the Jamaican dollar crossed over the 123 level to the US dollar in trading in the foreign exchange market on Wednesday to a record low of $123.11 as the Jamaican dollar declined against the three majors, the trade against, compared to the closing rates on Tuesday. The market closed with dealers buying the equivalent of US$40,752,667 and selling US$33,016,027, in contrast to US$37,190,702 purchased and US$42,292,086 sold on Tuesday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$33,016,150 compared to US$31,194,045 on Tuesday, as the buying rate for the US dollar rose 21 cents to close at $122.16.
A total of US$31,727,298 was sold versus US$35,486,211 on Tuesday, that did not prevent the selling rate from rising 22 cents to $123.11. The Canadian dollar buying rate declined by $2.59 to end at $94.09 with dealers buying C$912,746 and selling C$640,401, at an average rate that fell $2.60 to $97.35. The rate for buying the British Pound climbed 44 cents to $176.76 for the purchase of £1,651,764, while £495,529 was sold, as the rate slipped $1.04 to $178.57.
At the end of trading, the selling rate for Euro, rose 71 cents to close at J$138.96, from Tuesday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$135.83 for a rise of 47 cents from Tuesday’s rate. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies 
traded was an unusually large amount of US$4,643,557 being bought, while US$63,620 was sold.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest traded rates for the currencies on Wednesday are, a fall of $3 in the lowest selling rate of the Canadian dollar to end at $88, a rise of $1.12 in the lowest buying rate for the British Pound to $142.76 and a fall of $3 in the lowest selling rate to $167.
More gains for JSE stocks – Wednesday
Scotia Group jumped $3.44 on Wednesday
The JSE Market Index gained 1,175.25 points to end at 152,446.08, the all Jamaica Composite Index rose 1,314.36 points to 169,322.16 and the JSE combined index climbed 1,524.74 points, to close at 163,052.69.
The increased movement in the main market on Wednesday is the fourth consecutive trading days that the indices have gained.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 11 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 6 with lower offers.At the end of market activities, Cable & Wireless rose 4 cents to close at $1.39, in trading 41,211 units, Caribbean Cement traded 337,237 shares and rose $2 to close at $26, Carreras fell $1.99 while trading 64,337 shares, to close at $63, Jamaica Broilers had 288,526 units changing hands, to close with a loss of 25 cents at $14. Jamaica Producers lost $1.43 to close at $33.50, but only 1,000 shares changed hands,
Jamaica Stock Exchange traded 30,330 units at $21, JMMB Group traded 311,461 shares and rose 50 cents to end at $10.50, National Commercial Bank rose $1 in trading 5,614 shares, to close at $40. Pulse Investments traded 72,980 shares with a rise of 30 cents to close at $2.80, Radio Jamaica traded 62,954 shares and lost 12 cents to close at $1.08, Sagicor Group rose 5 cents to end with 11,500 shares changing hands at $22.20. Scotia Group closed with a gain of $3.44 at $33.99 with 365,623 units changing hands, Scotia Investments lost $1.94 with 7,295 shares to close at $25.50 and Supreme Ventures closed at $5.39 with 23,800 shares changing hands for an 11 cents loss.
Juniors climb sharply – Wednesday
Lasco Financial traded the most shares on the junior market on Wednesday.
Trading on the junior market resulted in more stocks rising exceeding declining ones by a wide margin and ended with the index rising 42.37 points to end at 2,109.90 on Wednesday. There were 20 active securities in the junior market with 10 advancing and 4 declining. .
At the close, 2 stocks closed with bids higher than the last selling prices and 2 ended with lower offers. Volume traded is 7,092,876 shares valued at $25,938,952.
At the end of trading in a market, Access Financial Services closed at $16.50 with 12,000 units changing hands, AMG Packaging traded 11,000 shares at $13, Cargo Handlers closed at $45, with 525 shares changing hands, Caribbean Cream traded 92,870 units, but recovered the 17 cents it lost on Tuesday to end at $4. Caribbean Producers gained 11 cents to end at $4.01 while trading 475,000 units. Consolidated Bakeries rose 7 cents in trading 1,000,000 shares to close at $1.17. C2W Music gained 3 cents while trading 106,324 units to end at 35 cents, Dolphin Cove traded 250 shares with a loss of 50 cents at $12.50, General Accidents closed at $2.65 with 147,688 shares changing hands, Honey Bun lost 20 cents to end at $15.80 with 206,720 shares trading. Iron Rock Insurance traded at $3.10 while 63,000 shares change hands,
ISP Finance had 50,000 shares changing hands and rose 29 cents to close at $2.74, Jamaican Teas traded 397,510 shares and gained 20 cents to end at $3.70, Jetcon Corporation climbed 35 cents to end at $2.85 while 352,125 units traded. KLE Group traded 1,000,000 shares with a rise of 5 cents to $1.45, Lasco Distributors gained 68 cents and ended at $7.20 with 265,511 trading. Lasco Financial closed at $3.10 with 1,493,865 shares changing hands but rose 10 cents, Lasco Manufacturing fell by 5 cents to close at $4.70 with 597,108 shares trading, Derrimon Trading preference share ended with 21,500 units changing hands to end with a loss of 2 cents at $2.12 and Eppley 10% reference share traded 799,880 units at $6.10.
Profit jumps 127% for car mart
Sanya Goffe addressing the audience at the listing of Jetcon’s shares in March. Looking on are Andrew Jackson and Karl Wright, directors.
Jetcon Corporation’s revenues grew 55 percent in the first quarter ending March, leading to an increase of 127 percent in profit before tax came of $19.35 million, while after tax the profit rose 126 percent to $14.6 million or 9.4 cents per share compared with $6.8 million in the same period in 2015.
The growth for the quarter is above the 50 percent increase enjoyed during all of 2015. Gross profit doubled to $32.4 million and gross profit margin, moved from 16.9 percent to 21.9 percent, during the quarter.
Inventory of motor vehicles and parts increased moderately since March 2015 but is up 46.7 percent since December 2015, to reach $123.9 million while receivables increased sharply but is due to amounts deposited with suppliers for goods. All loans that were outstanding at the end of December last year have since been repaid in full and cash on hand increased to $60.5 million helped by the inflows of funds from the initial Public offer.
The shares which were listed on the junior market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange in March this year, traded at $2.85 after details of the results were released.
1 stock rose on TTSE – Wednesday
NCB is the only stock rising on the TTSE on Wednesday.
Scotiabank after not trading since April 6, did so today and declined but the stock is still under pressure along with a number of others including Massy Holdings and Republic Financial Holdings.
The Composite Index declined by 1.25 points to close at 1,126.76, the All T&T Index eased 3.50 points to close at 1,802.86 and the Cross Listed Index advanced by 0.14 points to end at 59.85.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 6 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling prices and 10 with offers that were lower.
Gains| National Commercial Bank closed with 51,958 shares changing hands but rose 5 cents to end at $2.35.
Losses| Sagicor Financial Corporation fell 24 cents and closed with 17,054 shares changing hands at $7, Scotiabank lost 97 cents to close at 52 weeks’ low of $56.43 with 174 shares changing hands and
Trinidad and Tobago NGL lost 1 cent, to close at $19.52 with 5,202 shares trading.Firm Trades| Clico Investment Fund closed at $22.60 with 21,278 shares valued at $480,883 changing hands, JMMB Group traded 291,161 shares at 58 cents, National Enterprises closed with 155,258 shares, valued at $1,762,889 changing hands, at $11.35, National Flour Mills closed with 15,780 shares trading at $2.30 and Praetorian Property Mutual Fund contributed 9,948 shares to end at $2.70.
JSE jumps in early trading – Wednesday
Trading picked up in the mid-morning session on the Jamaica Stock Exchange with a few million unit trades. Consolidated Bakeries had 1,000,000 units changing hands, KLE Group 1,000,000 shares as well along with 6 trades of more than 200,000 units.
Trading saw all major indices rising, with the main market indices gaining just under 900 points and the junior market index climbing over 53 points after 90 minutes of trading, on Wednesday. The average volume traded amounts to 157,938 units per active stock, compared to an average of 107,260 units traded in the mid-morning session on Tuesday.
A total of 28 securities accounting for 4,422,256 shares changed hands as 12 stocks gained and 8 declined.
The market saw the all Jamaica Composite Index rising 1,109.08 points to 169,116.88, the JSE Market Index gained 991.69 points to 152,262.52, the JSE combined index ended with a rise of 1,470.55 points to 162,998.50 and the junior market index rose 53.69 points to 2,121.22.
Juniors dip as 8 stocks fall – Tuesday
Lasco Manufacturing had the largest trade in the junior market
Trading on the junior market resulted in more stocks declining than rising by a wide margin and ended with the index dropping 37.33 points end at 2,067.53 on Tuesday. A volume of 3,312,315 shares valued at $12,515,372 traded, including two large trades, with Lasco Manufacturing accounting for 1,106,586 shares and Caribbean Producers with 1,063,150 shares.
The market closed with 16 active securities, 2 of which advanced and 8 declined while 2 stocks closed with bids higher than the last selling prices and 3 ended with lower offers.
At the end of trading in a market, Access Financial Services closed at $16.50 with 5,000 units changing hands, Caribbean Cream traded 109,925 units but lost 17 cents to end at $3.83, Caribbean Flavours lost 5 cents to close at $8.50 while 1,222 shares were traded, Caribbean Producers fell 10 cents to end at $3.90. Consolidated Bakeries fell 10 cents in trading just 122,376 shares to close at $1.20, C2W Music had 29,019 units changing hands at 32 cents, 
General Accidents closed at $2.65 with 136,177 shares changing hands, Honey Bun rose 50 cents to end at $16 with 8,527 shares trading. Iron Rock Insurance fell 40 cents to $3.10 while trading 118,926 shares, ISP Finance had 19,300 shares changing hands, at $2.45, Jamaican Teas traded 74,583 shares at $3.50, KLE Group traded 331,000 shares at $1.40, Lasco Distributors lost 98 cents and ended at $6.52 with 115,359 units trading. Lasco Financial closed at $3 with 43,200 shares changing hands but with a loss of 3 cents, Lasco Manufacturing gained 20 cents to close at $4.75 and tTech fell 3 cents and ended with 27,965 shares changing hands at $4.15.
Jamaican$ slips on Tuesday
Trading in the foreign exchange market on Tuesday resulted in the Jamaican dollar declining against the three majors, the Jamaican dollar trade against, compared to the closing rates on Monday. The market closed with dealers buying the equivalent of US$37,190,702 and selling US$42,292,086, in contrast to US$47,848,516 purchased and US$41,089,504 sold on Monday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$31,194,045 compared to US$42,244,916 on Monday, as the buying rate for the US dollar fell 1 cent to close at $121.95. 
A total of US$35,486,211 was sold versus US$34,358,438 on Monday, the selling rate rose 21 cents to $122.89. The Canadian dollar buying rate rose 71 cents to end at $96.68 with dealers buying C$2,340,556 and selling C$5,564,128, at an average rate that rose $1.30 to $99.95. The rate for buying the British Pound climbed $2.29 to $176.32 for the purchase of £2,753,016, while £1,523,771 was sold, as the rate rose $2.82 to $179.61.
At the end of trading, the selling rate for Euro, rose 36 cents to close at J$138.25, from Monday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$135.37 for a rise of 32 cents from Monday’s rate. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded, amounts to US$160,813 being bought, while US$53,478 was sold.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest traded rates for the currencies on Tuesday are, a fall of $1.81 in the lowest selling rate of the US dollar to end at $100.03, a rise of $1 in the lowest selling rate of the Canadian dollar to $91, a rise of $3.20 in the highest buying rate for the British Pound to $181.50 and a rise of $1.24, in the highest selling rate to $184.30 and a rise of $4 in the lowest selling rate to $170.
JSE stocks make more gains – Tuesday
Grace Kennedy traded 1,412,488 shares on Tuesday.
Trading amounted to 8,175,132 units valued at $170,455,575 changing hands, in all markets, the junior market accounting for 3,312,315 units valued at $12,515,372.
The JSE Market Index gained 227.72 points to end at 151,270.83, the all Jamaica Composite Index rose 736.09 points to 168,007.80 and the JSE combined index climbed 658.18 points, to close at 161,527.95.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showed 13 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers.At the end of market activities, Berger Paints traded 14,027 units to close at $4 after rising by 10 cents, Cable & Wireless rose 2 cents to close at $1.35, in trading 500,946 units, Caribbean Cement traded 241,594 shares and fell $2 to close at $24, Carreras fell 1 cent while trading 270,430 shares, to close at $64.99. Grace Kennedy traded 1,412,488 shares with a rise of 50 cents, to end at $82,
Jamaica Broilers had 46,616 units changing hands, to close with a loss of 20 cents at $14.25. National Commercial Bank rose $1 in trading 101,619 shares to close at $40, Radio Jamaica traded 74,000 shares and gained 2 cents to close at $1.20, Sagicor Group fell 35 cents to end with 193,396 shares changing hands at $22.15, Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 16,110 shares to close at $10.25, for a rise of 25 cents. Scotia Group closed with a gain of 5 cents at $30.55 with 211,936 units changing hands, Supreme Ventures closed at $5.50 with 63,960 shares changing hands, Proven Investments ordinary share traded 4,133 units to close at 18 US cents and JMMB Group 7.5% preference shares traded 1,672,980 units at $1.04, with a fall of 2 cents.
More losses for TTSE – Tuesday
Guardian is one of two stocks to rise on the TTSE on Tuesday.
Quotes for Massy Holdings and Scotiabank remain well below their last selling prices and are likely to take a bite out of the indices when next they trade, while Republic Financial Holdings remains under pressure with no bids to buy at the close and with an offer below the last traded price.
The Composite Index declined by 2.05 points to close at 1,128.01, the All T&T Index eased 0.95 points to close at 1,806.36 and the Cross Listed Index declined by 0.69 points to end at 59.71.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 6 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling prices and 9 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Guardian Holdings gained 25 cents with 18,520 shares with a value of $405,773 changing hands to end at $13.25 and Trinidad and Tobago NGL rose 1 cent, to close at $19.53 with 8,040 shares trading.
Losses| First Citizens Bank fell 4 cents to a new 52 weeks’ low of $33.18 with 100 shares traded, National Commercial Bank closed with 176,423 shares changing hands for a value of $405,773 but lost 10 cents to end at $2.30 and Sagicor Financial Corporation fell 1 cent and closed with 4,215 shares changing hands at $7.24.Firm Trades| Clico Investment Fund closed at $22.60 with 66,775 shares valued at $1,025,453 changing hands, Firstcaribbean International Bank traded 100 shares at $6.52 and West Indian Tobacco traded 18,450 shares valued at $1,951,026 to close at $126.28.
