Volume trading dropped on the Jamaica Stock Exchange US dollar market on Wednesday, with less than half of Tuesday’s levels as the number of active companies increased by one, leading to a moderate rise in the market index.
Market activity ended with just five securities changing hands after three stocks rose, one declined and one remained unchanged. Investors exchanged 272,913 units valued at US$53,621, in contrast to 720,104 units at $113,792 from the trading of seven securities on Tuesday.
At the close, the market index gained 3.01 points to 190.58 and the PE ratio of the market closed with an average of 12.9 times 2020 earnings.
At the end of trading, First Rock Capital fell 0.1 of a cent in exchanging 22,118 units at 8.5 US cents, Proven Investments traded 4,172 shares to end at 22.8 US cents. Sygnus Credit Investments ended at 12.9 US cents after exchanging 523 units, with a rise of 0.1 of a cent and Trans Jamaican Highway put on 0.1 of a cent to end at 0.99 of a US cent in transferring 200,100 shares. Trading in the preference segment ended with JMMB Group 6% preference shares exchanging 46,000 units after rising 7 cents to close at US$1.06.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
Market activity ended with just four securities changing hands, three declined and one remained unchanged. Investors exchanged 720,104 units valued at over $113,792, in contrast to 355,751 units at US$22,821 from the trading of seven securities on Monday.
Market activity ended in seven securities changing hands, with two advancing while five remained unchanged. Investors exchanged 355,751 units at US$22,821, in contrast to 1,343277 units for US$36,373 on Friday.
In the Main Market, Seprod rose to $49.99 from $44.10 on limited volume, following robust first-quarter results, to be replaced by Proven Investments.
The three top Junior Market stocks with the potential to gain between 355 to 663 percent by 2021 are
he targeted average PE ratio of the market is 20 based on the profits of companies reporting full year’s results for the financial year ending after this year’s second quarter and up to the second quarter in 2021. Both the Junior and Main markets are currently trading well below this level. The JSE Main Market ended the week, with an overall PE of 13.6 and the Junior Market a mere 8.9, based on current 2020-21 earnings. The PE ratio for Junior Market Top 10 stocks averages a mere 5 with the Main Market at a much higher level of 8.4.
IC TOP 10 stocks are likely to deliver the best returns to March 2021. Forecasted earnings and PE ratio for the current fiscal year are in determining potential gains. The ranking of stocks is in order of likely increases, with the highest-ranked, being the most attractive. Expected values will change as stock prices fluctuate and will result in movements of the selection in and out of the lists for most weeks. Revisions to earnings per share are ongoing, based on receipt of new information.
Friday’s decline brings the year to date loss to 17.4 percent as a number of the stocks pulled back from the highs they were trading at earlier in the year. At the close of trading, the PE ratio of the market ended with an average of 13.0 times 2020 earnings.
Market activity resulted in four securities changing hands, with one declining, leaving three unchanged. Investors traded 851,302 units with a value of US$82,312, in contrast to 80,549 units for US$15,756 on Wednesday.
The JSE US dollar Market closed trading on Wednesday with a lower volume and value of stocks crossing the market than on Tuesday. 
At the close, the market Index gained 3.93 points to end at 192.62 and the PE ratio closed with an average of 13.1 times 2020 earnings.
Wisynco Group generated EPS of 78 cents vs 61 cents for the nine months to March. General Accident released 2019 audited accounts that showed for the first time the impact of the acquisition of their 55 percent interest in the Trinidad based Motor One insurance company at $238 million.
This week’s focus: Seprod released first quarter results after trading closed on Friday, with ongoing operating profits more than doubling from $312 million to $632 million for the 2020 first quarter, with EPS of 86 cents. Revenues climbed 6 percent from continuing operations to $9.14 billion, an increase of $544 million. The big improvement arose from the closure of the sugar manufacturing operations and improvement in profit margin. The Sugar operations generated a loss of nearly $140 million in 2019 and just $15 million in the latest quarter while gross profit margin jumped to 30 percent from 26.6 percent in 2019. The first quarter results are in line with ICInsider.com’s forecast of $4 per share earnings for this year and put the PE at just 11 times current year’s earnings.
The average projected gain for the IC TOP 10 stocks is 338 percent, for the Junior Market and 139 percent for the JSE Main Market, based on 2020-21 earnings.