Jamaica’s Net International Reserves (NIR) grew by US$113 million during November to end at US$2.56 billion in one of the worse months for foreign exchange inflows. The build-up of the NIR in November is a telling sign of the revaluation that is coming for the Jamaican dollar, in the months ahead, as inflows of foreign exchange increase in the winter months ahead.
The Jamaican dollar made gains against the four major foreign currencies with the rates that dealers sold the various currencies at declining on Wednesday. On Wednesday dealers bought the equivalent of US$34,294,467 of all currencies and sold US$30,046,671, compared to US$34,163,768 purchased and US$38,672,874 sold on Tuesday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$30,548,763 compared to US$28,047,652 on Tuesday. The buying rate for the US dollar rose by 20 cents to $128.15. A total of US$27,155,752 was sold versus US$35,449,849 on Tuesday, with the selling rate slipping by 7 cents to $128.84. The Canadian dollar buying rate dropped $2.10 to $93.89, with dealers buying C$1,544,033 and selling C$789,198 at an average rate that declined by 26 cents to $96.94. The average rate for buying the British Pound climbed 65 cents to $161.47 for the purchase of £1,660,805 while £1,176,733 was sold with a slip of 9 cents, to end at $163.22.
At the end of trading on Wednesday, dealers sold €741,217 with the selling rate for the Euro, closing with a fall of 65 cents to $138.73, according to data from Bank of Jamaica. Dealers purchased €481,964 of the European common currency at $136.91 after jumping $3.27. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded, amounts to US$6,948 being bought and selling of US$8,208.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest rates for the regularly traded foreign currencies on Wednesday, include a rise of $2.90 in the lowest selling rate for the US dollar to end at $124. The highest selling rate for the British Pound dropped $5.66 to $166.60. The highest buying rate for the Euro rose $1.20 to $137.60, the highest selling rate moved down by $1.07 to $143.22 and the lowest selling rate rose $1.25 to $133.25.
No trading in TCL that’s poised to rise
Market activity on the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange on Wednesday resulted in 14 securities trading compared to 13 on Tuesday. Trinidad Cement with a bid by Cemex to acquire majority of shares at $4.50 did not trade and ended with 12,432 units on the bid at $4.07 and 127,363 units being offered at $4.50. Trading ended with 3 stocks advancing, 2 declining and 9 remaining unchanged.
The market closed with 361,588 shares trading with a value of $3,622,735 in contrast to Tuesday’s volume of 197,320 valued at $1,996,726.
The Composite Index declined 0.01 point to 1,206.02 points, the All T&T Index gained 0.14 points to 1,834.52 points, lowering its year to date loss to 5.85 percent. The Cross Listed Index lost 0.02 points to 77.17 points with year to date gains slipping to 55.87 percent.
IC bid-offer Indicator |The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 7 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 10 with lower offers.
Gains| Clico Investment gained 5 cents to close at $22.60 with 75,378 shares changing hands at a value of $1,703,450, National Enterprises closed at $10.66, adding 1 cent with 500 shares trading and Scotia Investments closed at $1.83, a gain of 2 cents with 222 shares changing owners.
Losses| Ansa Merchant Bank closed at $40, a loss of 1 cent with 6,000 shares changing hands and Grace Kennedy was down 1 cent to $2.72 with 610 shares switching owners.
Firm Trades| Angostura Holdings held firm at $15.50 as 75,000 shares changed hands with a value of $1,162,500, First Citizens Bank, with 4,975 shares being exchanged, closed at $34.93, and JMMB Group closed at 90 cents with 191,407 shares changing hands. Massy Holdings remained at $51 with 1,930 shares changing owners, National Commercial Bank closed trading at $2.87 and an exchange of 95 shares, National Flour Mills, with 2,151 shares switching owners, closed at $2.52. Prestige Holdings closed at $11 with an exchange of 181 shares, Sagicor Financial at $7.63 had 775 shares changing hands and Trinidad & Tobacco NGL closed at $22 with 2,364 shares changing owners.
Scotia hikes dividend on profit rise
The proposed payment brings the total payment for the year to $1.71 and represents a 6 percent increase in dividends year over year and a dividend payout ratio of 47.08 percent of profit. The final payment means that the 2017 payout should be no less than $1.80, with the proposed payment setting the stage for future quarterly payments. Scotia Group released results with earnings per share ending at $3.63 compared to $3.19 for 2015.
At the same time Scotia Investments held dividends at 45 cents per share the same amount they have been paying in recent times although the company report net profit of $1.35 billion for the year ended October compared with $1.02 billion for the prior. The 2016 profits rose by 32 percent or $325 million net income of $537 million for the quarter ended October, up from $288 million the quarter ending October 2015.
Strong gains of $527 million in fee income, foreign exchange trading gains and gains on financial assets were the main contributing areas that gave rise to the increased profit for the year, for Scotia Investments with earnings per share of $3.19.
9 junior stocks rise 2 fall – Wednesday
At the close the prices of 9 stocks rose and 2 declined with 15 securities trading, compared to 12 on Tuesday. Stocks traded, dropped on Wednesday by 89 percent, from Tuesday’s level, ending with 407,847 units changing hands, valued at $1,834,253, down 90 percent from $18,753,528 on Tuesday.
Market activities ended with 8 securities closing with bids higher than their last selling prices and just 4 ending with lower offers.
An average of 27,190 units with an average value of $122,284 traded, compared to 319,744 units with an average value of $1,562,794 on the preceding day. The average for December to date is 144,548 units at an average of $659,983. The average for December to Tuesday is 173,888 units at an average of $794,408. The average for November ended at 109,679 units with an average value of $607,092.
The stock split into 150 stock units for Eppley ordinary stock is yet to attract any offers even after the bid had risen to $6.95, compared to the adjusted last traded price of $4.90.
In trading activity, Blue Power rose $1.74 with 778 units trading at $23.30, Caribbean Cream rose 30 cents with 83,000 shares changing hands at $7.80, Caribbean Flavours traded 22,380 units to end at $9.95 with a gain of 95 cents. Caribbean Producers had 77,887 units changing hands to end at $3.30, Dolphin Cove ended at $15.20 with 4,000 shares trading. General Accident gained 20 cents and closed trading with 350 units at $2.70, Honey Bun had 5,900 shares changing hands to close at $6, Iron Rock Insurance gained 1 cent in trading 4,302 units to close at $3.01, Jamaican Teas traded 882 shares to close at $4.10. Key Insurance fell 37 cents in trading 350 units to close at $2.50, KLE Group ended at $1.60 with 129,333 shares changing hands after rising by 10 cents, Lasco Distributors had 33,306 shares changing hands and gained 20 cents to close at $6.80. Lasco Manufacturing gained just 2 cents and ended at $4.57 with 7,858 shares changing hands, Paramount Trading rose 10 cents while 34,021 shares traded to close at $3.80 and tTech lost 50 cents to end at $5.
All Jamaica settles above 200,000
The Jamaica Stock Exchange All Jamaica Composite index jumped by more than 2,663 points by 10 o’clock to exceed the 201,000 points mark for the first time. The index fell back to sit just above the 200,000 market with Sagicor Group falling from an opening high of $27 to $25.81 but Caribbean Cement climbed to $36 and along with a rise in the prices of Grace Kennedy and Scotia Group provided support.
The major contributors to the volume traded are Jamaica Producers, traded 204,882 shares at $8.72 up 70 cents, Cable & Wireless traded 183,500 shares at 80 cents, Jamaica Broilers with 203,291 shares trading at $15 and Radio Jamaica with 100,000 units at $1.40.
Market activity resulted in of 29 securities being traded compared to 24 on at Tuesday. At 10:55am 12 stocks advanced and 8 fell, resulting in a volume of 939,255 shares changing hands carrying a value of $9,669,822, compared with 1,808,925 shares changing hands carrying a value of $4,734,890, on Tuesday. The average number of shares traded, amount to 32,388 units versus mere 75,372 units on Tuesday.
The all Jamaica Composite Index jumped 1,525.20 points to 200,553.69 the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market Index climbed 1,363.82 points to 183,392.78, the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index garnered 924.99 points to close at 194,954.47 and the junior market index dropped 33.06 points to end at 2,421.74.
TCL climbs to hit $4
Trading ended with 13 securities changing hands compared to 11 on Monday as 3 stocks advanced, 2 declined and 8 remained unchanged. Volume traded amounted to 197,320 shares were traded with a value of $1,996,726 in contrast to Monday’s volume of 846,000 units valued at $6,385,564.
The Composite Index declined 1.29 points to 1,206.03 points, the All T&T Index gained 3.83 points to 1,834.38 points, reducing its year to date loss to 5.86 percent. The Cross Listed Index lost 0.88 points to 77.19 points with year to date gains falling to 55.91 percent.
IC bid-offer Indicator|The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 4 stocks with bids higher than last selling prices and 10 with lower offers.
Gains| National Enterprises closed at $10.65 with gains of 5 cents and 1,900 shares changing hands, Sagicor Financial crept up 1 cent, closing at a 52 weeks’ high of $7.63 with 6,000 shares changing hands. Trinidad Cement advanced 13 cents to close at $4.01 as 124,891 shares were exchanged for a value of $499,813.
Losses| National Commercial Bank closed at $2.87, with a loss of 13 cents as 6,817 shares changed hands and Trinidad & Tobago NGL was down 35 cents to $22 with 2,700 shares switching owners.
Firm Trades| Angostura Holdings remained unchanged at $15.50 with 15 shares changing hands, Clico Investment, with 10,252 shares switching owners, closed at $22.55, and FirstCaribbean International Bank held firm at $8.50 with 24,784 shares changing hands. JMMB Group closed with 4,000 shares changing hands at 90 cents, Massy Holdings held at $51 with 3,924 shares changing owners, Prestige Holdings closed at $11 with an exchange of 16 shares, Scotiabank ended at $58.69 had 12,018 changing hands valued at $705,336 and West Indian Tobacco closed at $127 with only 3 shares changing hands.
Jamaican$ slips slightly vs US – Tuesday
The Jamaican dollar slipped slightly against the US dollar on Tuesday but remains below the 129 mark as sales of US dollars exceeded buying. The local currency also fell in value against the other three major currencies.
On Tuesday dealers bought the equivalent of US$34,163,768 of all currencies and sold US$38,672,874, compared to US$58,754,418 purchased and US$39,263,489 sold on Monday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$28,047,652 compared to US$52,747,596 on Monday. The buying rate for the US dollar slipped by 29 cents to $127.95. A total of US$35,449,849 was sold versus US$35,020,783 on Monday, with the selling rate rising by 2 cents to $128.91. The Canadian dollar buying rate rose by 87 cents to $95.99, with dealers buying C$4,402,789 and selling C$2,199,996 at an average rate that inched up by 5 cents to $97.21. The average rate for buying the British Pound climbed $1.13 to $160.82 for the purchase of £2,063,999 while £950,076 was sold with a rise of $1.15, to end at $163.31.
At the end of trading on Tuesday, dealers sold €222,618 with the selling rate for the Euro, closing with a rise of $1.77 to $139.38, according to data from Bank of Jamaica. Dealers purchased €125,019 of the European common currency at $133.64 after jumping $4.30. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded, amounts to US$88,371 being bought and selling of US$119,588.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest rates for the regularly traded foreign currencies on Tuesday, include a rise of $1.10 in the lowest selling rate for the US dollar to end at $121.10. The lowest selling rate for the Canadian dollar jumped $5 to $92. The highest buying rate for the British Pound rose $4.05 to $168.25, the highest selling rate climbed $1.08 to end at $172.26 while the lowest selling rate rose $3.50 to $157.50.