Investors moved the Jamaica Stock Exchange higher on Monday with the All Jamaican Composite Index climbed 1,040.26 points to close at 332,535.72 and the JSE Index advanced by 947.79 points to 302,977.61.
Market activities resulted in 33 securities trading, compared to 29 on Thursday in the main and US dollar markets of which 13 advanced, 9 declined and 11 traded firm.
Stocks with major price changes are, Caribbean Cement with a rise of $1.50 to $40.50, Jamaica Broilers dropping $4.70 to $21.60, PanJam Investment declining 98 cents to $51 and Scotia Group gaining $1.49 to $51.
The volume of stocks trading on the main market declined sharply to 3,192,844 units valued at $66,838,582, down from 7,187,416 units valued at $228,155,035 on Friday.
The main trades were, Sagicor Group with 1,023,740 units 32.06 percent followed by Wisynco Group with 907,325 units and acoounti9ng for 28.42 percent of the total shares traded and JMMB Group with 7.50% preference shares trading with 424,000 units 13.28 percent of the day’s trade.
Trading resulted in an average of 106,428 units valued at an average of $2,227,953 for each security traded. In contrast to 312,496 units for an average of $9,919,784 on Friday. For the month to date 184,656 units traded with an average value of $5,451,880 and on the previous day 197,915 units traded with an average value of $6,902,395 on average. May closed with an average of 589,414 shares with a value of $16,532.367, for each security traded.
In the US dollar market, 2390 units valued at just US$319 traded with Productivity Business settling at 62 US cents with 500 shares trading and Sterling Investments trading 100 units with the loss of 1 cent to close at 9 US cents and in the US dollar preference sectors JMMB Group 5.75% closed at $2.25 with 1,790 units. The JSE USD Equities Index slipped 0.44 points to close at 166.51.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 5 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 closing with lower offers.
For more details of market activities see – Rise in main market securities trading – Monday.
Jump in main market securities trading
Jamaica Broilers dropped $4.70 on Monday.
At the close of trading, the All Jamaican Composite Index climbed 1,040.26 points to close at 332,535.72 and the JSE Index advanced by 947.79 points to close at 302,977.61.
A high level of 30 securities traded on Monday, resulting in 12 advancing, 9 declining and 9 remaining firm resulted in 3,192,844 units valued at $66,838,582 trading.
In market activity Barita Investments rose 45 cents and closed at $12, with 3,850 shares, Berger Paints ended at $20, with 1,000 stock units, Caribbean Cement concluded trading with a rise of $1.50 to end at $40.50, while exchanging 40,980 units, Carreras closed at $10.45, with 10,900 shares, Ciboney Group closed at 13 cents, with 141,600 shares, Grace Kennedy settled at $49.50, with 7,132 shares. Jamaica Broilers dropped $4.70 and ended trading at $21.60, with 158,337 shares, Jamaica Producers traded 4,053 stock units at $16.85, Jamaica Stock Exchange rose 20 cents and finished trading at $7.50, with 37,018 units, JMMB Group closed 50 cents higher at $28, with 16,682 shares. Kingston Properties lost 50 cents to end at $6, with 2,100 shares, Kingston Wharves gained 50 cents in concluding trading at $46.50, with 11,018 shares, Mayberry Investments gave up 10 cents and finished at $6.40, with 29,948 stock units, NCB Financial Group rose 50 cents and settled at $97, with 55,490 units. PanJam Investment fell 98 cents and finished trading at $51, with 1,079 shares, Proven Investments closed at $28.50 while 448 units traded, 
Pulse Investments added 19 cents and ended at $1.60, with 1,500 units, Radio Jamaica concluded trading 2 cents higher to $1.10, with 12,917 shares, Sagicor Group lost 55 cents and finished at $39, with 1,023,740 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 5,314 units and fell 70 cents to end at $13.80. Salada Foods settled trading with 10,000 shares at $14, Scotia Group jumped $1.49 to end trading at $51.50, with 39,946 stock units changing hands, Seprod traded 8,590 units at $35, Supreme Ventures grew 50 cents and closed at $13.50, with 145,968 shares, Victoria Mutual Investments gained just 1 cent and ended at $4, with 46,455 shares and Wisynco Group concluded trading by adding 10 cents to end at $9.75, with 907,325 stock units being exchanged.In the main market preference segment, Jamaica Money Market 7.5% rose 4 cents and finished trading at $1.85, with 40,954 units, JMMB Group 7.25% concluded trading at $2.11, with 4,500 shares, JMMB Group 7.5% gained 9 cents and settled at $1.09, with 424,000 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 moved higher on Monday.”
Scotia pushes JSE down sharply Friday
Scotia Groupd price drop pulls JSE down on friday.
The All Jamaican Composite Index dived sharply by 4,246.63 points to 331,495.46 and the JSE Index had a big drop of 3,869.16 points to 302,029.82.
The volume of stocks trading on the main market was 7,187,416 units valued at $228,155,035 compared to 11,661,188 units valued at $284,601,737 on Thursday.
The main trades were, Grace Kennedy with 3,116,194 units accounting for 43.36 percent of trading, followed by Carreras with 1,575,999 units and 21.93 percent of the day’s volume and Supreme Ventures with 800,000 units.
Market activities resulted in 25 securities trading, compared to 29 on Thursday in the main and US dollar markets of which 12 advanced, 6 declined and 7 traded firm while Jamaica Broilers and JMMB Group 7% preference share closed at record high price.
Stocks with major price changes are, Jamaica Broilers jumping $3.10 to a record close of $26.30, JMMB Group falling $1 to close at $27.50, NCB Financial up $1.24 to $96.50, PanJam Investment up $1.33 to $51.98 and Scotia Group dived $2.99 to $50.01.
Trading resulted in an average of 312,496 units valued at an average of $9,919,784 for each security traded. In contrast to 448,507 units for an average of $10,946,221 on Thursday. For the month to date 197,915 units traded with an average value of $6,902,395 and on the previous day 217,527 units traded with an average value of $6,588,540 on average. May closed with an average of 589,414 shares with a value of $16,532.367, for each security traded.In the US dollar market, 149,071 units valued at over $29,638 traded with Sterling Investments trading 438 units at 10 US cents and Proven Investments rose 1 cent with 148,633 units trading to close at 20 US cents. The JSE USD Equities Index advanced 4.22 points to close at 166.95.
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 4 closing with lower offers.
For more details of market activities see – JSE main market close down on Friday.
JSE main market slides – Friday
The Jamaica Stock Exchange closed on Friday with a sharp retreat from record close of the indices on Thursday, even as more stocks rose than fell.
At the close of trading, the All Jamaican Composite Index dived 4,246.63 points to 331,495.46 and the JSE Index dropped sharply by 3,869.16 points to 302,029.82.
A total of 23 securities changed hands, resulting in 11 advancing, 6 declining and 6 remaining firm as 7,187,416 units valued at $228,155,035 traded.
In market activity, Barita Investments closed down 54 cents, to $11.55, with 1,650 shares, Berger Paints gained 50 cents and ended at $20, with 8,000 stock units, Carreras fell 10 cents and finished at $10.50, with 1,575,999 shares changing hands, Grace Kennedy fell 50 cents to end at $49.50, with 3,116,194 stock units, Jamaica Broilers jumped $3.10 to a new all-time high of $26.30, with 51,790 units changing hands. Jamaica Producers rose 40 and closed at $16.85, with a mere 125 shares, Jamaica Stock Exchange ended at $7.30, with 123,000 shares, JMMB Group concluded trading after falling $1 to close at $27.50, with 658,507 shares, Kingston Wharves settled at $46, with 2,780 units. Mayberry Investments gained 5 cents and ended trading at $6.50, with 35,000 shares, NCB Financial Group climbed $1.23 to $96.50, with 38,364 shares, PanJam Investment jumped $1.33 and ended at $51.98, with 6,155 units, Radio Jamaica settled at $1.08, with 5,921 shares. Sagicor Group ended trading with a rise of 5 cents to $39.55, while exchanging 109,852 stock units and Sagicor Real Estate Fund finished trading at $14.50, with 65,260 stock units. 
Salada Foods traded 10,000 units at $14, Scotia Group dropped $2.99 to finish trading 305,483 shares at $50.01, after the group posted lower profit in the April quarter. Supreme Ventures added 10 cents and settled at $13, with 800,000 shares. Victoria Mutual Investments ended 9 cents richer at $3.99, trading 102,912 shares, Wisynco Group gave up 15 cents in closing trading at $9.65, with 118,424 shares. In the main market preference segment, JMMB Group 7% rose 10 cents to $2.11, with 25,000 shares, JMMB Group 7.25 % gained 3 cents and ended at $2.11, with 25,000 shares, Productivity Business 9.75% finished trading at $103, with 2,000 shares, 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 “Scotia pushes JSE down sharply Friday.”
JSE main market in 5,000 pts jump -Thursday
Trading closed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Thursday, with more than 5,000 points jump in the market indices, after crossing a series of record highs during the trading session and closed at the highest level in the market’s history.
At the close of trading, the All Jamaican Composite Index surged 5,792.25 points to close at a record 335,742.09 points and the JSE Index jumped 5,277.40 points to a closing record high of 305,898.98.
A total of 26 securities changed hands, resulting in 11 advancing, 11 declining and 4 remaining firm.
Trading on the JSE main market ended with the overall volume and value returning to more normal levels of 4,749,951 units valued at $102,233,802 units.
In market activity, Barita Investments closed at $12.09, with an exchange of 200 shares, Berger Paints ended at $19.50, with 16,000 stock units traded, Carreras closed at $10.60, with 5,130 units, Caribbean Cement gained 20 cents and finished at $39, with 47,447 shares, Ciboney Group rose 1 cent to settle at 13 cents, with 12,000 shares trading. Grace Kennedy added just 1 cent and ended trading at $50, with 2,369 shares, Jamaica Broilers traded at 52 weeks’ high of $23.20, after rising 25 cents with 10,703 stock units, JMMB Group jumped $1 and ended trading at $28.50, with 230,317 shares, Jamaica Producers lost 5 cents and finished trading at $16.45, with 24,901 units changing hands, Jamaica Stock Exchange closed with a rise of 11 cents to $7.30, trading 370 shares. Kingston Properties ended at $6.50 after falling 10 cents, with 1,800 shares, Kingston Wharves jumped $4 and concluded trading at $46, with just 500 shares changing hands, Mayberry Investments rose 44 cents to end at $6.45, with 15,504 stock units, NCB Financial Group settled 9 cents lower at $95.26, with 51,713 units. 1834 Investments dropped 18 cents to $1.06, with 3,500 shares, PanJam Investment finished with a rise of 65 cents to $50.65, trading 6,300 shares, 
Pulse Investments ended at $1.79, exchanging 40,100 units, Radio Jamaica lost 12 and concluded trading at $1.08, with 1,800 shares. Sagicor Group lost 50 cents and ended at $39.50, trading 2,674,599 shares and Sagicor Real Estate Fund lost 50 cents and finished at $14.50, with 1,600 units. Scotia Group gained 1 cent and ended trading at $53, with 2,019,507 stock units trading, Supreme Ventures closed with 48,970 shares trading and fell 10 cents to $12.90, Victoria Mutual Investments ended at $3.90, with 442,461 shares. Wisynco Group concluded trading at $9.80, with 5,360,241 stock units but fell 5 cents in the process. In the main market preference segment, JMMB Group lost 1 cent and ended at $2, with 300 shares, JMMB Group settled at $1, with 642,856 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 “Jamaica Broiler grabs 99% of trade – Tuesday.”
Lower Q2 profit for Scotia Group
Scotia Group reported a 19 percent rise in half profit to $6.76 billion after tax, but that clouds the fall in profit for the second quarter to April that fell marginally thanks to a big jump in loan provisioning of $560 million compared to a small recovery of $6 million in the January quarter.
The half year earnings are bolstered by a gain on sale of subsidiary of $753 million.
Shareholders don’t have much to cheer about except that loan losses are within the range of that of 2017 along with a few other good developments. Net interest income fell to $6.2 billion from $6.5 billion in April 2017 quarter, Insurance revenues fell from $1.1 billion to $707 million. Cost were contained well, with salaries and benefits declining from $2.84 billion in 2017 to $2,46 billion in the April quarter while other operating costs, rose marginally from $1.76 billion to $1.86 billion.
Year to date, net interest income moved from 13.17 billion to $12.82 billion while loan impairment fell sharply from $975 million to $564 million. Net fee income declined from $4.4 billion to $4.1, but gains from foreign exchange trading activities delivered $1.66 billion versus $1.1 billion in 2017. While the half year figures show a bit of positive signs, investors should be focused on more recent developments, as these are more likely to point the way forward.
The group made modest progress in increasing loans, the most important asset for a bank. At the end of April, loans grew to $171 billion from $166.5 billion at the end of 2017 fiscal year, the increase is twice the growth rate between April last year and the year end. Investment securities rose from $120 billion at the end of October in 2017 to $131.6 billion and cash resources from $116.5 billion to $126.2 billion, at a much faster pace than increased in lending. Deposits by the public moved from $260.6 billion to $383 billion.
David Noel new Scotia Group’s CEO.
Scotia ended with earnings per share of $1.08 for the quarter and $2.17 for the half year, including the one-off capital gains from sale of the former subsidiary. A dividend of 48 cents per share was declared by the board, payable on July 18.
The strongest positive for the group is that they currently lend out just about 52 percent of deposited funds by its customers, leaving much room to grow loans whenever that time comes around.
The stock traded on the Jamaica Stock Exchange and closed at $53 but with these results, further movement up is going to be very challenging in the short term and leaves NCB Financial as the banking group of choice for investors seeking growth in stock price.
AJI closes at record 335,742 points
The All Jamaican Composite Index (AJI) surged 5,792.25 points to close at a record 335,742.09 points and the JSE Index jumped 5,277.40 points to a closing record high of 305,898.98 as the market surpassed both the 334,000 and 335,000 marks on the same day, for the first time.
At the close on Thursday, 26 securities traded in the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange climbed to 11,661,188 units valued at $284,601,737 compared to 4,749,951 units valued at $102,233,802 on Wednesday as the market scaled new heights. Previously, the AJI ended at a record closing high of 332,501.11 points on May 4, this year and drifted downwards, prior to today’s strong rally and break upwards.
The main trades were, Wisynco Group with 5,360,241 units to close at $9.80, amounting to 46 percent of the total volume traded, while Sagicor Group traded 2,674,599 units 599 accounting for 23 percent of the day’s volume and Scotia Group closed with just over 17 percent of the day’s volume, having traded 2,019,507 units, the next highest was Victoria Mutual Investments with 442,261 units and in the preference sector JMMB Group 7.5% trading 642,856 units.
Market activities resulted in 31 securities trading, compared to 26 on Wednesday, in the main and US markets. At the close, 12 securities gained, 10 declined and 9 traded firm.
Stocks with major price changes are, JMMB Group rose $1 to close at $28.50, Kingston Wharves jumped $4 to end at $46 and PanJam Investment rose 65 cents to $50.65.
Trading resulted in an average of 448,507 units valued at an average of $10,946,221 for each security traded. In contrast to 182,690 units for an average of $3,932,069 on Wednesday. For the month to date 217,527 units traded with an average value of $6,588,540 and on the previous day 158,650 units valued at 3,992,107 on average. May closed with an average of 589,414 shares with a value of $16,532.367, for each security traded.
In the US dollar market, 30,210 units valued at over $15,975 traded with Sterling Investments ; trading 15,000 units and adding 1 cent to end at 10 US cents followed by<strong> Proven Investments ; with 10,378 units to close at 19 US cents and JMMB Group 6% USD preference share with 13,352 units and closed at US$1. The JSE USD Equities Index rose 0.35 points to close at 162.73.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 5 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 closing with lower offers.
JSE trading at new record of 335,379 points
The Jamaica Stock Exchange main market is currently trading in record territory with the all Jamaica Composite index having surpassed the 334,000 mark around mid day, moved to more than 335,000 points just ahead of the close.
The market having surpassed the 334,000 points for the first time around midday, moved even higher to trade at level 335,379.45 points with 15 minutes to go before the close with a rise of 5,429.21 points.
The All Jamaica Composite Index rose 4,212.92 points to 334,155.76 points just after midday while the JSE index rose to 3,838,45 points to 304,460.03 points, Scotia Group trading at $52.99 and JMMB Group at $28 were the two major contributors to the market rise. Wisynco Group trades at $9.80 and accounted for the largest block of shares with 5.356 million units of the stock traded.The AJI ended at a record closing high of 332,501.11 points on May 4, this year.
The Junior Market at the same time plunged 64.06 to 2,947.20.Iron Rock traded 4.24 million units in the Junior Market and Blue Power traded 538,182 units with the price falling to $28 from $the last traded price of $37.
SOS back in, Lasco Financial out of TOP 10
Stationery & Office Supplies is back in the TOP 10 but could fall in prive this week before moving higher.
A number of companies reported results in the past week, with some in the TOP 10 not getting much help from the new information and some of the top stocks earnings being downgraded, based on new information conveyed by the latest results.
Lasco Financial posted a strong 37 percent rise in profit, from $162 million to $222 million, but with slightly lower March quarter profit of $55 million, from $62 million, based on sharply increased finance cost that rose from $2 million to $14 million, as revenues grew more than 41 percent in the quarter, from $288 million to $405 million. Based on the new numbers, IC Insider.com places earnings for the current fiscal year at 50 cents per share or just around $650 million. 
The forecast is not enough to keep it in the Top 10 but it remains a solid buy, just below. Replacing Lasco Financial is Stationery and Office Supplies with the price pulling back during the week to close at $8.06. The price looks as if it could fall to the $6.50 region which would make it an even better buy.
All main market stocks remained in the top spots, but earnings for JMMB Group was downgraded following the March results and so too was Berger Paints. 
Radio Jamaica reported a loss in the March quarter and a loss for the full year, with a portion of the losses coming from one off items. The charge for depreciation and amortization is $255 million for the March 2018 fiscal year, well in excess of the loss reported for the year, resulting in a positive cash flow operation.
At the close of Friday, the average PE ratio for Junior Market Top stocks ended at 6 compared to an average PE for the overall main market of 11, based on 2018 estimated earnings. The main market PE is 7.6 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 44 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 41 percent to the market. Investors should keep an eye out for Scotia Group that should release half year results on Wednesday.
JSE trading back to normal – Friday
The volume of stocks trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange dropped to 4,603,241 units valued at $166,353,769, well down from 170,209,058 units on Thursday valued at $3,113,335,699.
The main trades were Grace Kennedy with 1,462,365 units amounting to 31.77 percent of the day’s volume, followed by Sagicor Group with 1,357,691 units for 29.49 percent of total volume and Wisynco Group with 721,410 units and 15.67 percent of trade.
Market activities resulted in 25 securities trading, compared to 26 on Thursday, in the main and US markets. At the close, 7 securities gained, 10 declined and 8 traded firm and the All Jamaican Composite Index surged 3,607.57 points to 329,083.46 and the JSE Index jumped 3,286.90 points to close at 299,832.21.
Stocks with major price changes are, Caribbean Cement declining $1 to $39, Jamaica Broilers rising $2.81 to $21, Kingston Wharves down 90 cents to end at $46, NCB Financial Group trading at $96 after rising $1, Sagicor Group rallying $1.30 to $38.30 and Scotia Group advancing $1.05 to $51.05
Trading resulted in an average of 200,141 units valued at an average of $7,232,773 for each security traded, in contrast to 7,092,044 units for an average of $129,722,321 on Thursday. May closed with an average of 589,414 shares with a value of $16,532.367, for each security traded.
In the US dollar market, Productivity Business Solution, ordinary share finished trading with a fall of 1 cent, to 62 US cents, with 618 units trading and Proven Investments ended with 13,475 units trading with a loss of 2 cents to 20 US cents. The JSE USD Equities Index lost 9.75 points to close at 171.36
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 2 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 closing with lower offers.
For more details of market activities see – JSE main market indices jump sharply – Friday.
