Jamaica stocks gained in trading on Monday in the main market but there was some slippage in the junior market although Caribbean Cream traded at a new high of $7.55,
up by 90 cents with 21,157 units as investors continue to respond to the company’s first quarter results.
The all Jamaica Composite Index gained 130.80 points to 179,643.95, the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market Index gained 109.96 points to 159,887.05, the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index climbed 1,499.13 point to close at 171,976.49 points andthe junior market index slipped 0.22 points to 2,157.12.
Subsequent to 12:20PM the main market indices enter negative territory.
Trading at 12:20 pm, resulted in 28 securities changing hands, accounting for a volume of 3,097,628 shares with 14 securities rising and 7 falling. The average number of shares traded amounts to 110,630 units compared to an average of 63,379 units on Friday.
Kremi hits new high of $7.55
Business confidence set to recover
Business confidence levels dipped in May this year, as measured by the Bank of Jamaica Perception of Present and Future Business Conditions survey and by the stock market movements. The local stock market has since rebounded and is close to its historic peak at Mid July, an indication that business confidence levels are set to rebound when measured in the summer months.
No new data is out from Jamaica’s central bank, of the latest levels. With the stock market having been rebounding, government fiscal program ahead of target and the Jamaica dollar settling down recently, the prospect of a rebound in survey numbers seems to be on the cards. Historical data indicate that the stock market is one of the best measure of business confidence levels, with the chart showing how closely the market index tracks the movement of future business confidence.
According to the survey findings, the perceptions of both present and future business conditions moderated compared to the record highs of the previous two surveys (see chart). Notably, the index of present business conditions fell 6 percent to 213.1 from the 226.1 attained in the previous survey. The index of future business conditions declined more slowly than the current measure by 2.6 percent from 171.5 in the previous survey to 167.1.
Both indices reflected declines in the proportion of respondents of the view that conditions were or will be “better.” In addition there were increases in the number of respondents indicating that conditions were or will be “worse.” There was, however, an increase in the proportion of respondents that indicated that conditions were or would be ‘about the same’ for both indices.
JSE fails to build on Thursday’s gains
The Jamaica Stock Exchange indices declined moderately at the close on Friday, down sharply from the big gains on Thursday, as more stocks declined than gained. The JSE Market Index slipped 141.33 points to end at 159,770.09, the all Jamaica Composite Index fell 158.06 points to close at 177,513.15 and the JSE combined index fell 144.38 points, to end at 170,332.98.
The market closed another day of moderate trading, with 2,802,737 units valued at $23,002,742 changing hands, in all market segments. The junior market accounted for 1,509,505 units traded valued at $8,532,147, of all trades. A total of 31 securities traded, with the prices of 9 stocks rising, 15 declining, including 8 stocks rising and 6 declining from the junior market, as the main market continues to consolidate while waiting for fresh and important news to move out of the narrow trading range.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 9 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
At the end of market activities, Berger Paints traded 8,793 shares at $4.50, Cable & Wireless traded 320,300 shares but fell 2 cents to close at $1.11, Caribbean Cement traded 3,140 shares to close at $22.50, Carreras fell 50 cents in trading 2,000 shares at $64.50 at the close. 1834 Investments traded 496,750 shares after falling 14 cents to close at $1, Grace Kennedy dropped $2.01 to close at $120.49 with 16,697 units changing hands. Jamaica Broilers ended with 66,000 units changing hands with a rise of 1 cent to close at $15, JMMB Group traded 8,579 units to end at $10. Mayberry Investments lost 20 cents in trading only 100 units at $3.30, National Commercial Bank ended with 34,174 units changing hands but lost 20 cents to close at $41.80,
Pan Jamaican Investment Trust traded 32,730 shares to close at $23 after falling $2, Portland JSX ended with 15,700 shares changing hands and declined 10 cents to $12.90. Sagicor Group ended with 28,605 shares changing hands, but lost 40 cents to $23.10. Scotia Group lost 73 cents with 177,931 shares trading, to close at $30.07, Scotia Investments traded 12,900 shares to gain $1 and close at $26, Supreme Ventures traded 4,007 shares and gained 30 cents to end at $4.60 and Proven Investments ordinary shares traded 46,550 units at 17 US cents up from 16.95 US cents.
US$8M more stockpiled Friday
Net inflows into Jamaican FX market ended at just over US$65 million in the last three weeks as inflows continue to exceed outflows. So far, the build-up has not had a great deal of impact on rates, with the US dollar closing at $126.39, compared to $126.38 at the end of June. In Friday’s trading, dealers bought US$33,384,248 while they sold only US$24,963,354, compared to US$31,271,588 purchased and US$26,915,897 sold on Thursday of all currencies.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$30,676,215 compared to US$28,969,620 on Thursday as the buying rate for the US dollar fell 1 cent to $125.70. A total of US$23,514,139 was sold versus US$25,427,424 on Thursday with the selling rate rising by 3 cents to end at $126.39. 
The Canadian dollar buying rate rose by 64 cents to end at $94.72, with dealers buying C$1,087,177 and selling C$372,283, at an average rate that rose $1.69 to $97.92. The average rate for buying the British Pound lost 4 cents to $163.76 for the purchase of £1,353,499, while £417,196 was sold, with the rate rising 75 cents to $168.51.
At the end of trading, the selling rate for Euro, rose 90 cents to close at J$140.57 from Thursday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$139.69, for a rise of $2.44 from Thursday’s rate. 
The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded amounts to US$125,437 being bought, while US$604,594 was sold.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest traded rates, for the Jamaican dollar in the foreign exchange market on Friday, include, a jump of $4.50 in the lowest selling rate of the Canadian Dollar to $92.50 while the highest buying rate of the British Pound climbed $4.35 to $171.65, the lowest buying rate rose 83 cents to end at $134.46, the highest selling rate dipped $1.23 to end at $172.65 and the lowest selling rate rose $2.30 to end at $160.
Decliners beat advancers on TTSE – Friday
Trading on the Trinidad and Tobago stock market closed on Friday, with 16 securities trading. With stocks declining beating out rising prices. The market ended the week with only 2 stocks gaining, 6 declining and 8 remaining unchanged as two stocks ended at 52 weeks’ lows. The market closed with 245,425 shares valued at $3,474,994 changing hands.
The Composite Index rose by 1.16 points to close at 1,147.79, the All T&T Index gained 2.12 points to close at 1,807.08 and the Cross Listed Index rose 0.02 points to close at 65.02.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 9 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 9 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Guardian Media closed at $19.75 with 646 shares changing hands with a gain of 5 cents and Trinidad and Tobago NGL closed with 5,500 shares changing hands at $23.02 after gaining 1 cent.
Losses| Ansa McAl traded 5 units at a 52 weeks’ low of $62.34 after falling 1 cent, Ansa Merchant Bank declined by 50 cents in trading 500 shares to close at $39.50, Guardian Holdings traded 962 shares and declined 6 cents to a 52 weeks’ low of $12.58. National Flour ended with 107 shares changing and lost 3 cents, to close at $2.30, 
Republic Financial Holdings lost 50 cents to end with 5,361 shares valued at $589,710 changing hands at $110 and Scotiabank contributed 6,891 shares valued at $365,430 and dropped 81 cents to end at $53.03.
Firm Trades| Angostura Holdings ended with 6,131 shares changing hands to close unchanged at $13.60, Clico Investment Fund closed with 75,057 shares valued at $1,707,547 changing hands to end at $22.75, Firstcaribbean International Bank traded 21,500 shares at $7.10, First Citizens in trading 1,300 shares close at $35. National Commercial Bank traded 56,979 shares at $2.60, National Enterprises closed with 10,410 shares changing hands at $10.75, Prestige Holdings with 765 units changing hands ended at $10.90 and Scotia Investments traded 53,311 shares to end unchanged at $1.70.
Caribbean Cream hits new high – Friday
The junior market index drifted down 1.29 points to end at 2,157.34 even as closed with 6 advancing and 2 declining while Caribbean Cream traded 125,720 shares with a gain of 60 cents, to close at a new all-time high of $6.65, in continued response to an 81 percent jump in profit to $71 million, for the May quarter.
At the close of the market on Friday, 1,509,505 units traded valued at $8,532,147 and ending with 11 securities being active. A total of 4 stocks closed with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 ended with lower offers.
At the close, AMG Packaging fell 1 cent in trading 201,400 shares to close at $12.50. AMG reported slightly lower sales in the May quarter, compared with 2015 with it being slightly higher in the nine months to May, but reported profit of $15.9 million in the quarter versus $20.76 million in 2015 and $67.9 million for the nine months compared with $52.45 million, in the similar period in 2015. Blue Power ended at $16.18 with 9,000 units changing hands, Consolidated Bakeries gained 7 cents in trading 400,000 shares to close at $2.10. Dolphin Cove gained 25 cents to $12.75 with 25,377 shares changing hands, 
Honey Bun regained the 30 cents it lost on Thursday while trading 185,000 shares to close at $5.60, Iron Rock rose 20 cents in trading 139,156 shares and closed at $3.55. Knutsford Express had 2,110 units changing hands with a rise of 30 cents to close at $15, Lasco Distributors ended with 130,134 shares changing hands, but fell 16 cents close at $7.32, Lasco Financial ended with 41,389 shares changing hands at $3.35, Lasco Manufacturing closed at $5.01 with 250,219 shares trading.
JSE off to rousing start – Friday
Jamaica stocks started trading on Friday where they left off on Thursday with both the main market and the junior market indices rising. Caribbean Cream traded at a new high of $6.78 with 56,000 units as investors continue to respond to the company’s first quarter results.
The all Jamaica Composite Index jumped 1,506.48 points to 179,177.69, the Jamaica Stock 
Exchange Market Index gained 1,347.06 points to 161,258.48, the Jamaica Stock Exchange combined index climbed 1,499.13 point to close at 171,976.49 points andthe junior market index gained 19.20 points to 2,177.83.
Trading after 75 minutes of the market’s opening resulted in 23 securities changing hands, accounting for a volume of 1,330,966 shares with the average number of shares traded amounts to 63,379 units compared to an average of 45,559 units on Thursday. Trading has so far resulted in 10 stocks gaining and 6 declining as stocks trading over 100,000 units include Cable & Wireless that traded 167,000 at $1.12, Consolidated Bakeries traded 400,000 shares at $2.10, Honey Bun with 185,000 units traded at $5.60 and Lasco Manufacturing with 236,850 shares trading at $5.05. Scotia Group gained $1.10 while trading 18,490 shares at $31.90 while Pan Jamaican Investments lost $1 in trading 27,900 units at $24.
Juniors enjoy big jump – Thursday
Caribbean Cream climbed 55 cents in trading on Thursday to end at a new high of $6.05.
Caribbean Cream’s gain was in response to an 81 percent jump in profit to $71 million, for the May quarter, while that of Lasco Distributors, was a rebound from the sharp fall last week, of the stock reacting negatively to news to Pfizer’s suggestion, that the compensation for damages was put at US$518,000 instead of US$300 million claimed.
Activity increased on the junior market with more securities being active than on Wednesday. At the close of the market 422,443 units traded valued at $1,648,134, ending with 17 securities trading of which 8 advanced and 6 declined. At the end of trading, 4 stocks closed with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 ended with lower offers.At the close, Blue Power gained 18 cents and ended at a 52 weeks’ high of $16.18, with 500 units changing hands, Caribbean Flavours traded 10,000 units to end at $6.75 with a loss of 25 cents, Caribbean Producers traded 9,120 units at $3.01, Consolidated Bakeries gained 3 cents in trading 22,350 shares to close at $2.03. Derrimon Trading gained 5 cents to end at $3.05 with 32,000 shares changing hands, General Accident traded 124,374 units at $2.05, Honey Bun fell 30 cents while trading 53,950 shares to close at $5.30, Jamaican Teas lost 4 cents in trading 6,761 shares and closed at $3.80.
Jetcon Corporation had 8,324 units changing hands with a loss of 5 cents at $2.65, Lasco Financial ended with 44,000 shares changing hands, but fell 5 cents to $3.35, Lasco Manufacturing gained 1 cent and closed at $5.01 with 68,023 shares trading. Medical Disposables traded 2,800 shares to close with a gain of 5 cents at $3.10, Paramount Trading fell by 50 cents to end with 10,158 shares changing hands at $10.50 and Eppley 9.5% preference share, ended with 6,200 units changing hands at $6.11.
JSE majors surged – Thursday
Grace Kennedy jumped $2.50 to close at $122.50 on Thursday .
The market closed another day of moderate trading, with 5,066,464 units valued at $183,411,832 changing hands, in all market segments. The junior market accounted for 422,443 units traded valued at $1,648,134, of all trades. A total of 39 securities traded, with the prices of 19 stocks rising, 10 declining, including 8 stocks rising and 6 declining from the junior market, as the main market continues to consolidate while waiting for fresh and important news to move out of the narrow trading range.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 9 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers, suggesting a day of more subdued gainers on Friday versus the numbers on Thursday.
At the end of market activities,
Berger Paints traded 504,496 shares at $4.50, Cable & Wireless traded 46,700 shares to close at $1.13, Caribbean Cement traded 1,000 shares and rose 50 cents to close at $22.50, Carreras fell 50 cents in trading 332,166 shares at $65 at the close. Ciboney traded 43,899 shares after falling 1 cent to close at 20 cents, Grace Kennedy jumped $2.50 to close at $122.50 with 767,291 units changing hands. Jamaica Broilers ended with 284,857 units changing hands with a rise of 15 cents to close at $14.99, Jamaica Producers traded 381,670 units and gained 90 cents to end at $7.50, Jamaica Stock Exchange traded 6,616 shares at $21.35 with a gain of 2 cents, Kingston Wharves traded 8,000 shares and rose by 99 cents to close at $15.99. Mayberry Investments traded 24,478 units at $3.50, 
National Commercial Bank ended with 117,095 units changing hands and rose $1 to $42. Pan Jamaican Investment Trust traded 1,211,217 shares to close at $25 after rising $1.05, Portland JSX ended with 172,701 shares changing hands and gained 25 cent at $13. Sagicor Group ended with 284,121 shares changing hands, to end with a rise of 45 cents at $23.50. Scotia Group climbed 78 cents with 407,100 shares trading, to close at $30.80, Seprod traded 11,330 shares and gained 50 cents to end at $17,Proven Investments ordinary shares traded 4,100 units at 16.95 US cents and Jamaica Money Market 7.5% preference share traded 23,000 units at $2.09.
US$4M more stockpiled
Net inflows into Jamaican FX market continues to build, with another US$4 million added to the stock pile of dealers, bringing the net intake by authorized dealers in just over the last three weeks to US$57 million. With July being one of the high inflow months, net inflow is likely to build as the month rolls on and should have a moderating effect on the rate of exchange of the local dollar.
In Thursday’s trading, dealers bought US$31,271,588 while they sold only US$26,915,897, compared to US$34,994,312 purchased and US$24,571,087 sold on Wednesday of all currencies.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$28,969,620 compared to US$32,067,439 on Wednesday as the buying rate for the US dollar climbed 2 cents to $125.71. A total of US$25,427,424 was sold versus US$22,288,467 on Wednesday with the selling rate rising by 2 cents to end at $126.36. 
The Canadian dollar buying rate rose by 37 cents to end at $94.08, with dealers buying C$719,515 and selling C$374,474, at an average rate that declined $2.47 to $96.23. The average rate for buying the British Pound climbed $1.52 to $163.80 for the purchase of £862,147, while £433,881 was sold, with the rate rising $1.40 to $167.76.
At the end of trading, the selling rate for Euro, rose 89 cents to close at J$139.67 from Wednesday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$137.25, for a rise of $2.86 from Wednesday’s rate. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded amounts to US$640,080 being bought, while US$627,257 was sold.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest traded rates, for the Jamaican dollar in the foreign exchange market on Thursday, include, a fall of $1.55 in the highest buying rate of the Canadian Dollar to $97.50 while the lowest selling rate fell by $3 to $88. The highest buying rate of the British Pound dropped $4.22 to $167.30, the lowest buying rate jumped $1.41 to end at $133.63, the highest selling rate climbed $2.18 to end at $173.88.
