Wednesday 10th July 2013 | The movement in the indices of the Jamaica Stock Exchange sums up the market as in the end it was neither fish nor fowl. There were very moderate shifts with the junior market slipping back from a series of days when it kept moving up to new records highs. The volume of stocks traded was 5.08 million at a value of $19.97 million, a little more than Tuesday’s $15.1 million. The advance decline ratio remained almost evenly split, with 7 declining and 8 advancing.

Main Market | The various indices all moved by less than 100 points as only the junior market and combined indices declined. In trades of note, Carreras gained $1 closing at $55 while trading 13,600 units. Grace Kennedy slipped 50 cents to close at $59.50, as 14,500 units traded. Jamaica Producers dropped 46 cents to $19.50 with 21,840 units trading.

Junior market | 10 stocks traded in the junior market with the price of 3 moving up and 4 fell. Lasco Distributors off 10 cents closed at $1.70 while trading 703,738 units and Lasco Manufacturing, which also lost 10 cents, closed at $1.70 for 1 million shares traded. Lasco Financial Services traded over a 1.1 million shares and lost 5 cents as the price settled at $1.30 for the day. Blue Power, surprisingly, traded up to $10.75 in early trading but closed at $10.00 with more than 295,000 shares trading with the stock up 1 cent. Mayberry Investments was the main buyer for their own account. General Accident traded 100,000 shares to close at $2. The only other trade of note is Access Financial which traded at an all-time high of $8.50, with 1,500 shares trading. Supply of this stock is scarce and bodes well for further gains.

Proven Investment ordinary shares, which are quoted in US dollars, traded 136,075 units at a value of US$15,462, the stock gained .001 of a cent.  Importantly, there was no stock on offer at the close.

Market intelligence | Cable & Wireless moved up by 2 cents in today’s trading, but only 65,000 shares traded, which hardly dented the supply at 15 cents which remains at over 29 million units. The demand for the stock has not changed much since Tuesday. The position with RJR with a bid at $1.23 for 4.9 million units has not changed nor has the supply. Good support exists for Sagicor Life at $8.40, Carreras support is pretty good at $53.50 and this could be the floor for the price for a while.  Demand seems to have pulled back for Jamaica Broilers with the only serious bid at $4.80. The stock traded 289,000 units and lost 5 cents to close at $5.20. Grace Kennedy supply of 700,000 units at $61 remains as a barrier for upward price movement for the time being. Mayberry’s sell order of 305,000 Blue Power stock was partially reduced as buying lowered the amount to 223,000 units which are on offer at $10.50.  There are good bids in the market for JMMB’s stock between $7.85 and just over $8 while decent supply is listed at $10.50 and above.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows that bids for 4 stocks were higher with 3 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

Tuesday, 10th July 2013 | In today’s stock market activity, 30 companies, traded 5.5 million shares valued at $15.1 million on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. The advance decline ratio was even at 8 each. Only the junior market index recorded an increase as it made the fourth record high within a week. The other indices except the US equity index which moved up 1 point, declined marginally, the cross listed stock did not trade.

Main Market | Trades of note include: Cable & Wireless traded a million shares between 13 and 14 cents; the large offer at 15 cents is now down to 29.3 million units. Carreras gave up $1 to close at $54 with 4.950 units trading. Grace Kennedy put on 50 cents and closed at $60 on very little volume. National Commercial Bank traded 80,500 shares and lost 21 cents while closing at $19.04. Scotia Group was off 90 cents to $21.10 with 25.680 shares trading. Sagicor Life traded 201,000 units and closed at $9.

Junior market | 11 stocks in the junior market traded, 3 of which closed at new all-time highs while 4 traded at new all-time high during the day. Blue Power closed up at $9.92, an increase of 81 cents as 11,530 shares traded. The focus remains on the Lasco companies as all three hit all time price highs during trading. Lasco Distributors traded 914,381 units between $1.80 and $1.85 and closed at $1.80. Lasco Finance saw more than 572,500 units changing hands between $1.30 and $1.35 and closed at $1.35 up 5 cents. Lasco Manufacturing closed up 15 cents at $1.80 while trading between $1.70 and $1.86 during trading as 961,967 units traded. Caribbean Creams traded 239,580 units at $1.03 each, General Accident chipped in with 223,645 units at $2.

Proven Investment Preference shares traded 589,390 units valued at $3 million while 10,800 of the ordinary shares traded.

Market intelligence | The supply and demand for some selected stocks reported last week has remained essentially the same so investors should pay attention for timing purposes.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows that bids for 5 stocks were higher with 3 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

Monday, 8th July 2013 | In a moderate trading session, the junior market raced to the 4^th record high in less than a week as the Lasco Manufacturing and AMG Packaging moved up minutely in price. But the fall back in the price of Scotia Group from the impact of Friday’s rise, when it traded at $24, was felt today along with a fall in NCB and Carreras.

Main Market | The all Jamaica Index fell sharply by 2,286.97 points to close at 88,233.55 and the main market index dropped by 1,299.05 to end the day at 86,977.41. Trades of note include Carreras down to $55 off by 78 cents while trading 5,750 shares, NCB shed 75 cents to close at $19.25 with 71,600 shares trading, Sagicor Life put on 57 cents to close at $9, 180,538 shares traded, Scotia Group traded 152,000 shares valued at $3.2 million and closed back at $22, the same as the last trade on Friday. Scotia Investment traded 87,852 shares as the stock closed at $26 down 50 cents, after trading between $26 and $26.70.

Junior Market | 10 stocks traded in the junior market with Blue Power trading 45,798 shares at the price of $9.18 with no change for the day. Caribbean Producers traded 75,712 units at $2.03. Dolphin Cove closed down 15 cents at $8.20, General Accident moved 353,000 between $1.96 and $2.02, Lasco Distributors traded 381,576 units at $1.80 and had a bid for 118,000 units at $1.80 at the close. Lasco Finance saw more than 441,000 units changing hands between $1.30 and $1.32 with 73,000 units on the bid at the close at $1.33. Lasco Manufacturing closed up 2 cents at $1.65, an all-time closing high with 60,000 units. The stock traded between $1.65 and $1.80.

The three Lasco shares will be free to trade  in the post-split quantities on Tuesday. With the full volume available to trade, it should be interesting to see the market’s reaction.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows that bids for 4 stocks were higher with 3 stocks having offers that were lower than their last selling price.