Tuesday, 24th September 2013 | In a day which saw 11 st0cks advancing in price to 5 declining, the indices hardly moved unlike Monday when they fell sharply. Trading activity continues to be low with 6,371,632 shares trading at a value of $19.6 million.

Berger Paints activity accounted for 135,514 shares trading and closing  firm at $2.26; Cable & Wireless had 1,022,030 units changing hands firm at 18 cents; Caribbean Cement put in 66,493 units $2.20, losing 20 cents in the process; Gleaner Company had 70,000 shares trading firm at $1.17;  Jamaica Stock Exchange ordinary shares traded 333,300 units to close at $3 up 15 cents; National Commercial Bank only had 16,771 units changing hands as the price closed at $18.53, up a cent; Sagicor Life put in 33,000 units and closed at $8.50; Scotia Group had 72,325 units at $20.56 and gained a cent; Supreme Ventures had a good volume of 2,094,840 which closed at $2.60, up 4 cents; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% which has been trading more frequently in the past few weeks, put in 341,000 units today to close firm at $3 and Proven Investments 8% had a volume of 1,487,710 units valued at $7.4 million , closed firm at $5.07.

The junior market trading was sparse and only 4 stocks posted any volume to write about. General Accident Insurance traded 82,446 shares firm at $1.65; Honey Bun 39,000 shares traded firm at $3.41; Lasco Financial Services traded 496,643 units to close at $1.20 up 2 cents and Lasco Manufacturing 24,250 to close at $1.59.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed that there were bids for 8 stocks being higher and 4 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

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Monday, 23rd September 2013 | At 12:57pm, just 3 minutes before Monday’s trading ended, Jamaica Money Market Brokers sold 8,000,000 of JMMB stock at $8 each valued at $64,000,000 to NCB Capital Markets on behalf of clients. In addition, another 200,000 units were sold bringing the total value traded for the stock to $65.6 million. The trade helped to push the trading level up and saved the day from otherwise very low trading activity in which 9,951,701 shares traded at a value of $78,173,197. Eight (8) stocks declined on the day to just 2 that inched up slightly as stocks of 21 companies traded.

Main market | A 27 cents drop in Desnoes & Geddes brought the stock back to $4.50; there was a 48 cents fall in National Commercial Bank price to $18.52; a 50 cents drop for Sagicor Life; 24 cents off in Supreme Ventures to $2.56 and 8 cents off in Scotia Group to $20.55 were the main contributors to the 1,165.45 drop in the all Jamaica Index to 83,768.42 and a 662.38 decline in the main market index to 84,157.44.

Berger Paints traded 17,721 units firm at $2.26; Carreras saw 16,000 units trading to close firm at $47.50; Desnoes & Geddes lost 27 cents in trading 21,400 with the price ending at $4.50; Mayberry Investments exchanged 44,231 units at $2.60 with no price change from Friday.

National Commercial Bank Jamaica traded 34,272 units at $18.52; Sagicor Life Jamaica chip in with 23,200 at $8.50; Scotia Group Jamaica had a decent volume of 238,545 units and closed at $20.50; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% 102,000 units firm at $3; Proven Investments 8% traded 640,000 units firm at $5.09. Proven Investments had trading in 100,000 ordinary shares at US11.51 cents.

Junior market | The junior market index slipped 4.23 off the index to close at 753.60. Caribbean Producers 213,848 shares firm at $2.10; Dolphin Cove 12,000 shares traded firm at $8; Jamaican Teas traded 64,497 units at $4, down 20 cents; Lasco Distributors exchanged 17,023 at the start of the company’s 25 anniversary celebration at $1.45 but was off by 5 cents at the close and Lasco Financial Services traded 186,536 to close at $1.18 down 3 cents.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed that there were bids for 4 stocks being higher and 4 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price.

Friday, 20th September 2013 | The Jamaica Stock market bounced back on Friday after three days of declines as 5,298,523 units changed hands at a value of $27,073,392 with 7 stocks advancing in price to 6 declining.

The all Jamaica Index moved up by 673.98 to close at 84,933.87 and the Main market index was up 383.05 to 84,819.82 recovering most of the decline from Thursday. The recovery was not enough to stop the week from being down as the indices fell sharply from the start of the week to Thursday. The junior index declined once more since a small increase on Monday being off 5.52 to close the week at 757.83, the lowest since June 19 and a decline from 840 points on July 9.

The fall in the market this week along with the fall in the value of the Jamaican dollar against the US dollar may be sending negative signals to investors. However, the technical indicators point to a strong market ahead as the ‘golden cross’ is in full effect for the junior market and is well on the way for the main market with the 120 day moving average in the process of crossing through the 200 days moving average. Against this back ground, the market seems to be consolidating before moving up again.

Main Market | Trading was dominated by Jamaica Money Market Brokers and Jamaica Broilers Group with relatively large volumes. Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 1,000,000 units for a value of $8,000,000 and closed up 50 cents at $8 and Jamaica Broilers Group exchanged 1,568,140 units valued at $7,527,072 to close at $4.80 for a 5 cents gain. Elsewhere, Carreras put in a volume of 12,000 shares and closed at $47.50 down $1.49 on the day; Desnoes & Geddes 1,000 traded to close at $4.77 as the price gained 22 cents; Gleaner Company traded 60,000 and closed firm at $1.17; National Commercial Bank with 27,541 units closed at $19 for 33 cents gain; Sagicor Life Jamaica chipped in with 17,624 units and closed at $9 for 78 cents gain; Salada Foods had 200,000 shares changing hands firm at $8.50 with a value of $1,700,000; Scotia Group Jamaica 108,128 valued at $2,273,673 and closed at $20.58, down 51 cents and Supreme Ventures traded 44,107 shares at $2.80 for a 10 cents gain.

Juniors | Blue Power traded 160,000 units and absorbed most of the supply on the market as the priced closed at $9.90 for a 62 cents gain; Caribbean Cream traded 214,593 units, closed at 90 cents an all-time low, off by 13 cents; General Accident Insurance 65,000 units traded mostly at $1.75 but in late trading the price fell to $1.65, off by 12 cents at the end. KLE Group traded 14,460 units firm at $1.61, the trade sucked out the small amount of the stock that was on the bid, exposing the stock for a further fall in the price. Lasco Distributors had a fairly good volume of 986,896 units as the price closed firm at $1.50; Lasco Financial Services exchanged 313,667 units to close at $1.20, down 4 cents and Lasco Manufacturing traded 41,680 units firm at $1.45.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had deteriorated and showed that there were bids for 4 stocks being higher and 1 stock with an offer lower than their last selling price.

Thursday, 19th September 2013 | The advance decline ratio continues to be biased towards declining stocks in today’s trading. In the end, there were 8 stocks that declined to 10 that fell. 9,505,609 units traded valued at $24,622,649, including 1.5 million preference shares with a value of $7.5 million. The main market index fell by 389.16 to close at 84,436.77, the all Jamaica Index was down by 684.73 to 84,259.89 and the junior market was off 1.71 to 763.35.

The biggest movers were Grace Kennedy that gained back $2.48 from yesterday’s fall to close at $56 with 6,330 units trading and Carreras traded up 99 cents $48.99 with 39,187 units.

Cable & Wireless had a decent volume of 5,127,215 units trading up 1 cent t0 close at 18 cents; Jamaica Broilers 322,396 units resulting in a 25 cents drop in the price to $4.75; Jamaica Money Market exchanged 162,815 units to close at $7.50 down 50 cents; National Commercial Bank Jamaica exchanged just 37,500 units at $18.67 for a 2 cents increase; Sagicor Investments Jamaica contributed 10,812 units firm at $16.55; Sagicor Life saw their price moving down with 40,000 to $8.22 off 78 cents at the close and Scotia Group Jamaica lost 18 cents when the price closed at $21.09 with 40,000 units.

Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.50% traded 13600 units at $3.51, a decrease of 19 cents; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% traded 152,973 units firm at $3 and Proven Investments 8% had 1,372,000 shares exchanged firm at $5.09.

Access Financial Services 8,046 units resulted in a closing price of $8.28; AMG Packaging had 63,763 units exchanging hands firm at $4; Caribbean Producers had trading in 157,984 units as the price closed at $2.10; Lasco Distributors chipped in with 20,604 units as the price closed firm at $1.50; Lasco Financial Services had another large trade on Thursday as 1,176,747 changed hands, closing firm at $1.25.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed that there were bids for 3 stocks being higher and 3 stocks with offers lower than their last selling price. This indicator has weakened and combined with the advance decline ratio for the past few weeks is pointing to a fluid market that requires some catalyst to move it decisively.

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