99, with 7,555 shares, Ciboney Group fell 3 cents to 10 cents with 7,063,873 shares trading. Grace Kennedy ended trading at $49, with 32,450 shares, Jamaica Broilers traded with a rise of 50 cents at $21, exchanging 44,397 stock units, Jamaica Producers climbed 49 cents and finished trading 8,514 units at $16.99, Jamaica Stock Exchange closed at $6.85, with 51,818 shares. JMMB Group gained 48 cents and ended at $26.98, with 77,600 shares, Kingston Properties spiked $1.39 to conclude trading at $6.64, with just 840 shares, Kingston Wharves finished with a fall of $1.45 to $48.05, trading 100,791 stock units, Mayberry Investments settled at $6.02, with 82,641 units changing hands. NCB Financial Group ended trading with a rise of $2 to $97, with 92,006 shares, with investors responding positively to the six months results. Portland JSX jumped $1.89 and ended at $10.40, with 82,924 units after the company posted a profit for 2018. 
Pulse Investments concluded trading at $1.79, with 1,085 shares, Sagicor Group settled at $37.60, with a rise of 10 cents after 4,907,816 shares traded and Sagicor Real Estate Fund settled at $15, with 20,000 shares. Scotia Group lost 50 cents to trade at $50, with 202,000 units, Seprod fell 77 cents and finished trading at $34.23, with 58,738 shares, Supreme Ventures lost 18 cents and ended at $11.57, with 297,625 shares, Victoria Mutual Investments concluded trading at $4.20, after losing 10 cents with 227,874 stock units and Wisynco Group finished at $10.69, up 19 cents with 8,307,655 units changing hands. In the main market preference segment, JMMB Group 7.5% finished at 99 cents, with 10,590 stock units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place. For more details of market activities, see “JSE main market climbs on Friday.”