First Citizens trades $6.7M on TTSE
Trading activity closed with 510,441 shares changing hands with a value of $$8,337,500, in contrast to Thursday’s volume of 168,658 units valued at $4,011,086.
The Composite Index advanced 1.01 points to 1,182.43 points, the All T & T Index gained 2.12 points to close at 1,804.61 points to be down 7.38 percent year to date and the Cross Listed Index dipped 0.01 points to close at 74.84 points and is up 51.16 percent for 2016.
IC bid-offer Indicator |The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 3 stocks with bid higher than their last selling prices and 7 with lower offers.
Gains| Angostura Holdings gained 1 cent to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $16.01 with 2,000 shares changing hands and Guardian Holdings gained 45 cents to close at $13 with 3,994 shares changing hands.
< Strong> Losses| strong> Grace Kennedy traded 192,759 shares valued at $491,577 but lost 2 cents in closing at $2.55 and Trinidad & Tobago NGL slipped 1 cent to close at $22.70 with 500 shares trading.
Firm Trades | Ansa McAl closed at $62 with 2,000 shares changing hands, Ansa Merchant Bank ended with 46 shares changing hands at $40.01, Clico Investment Fund closed at $22.60 with just 45 shares changing hands with a value of $896,994, First Citizens traded 201,792 shares valued at $6,659,136 to close at $33. First Caribbean International Bank closed at $8.50 with 95,736 shares with a value of $813,754 changing hands, JMMB Group closed at 91 cents with 1,841 shares changing hands, Massy Holdings closed at $50.99 with 1,310 shares trading, Sagicor Financial Corporation closed at $7.20 with 7,995 shares changing hands and Scotiabank closed at $58.74 with 423 shares changing hands.
Jamaican stocks retreat from record
The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed down on Thursday after hitting a new record on Wednesday. The All Jamaica Composite Index dropped 1,569.85 points to close at 189,153.12, bringing the year to date gains to 13 percent. The JSE Market Index fell 1,403.72 points to finish at 170,178.32 and the JSE combined index declined 1,147.57 points to end at 183,032.25 with a gain for the year to date of 15.6 percent.
At the close 18,462,121 units valued at $230,990,500 changed hands, compared to 6,616,334 units valued at $97,621,824 changing hands on Wednesday. The junior market accounted for 11,250,424 units trading valued at $76,439,888 of the stocks traded.
The average trade for the day in the main market ended at 277,373 and 229,873 month units to date. On Wednesday, an average of 186,716 units traded and 182,374 month to date. The average for the October was 220,811 units.
The market closed with 42 securities trading as the prices of 9 gained while 17 declined in the overall market, including 4 stocks rising and 7 falling, in the junior market.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 10 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and just 1 with a lower offer.
In market activity, Barita Investments fell 10 cents in trading 122,337 units to close at $4, Berger Paints traded 49,519 shares to end at $6.25 after rising 2 cents, Cable & Wireless rose 3 cents and closed at 85 cents with 56,000 units trading. Caribbean Cement had just 10,748 units changing hands to close at $30, Carreras traded 1,980 shares to end at $65.50, Grace Kennedy climbed 46 cents in trading 50,947 units at $41.45, Jamaica Broilers gained 50 cents and closed at $14.50 with 241,400 shares changing ownership, Jamaica Producers lost 4 cents in trading 994,195 shares at $8.20. Jamaica Stock Exchange fell 30 cents, ending at $5.70 after trading 213,422 shares, JMMB Group traded 6,000 shares to end at $13.70, Kingston Properties traded 6,000 shares and closed at $10. Margaritaville Turks traded 1,629,049 shares to close at 22.01 US cents, after declining by 2.5 cents, National Commercial Bank ended with the trading of 49,275 shares to close at $45.50, Pan Jamaican Investment closed at $23.70 after trading 2,751,998 shares, Pulse Investments traded at $3 with 50,000 units changing owners. Radio Jamaica closed unchanged at $1.50 with 16,593 shares trading, Sagicor Group had 678,392 shares changing hands and rose 5 cents to close at $23.95, Scotia Group slipped 49 cents in trading 43,593 shares to close at $31.30, Seprod fell 50 cents in trading 14,051 shares to end at $28. Supreme Ventures lost 20 cents trading 2,000 shares to close at $4.80, Proven Investments traded 121,922 units slipping slightly to close at 19.9 US cents and Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.5% preference share, traded 92,320 units to close at $2.10.
2 new highs on TTSE
Trading on the Trinidad and Tobago Exchange closed on Thursday with 10 securities changing hands, up from 9 on Wednesday, 4 of which advanced, 2 declined and 4 traded unchanged on a day when 2 stocks ended at 52-week highs.
Trading activity closed with 168,658 shares changing hands with a value of $4,011,086, in contrast to Wednesday’s volume of 92,790 units valued at $4,037,629.
The Composite Index advanced 7.58 points to 1,181.42 points, the All T & T Index gained 2.22 points to close at 1,802.49 points and is 7.49 percent down year to date and the Cross Listed Index gained 1.76 points to close at 74.85 points and is up 51.18 percent for 2016.
IC bid-offer Indicator |The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 4 stocks with bid higher than last selling price and 6 with lower offer.
Gains| Angostura Holdings gained 50 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $16 with 3,000 shares changing hands, First Caribbean International Bank gained 40 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ high of $8.50 with 5,000 shares changing hands. Guardian Holdings gained 5 cents to close at $12.55 with 1,200 shares changing hands and Sagicor Financial Corporation closed at $7.20 after rising 5 cents with 36,282 shares changing hands.
< Strong> Losses| strong>Massy Holdings lost one cent to close at $50.99 with 19,370 shares changing hands with a value of $987,676, and Trinidad & Tobago NGL slipped 2 cents to close at $22.71.
Firm Trades | Clico Investment Fund closed at $22.60 with 39,690 shares changing hands with a value of $896,994, JMMB Group with 30,444 shares changing hands and closed at 91 cents, National Commercial Bank closed at $2.65 with 4,293 shares changing hands and Scotiabank closed at $58.74 with 29,280 shares changing hands with value of $1,719,902.
Lasco Distributors dominates
The junior market had a big day of trading on Thursday as Lasco Distributors dominated trading with 10.5 million units, the market index fell 11.27 points to 2,454.09, putting the gain for the year to date to 37 percent.
Paramount Trading share price was adjusted to reflect the 10 for 1 stock split approved by the company at the end of October, no trading took place on Thursday.
At the close of trading 16 securities traded, up from 12 on Wednesday, resulting in 4 stocks advancing and 7 declining. Market activities ended with 5 securities closing with bids higher than their last selling prices and none ending with a lower offer.
Trading volume had a sharp jump of 477 percent from Wednesday’s levels, ending with 11,250,424 units changing hands, valued at $76,439,888, up by 462 percent from $13,610,614 on Wednesday.
An average of 703,152 units with an average value of $4,777,493 traded, compared to 162,369 units with an average value of $1,134,218 on the preceding trading day. The average for the month to date is 176,619 units at $1,120,425 compared to 129,138 units at $709,705 for October.
In trading activity, Access Financial lost 94 cents in trading 7,771 shares to end at $2.06, AMG Packaging climbed 30 cents and ended with 5,500 shares changing hands at $19.80, Cargo Handlers ended with 2,400 shares changing hands at $12, Caribbean Cream closed with 19,956 shares changing hands and lost 20 cents to $7.80. Caribbean Flavours closed trading with 1,430 units and gained 11 cents to close at $8.51, Consolidated Bakeries traded 3,805 shares to end at $2.50, C2W Music traded 650 shares to end at 23 cents, Dolphin Cove closed with 2,000 units changing hands at $15.29 but lost 20 cents in the process. Honey Bun with 18,825 shares changing hands lost 10 cents and closed at $6, Jamaican Teas traded 18,100 shares to close at $3.90 with a fall of 10 cents, Jetcon Corporation traded 38,928 shares and gained 25 cents in closing at $5. Knutsford Express traded 714 shares at $22, Lasco Distributors ended with 10,502,964 shares trading at $6.90, after easing by 10 cents, Lasco Financial ended with just 1,000 shares changing hands to close at $3.13, Lasco Manufacturing rose 5 cents and closed at $4.90 with 304,871 shares changing hands and Medical Disposables traded 321,510 units but dropped 40 cents to $4.60.
Trading volume dips on TTSE Wednesday
Trading activity closed with 92,790 shares changing hands with a value of $4,037,629 in contrast to Tuesday’s volume of 1,848,342 with a value of $27,261,839.
The Composite Index advanced 0.61 points to 1,173.84 points, the All T & T Index gained 1.36 points to close at 1,800.27 points, down 7.61 percent year to date, while the Cross Listed Index lost 0.02 points to close at 73.09 points, to be up 47.63 percent year to date.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer ended with 4 stock with bid higher than last selling price and 7 with lower offer.
Gains| JMMB Group gained one cent to close at 91 cents with 41,768 shares changing hands and Republic Financial Holdings recovered 78 cents to close at $107.78 with 26,524 shares valued at $2,864,393 changing hands.
Losses|Ansa McAL lost 50 cents to close at $62 with 399 shares changing hands, National Commercial Bank lost one cent to close at $2.65 with 13,632 shares changing hands, West Indian Tobacco dropped 5 cents to close at $126.95 with 8,000 shares traded, valued at $1,015,598 changing hands and Trinidad & Tobago NGL traded 1,363 units and lost 2 cents to close at $22.73.
Firm Trades | First Citizens Bank with 600 shares closed trading at $33, Prestige Holdings with 454 shares changing hands, closed at $11 and Scotiabank with 50 shares changing hands closed at $58.74.
JSE feeds public with erroneous info
Jamaica Stock Exchange is one of Jamaica important financial institutions. It is responsible for billion of dollars of investments. Investors rely on it to be transparent and to provide accurate and timely information on which investment decisions can be made. Why does the feed the public with erroneous information, and leave it out in the public without moving speedily to correct same?
Cargo Handlers posted their full year results to September, with profit of $154 million after tax, up from $136 million in 2015 and $30 million for the fourth quarter versus $29 million in 2015.
All of the above is fine but the company is reporting earnings per share as 40 cents for the quarter and $3.30 for the 12 months, based on what they have erroneously claimed are based on the weighted average number of shares held during the period. That of course is nonsense. The company split its stock into 10 units for each one held, subsequent to the year-end, hence there were no additional shares issued up to September. Even if the stock split occurred during the financial year, the split would not give rise to computing the average number of shares in issue. With a stock split or stock bonus the earnings per share is to be computed on the full amount of shares issued at the time of the financial report. Only when fresh capital is introduced from outside the company, would the weighted average number of shares be computed.
The earning per share is in fact 80 cents, for the 2016 last quarter and $4.16 for the 12 months. Unfortunately, the Stock Exchange posted the results with the error from Monday and they are still on the website with no change to date and no note to inform investors of the error. If the Jamaica Stock Exchange wants to be taken seriously it needs to do better than this.
Cargo Handlers last quarter’s net position flowed from a 17 percent rise in revenues to $78 million and 29 percent increase for the full year to $324 million. Other operating expenses rose 19 percent for the quarter to $39.8 million and for the full year 28 percent to $132 million.
The numbers may not show it fully, but growth may have slowed considerably, as such growth in profit in the medium term could be quite moderate as can be gleaned from the movement in the quarterly results. At a price of $12 per share, with 375 million units issued the stock price is a tad rich currently with one of the highest junior market PE ratios at 30 times the 2016 earnings. Expectations of investors in the stock have to be that the December quarter’s earnings will rise close to 50 percent, to justify the current price. That level of profit increase looks steep.