Trading on Thursday ended with the USD market declining after traded sunk with 51 percent fewer shares than on Wednesday, resulting in rising stocks edging out those that declined.
Six securities changed hands, similar to Wednesday, with prices of two rising, one declining and three closing unchanged.
The JSE USD Equity Index fell 0.59 points to end at 194.59. The PE Ratio, a measure that determines an appropriate relative value of each stock, averaged 12.2 based on ICInsider.com’s forecast of 2021-22 earnings.
Overall, 165,898 shares traded for US$10,920 versus 336,261 units at US$10,167 on Wednesday.
Trading averaged 27,650 units at US$1,820, versus 56,044 shares at US$1,694 on Wednesday. Month to date trading averages 78,048 units at US$4,206 in contrast to 81,042 units at US$4,348 on Thursday. May ended with an average of 138,035 units for US$17,391.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows no stock ending with a higher bid than the last selling price and two with lower offers.
At the close, 
First Rock Capital rose 0.79 of a cent to 8 US cents with an exchange of 8,364 shares, Margaritaville remained at 9 US cents in swapping of 57,398 shares, Proven Investments dropped 0.84 of a cent to 25.01 US cents with 10,663 shares traded. Sterling Investments closed at 2 US cents with a transfer of 25,502 stocks, Sygnus Credit Investments popped 1 cent to 15 US cents, with 8,631 units changing hands and Transjamaican Highway settled at 0.85 of a US cent after 55,340 stock units crossed the exchange.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
Trading ended with five securities changing hands, compared to eight on Monday with prices of one stock rising, three declining and one remaining unchanged.
At the close, First Rock Capital declined by 0.98 of a cent to end at 8 US cents with an exchange of 163,018 stock units, Proven Investments 0.8 of a cent to 25.05 US cents, with ownership of 11,428 stock units switching, Sygnus Credit Investments dropped 1 cent to 14 US cents with 30,400 shares traded and Transjamaican Highway closed at 0.82 of a US cent with 16,686 units crossing the exchange.
The JSE USD Equity Index fell 1.90 points to 196.16. The PE Ratio, a measure of determining the appropriate relative value of each stock, based on ICInsider.com’s forecast of 2021-22 earnings averages 12.3.
Proven Investments gained 0.35 of a cent in closing at 25.85 US cents, with 1,808 stocks changing hands. Sterling Investments ended at 2 US cents after an exchange of 10,356 units, Sygnus Credit Investments popped 0.2 of a cent to 15 US cents trading 4,439 stock units and Transjamaican Highway fell 0.05 of a cent to 0.82 of a US cent in trading 283,393 units.
Scotia Group, along with Caribbean Cream, fell out of the TOP10 based on downward revisions to their earnings for the coming financial year ends. Moving into the Junior Market TOP10 is ISP Finance with the price dropping to $15.60 on Friday and the Main Market listed, Berger Paints moving back in the TOP10 with the price at $13.85 on Friday.
The targeted PE ratio for the market remains an average of 20 based on profits of companies reporting full year’s results up to the second quarter of 2022. Fiscal 2020-21 ended March 2021 with the average PE at 17 for Junior Stocks and 19 times for the Main Market. One reason why the Junior Market stocks have outperformed Main Market ones since last year can be seen from the big difference between the valuations of both markets, with the latter values close to maturity, based on present valuation metrics.
The Junior Market Top 10 stocks average a mere 6.7 at just 51 percent of the market average, indicating substantial gains ahead. The JSE Main Market ended the week with an overall PE of 17.1, a little distance from the 19 the market ended in March, suggesting just an 11 percent rise at a PE of 19 and 17 percent at a PE of 20 from now to March 2022. The Main Market TOP 10 trades at a PE of 7.9 or 46 percent of the PE of that market, well off the potential of 20.
Seven securities traded, up from four on Thursday with prices of two rising, four declining and one remaining unchanged.
0.85 of a cent to close at 9 US cents after exchanging 100,000 stocks, Proven Investments declined 0.45 of a cent to 25.5 US cents in exchanging 30,050 stock units. Sterling Investments remained at 2 US cents in exchanging 24,905 units, Sygnus Credit Investments shed 0.19 of a cent to close at 14.8 US cents, in trading just one unit, Transjamaican Highway gained 0.01 of a cent to end at 0.87 of a US cent in an exchange of 19,650 stocks.
Four securities traded on Thursday, down from six on Wednesday on the JSE USD market, with one stock rising, one declining and two ending unchanged, with the market index rising slightly, after an exchange of 93 percent fewer shares at 90 percent less value than on Wednesday and resulting in an even number of stocks falling and rising.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows one stock ended with the bid higher than its last selling price and three with lower offers.
At the close, First Rock Capital ended at 9 US cents with an exchange of 7,352 shares, Proven Investments slipped 0.09 of a cent to 25.9 US cents, trading 155,084 units, Sterling Investments settled at 2 US cents with a transfer of 45,825 shares. Sygnus Credit Investments rose 0.05 of a cent to 15.25 US cents with 30,029 units traded and Transjamaican Highway lost 0.02 of a cent to end at 0.86 of a US cent with 221,713 stocks crossing the exchange.
Five securities traded on Tuesday, similar to Monday, with prices of three stocks rising, one declining and one remaining unchanged. The JSE USD Equity Index rose 0.76 points to close at 198.43.
At the close, First Rock Capital gained 0.3 of a cent to finish at 9 US cents, trading 15,710 shares, Margaritaville rose 0.12 of a cent to 8.15 US cents with an exchange of 2,305 units, Proven Investments remained at 25.99 US cents with 36,850 stock units changing hands. Sterling Investments lost 0.04 of a cent to close at 2 US cents with 386,182 stock units changing hands and Transjamaican Highway added 0.02 of a cent to finish at 0.88 US cents with 52,615 shares crossing the exchange.
Other than Jetcon, prices of other TOP10 stocks had notable increases during the past week; these include; Jamaica Broilers and Grace Kennedy from the main market but Radio Jamaica, PanJam and Scotia Group prices took hits. In the Junior Market, Caribbean Cream, Access and Stationery and Office Supplies had nice gains resulted in the average gains projected slipping from 216 percent last week to 210 percent. The average projected gains for the Main Market stocks inched up last week from 169 to 170 percent.
The JSE All Jamaica Composite Index hit 466,915.58 points during the morning session on Friday, before closing lower at 459,273.23, up from 456,395.73, at the close of the previous week, as the market continues to wrestle with resistance.
This week’s focus: Access Financial Services came out with full year results that reflected increased lending and EPS of 50 cents in the March quarter. ICInsider.com upgraded earnings to just under $3 per share for the current fiscal year. Scotia Group also reported results for the six months to April, with a 12 percent rise in profit for the April quarter over the 2020 same quarter and an 11.4 percent rise for the six months results. The big negative is that the loan portfolio continued its decline into the April quarter. ICInsider.com now projects 2021 earnings at $4 per share.
The targeted PE ratio for the market averages 20 based on companies’ profits reporting full year’s results, up to the second quarter of 2022. Fiscal 2020-21 ended March 2021 with the average PE at 17 for Junior Stocks and 19 times for the Main Market.
IC TOP10 stocks are likely to deliver the best returns up to March 2022 and ranked in order of potential gains, based on likely increase for each company, considering the earnings and PE ratios for the current fiscal year. Expected values will change as stock prices fluctuate, resulting in periodic movements in and out of the lists. Revisions to earnings per share are ongoing, based on receipt of new information.
At the close, 200 shares of First Rock Capital traded at 9 US cents, Margaritaville shed 0.97 of a cent to close at 8.03 US cents with an exchange of 53,643 stock units, Proven Investments slipped 0.01 of a cent to close at 25.98 US cents while exchanging 8,690 stock units and Sygnus Credit Investments rose 0.2 of a cent to 15.2 US cents after 20,278 shares crossed the exchange.