Trading in the foreign exchange market resulted in the Jamaican dollar gaining in value on Monday as inflows were much higher than outflows by US$15 million, more than making up for the short fall on Friday. The market closed with dealers buying the equivalent of US$59,647,969 and selling US$44,608,557, in contrast to US$34,669,827 purchased and US$46,733,831 sold on Friday.
In US dollars trading, dealers bought US$55,109,704 compared to US$31,347,006 on Friday, as the buying rate for the US dollar rose 1 cent to end at $121.35.
A total of US$42,655,499 was sold versus US$45,254,299 on Friday, the selling rate fell by 8 cents to $121.96. The Canadian dollar buying rate rose by 24 cents to end at $90.15 with dealers buying C$1,930,677 and selling C$980,684, at an average rate that dipped by 23 cents to $92.44. The rate for buying the British Pound remained unchanged at $170.45 for the purchase of £1,966,758, while £629,504 was sold, as the rate declined by 96 cents to $171.94. At the end of trading, the selling rate for Euro, dropped 61 cents to close at J$138.46, from Friday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$135.60 for a decline of 62 cents from Friday’s rate. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded, amounts to US$341,484 being bought, while US$322,274 was sold.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest rates the currencies traded at on Monday are, a big fall of $18.22 in the lowest selling rate of the US dollar to $99.78, the lowest buying rate of the Canadian dollar rose by $1.04 to $74.04. The highest buying rate for the British Pound dropped by $3 to $173.80, the lowest buying rate lost $1.83 to $138.44 and the highest selling rate climbed by $1.88 to end at $180.14.
Big FX intake boost Jamaican$ – Monday
GOJ in black with $6b collection
Jamaica’s Ministry of Finance newest office building
The Primary surplus ended at $3.5 billion below budget at $80 billion down from $83.5 originally planned, but the difference may be accounted for by the reduction in the target agreed by the IMF.
Elsewhere a $3 billion increase on income and profit tax above budget to February this year, helped the government to meet the deficit target set for the elven months of the fiscal year that ends in March. While the income and profits tax were ahead of target, taxes on production and consumption and on imports delivered $1.5 billion less than targeted and bauxite levy was down by $2.4 billion, no doubt caught up in the dispute and bankruptcy proceedings with Miranda Bauxite Company. Grants were also off by $3 billion from the amount budgeted.
The capital budgeted expenditure that is usually underspent in past years has been fully used up to the end of February but the government incurred less on debt servicing with lower interest cost of $3 billion for the elven months period.The month with the largest inflows of funds, March is yet to be fully compiled and not yet released. Those numbers will be important for the government going into the new fiscal year, as it would indicate what is the likely capacity for increased spending, for the year ahead. What is known is that interest cost should fall in the year as Treasury bill rates to which a large portion of the national debt is tied have been declining and this should lead to lower cost in this area.
More losses for JSE on Monday
The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange declined on Monday with declining stocks having the upper hand on advancing stocks as 39 securities changed hands, in all market segments. The market ended with 12 rising and 19 declining and 1 closing at 52 week’s highs with one trading at an intraday high and two at 52 weeks’ lows.
The market closed with 5,066,741 units valued at $71,621,336 changing hands in all markets. The junior market accounted for 693,955 units that changing hands, valued at $2,269,270.
The JSE Market Index fell 501.81 points to end at 152,589.27, the all Jamaica Composite Index dropped 561.21 points to end at 169,482.30 and the JSE combined index lost 611.34 points, to close at 161,081.19.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading was 9 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
At the end of the market activities, Cable & Wireless traded 1,379,317 units, to close with a 5 cents loss at $1.20, Caribbean Cement gained $2 with 11,815 shares changing hands to end at $27, Carreras lost 5 cents in trading 23,490 shares to end at $66.10. Grace Kennedy closed with 6,200 shares changing hands at $82, Jamaica Broilers traded 143,699 units to close at $14.50 after shedding 30 cents, Jamaica Producers lost 10 cents to close at $31 with 16,037 units changing hands. JMMB Group added 90 cents as 4,500 shares changed hands at $10.90, Kingston Wharves traded 5,098 shares to close at $11.30 with a loss of 20 cents, Margaritaville (Turks) traded 540,951 shares to record an intraday 52 weeks’ high of 18 US cents closed with a loss of 1.5 cents at 14.5 cents. Mayberry Investments fell by 50 cents in trading 5,180 shares to end at $4. National Commercial Bank recovered $1.20 with 143,943 shares changing hands to close at $41.25, Pan Jamaican Investments fell 5 cents in trading 3,500 shares to close at $93, 
Radio Jamaica traded 11,491 shares but rose 6 cents to close at $1.46 at the close the stock was on offer at $1.40. Sagicor Group fell 20 cents and ended with 1,693,025 shares changing hands at $23.50, Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 14,707 shares to close with a loss of $1 at $10. Scotia Group traded 83,884 shares to close at $30, Scotia Investments fell 5 cents with 18,570 shares changing hands to end at $27.95. Supreme Ventures closed at $4.95 with just 3,920 units changing hands, having lost 4 cents and Proven Investments ordinary shares traded 11,433 units to end at a 52 weeks’ low of 17 US cents down from 17.5 cents previously and Proven Investments preference share traded 250,920 units but remained unchanged at $5.
Junior market slipped slightly – Monday
At the close, the junior market index fell 14.22 points to close at 1,904.71. The market ended with 18 active securities, 8 of which advanced and 5 declined as a mere 693,955 units changed hands, valued at $,269,270. There were 3 stocks closing with bids that were higher than their last selling prices and 2 ended with lower offers.
In trading the market closed with one new high and one new low. At the end, Blue Power closed with a gain of $1.05 at $14.05 with only 190 units changing hands, Caribbean Cream traded a mere 100 shares as the price lost 5 cents to end at $4.70, Caribbean Flavours had 1,000 shares changing hands to end at $7.56 for a 1 cent gain. Caribbean Producers traded 23,418 shares to end with a loss of 60 cents at $4.10, Consolidated Bakeries had 40,482 units trading, with a loss of 1 cent to end at $1.24, C2W Music fell 4 cents with 6,600 units changing hands to close at a 52 weeks’ low of 33 cents. Honey Bun had 3,160 units trading but rose by 49 cents to end at $11.50, Iron Rock had 245 shares trading at $4, Jamaican Teas closed at $4 after trading 650 units to gain 20 cents. Jetcon Corporation closed at $2.90 after 129,320 shares changed hands, 
Key Insurance traded at a new high of $2.85 after rising 25 cents with 23,159 units changing hands. KLE Group closed at $1.65 with 100,000 shares changing hands, Knutsford Express closed with 350 units changing hands at $22, Lasco Distributors lost 5 cents and ended with 61,955 units trading at $5.60. Lasco Financial ended at $2.75 with 9,121 shares changing hands, for a loss of 25 cents, Lasco Manufacturing ended with 287,905 shares changing hands and gained 10 cents to close at $3.65, Medical Disposables closed with a gain of 12 cents with 1,000 shares trading at $3.42 and tTech gained 30 cents with 5,300 shares trading to end at $4.30. tTech plans releasing audited accounts for 2015 around the middle of April a source from the company advised IC Insider. the source indicates that the JSE advised that since they listed in January, after the year end the accounts to the end of December last year was not a requirement, the company decided to release the report when completed nevertheless.
TCL $33.8m trade dominates TTSE – Monday
TCL dominated trading on Monday
At the end of trading, the Composite Index gained 0.12 points to close at 1,133.16, the All T&T Index rose 0.23 points to close at 1,812.53 and the Cross Listed Index remained at 60.27.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 5 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 9 with offers that were lower.
Gains| Sagicor Financial gained 1 cent and closed at $7.01 with 3,695 units changing hands while
Trinidad and Tobago NGL closed with a gain of 10 cents at $20.20 as 5,200 units traded.Firm Trades| Ansa Merchant Bank traded 466 units at $38.95, Clico Investment Fund ended at $22.55 with 2,800 shares changing hands, Guardian Media traded just 50 shares to close at $19.75, National Commercial Bank traded 40,000 shares at $2.40. Trinidad Cement traded 9,566,498 shares valued at $33,482,743 to close at $3.50 and West Indian Tobacco added 403 shares to close at $126.28.
JSE’s in modest trading early Monday
Trading the Jamaican Stock Exchange is off to another slow start in the Monday morning session with only moderate volumes. 
A total of 20 securities, accounting for only 1,191,892 shares have changed hands at 10.45 am as 8 stocks gained and 7 declined
The trading session stated off with a change in the name of the Gleaner Company to 1834 Investments Limited, 210,000 units of the stock is offered at $1.78 which is below the last traded price of $2.
After 75 minutes of the market’s opening, Margaritaville Turks traded 526,742 at a new high of 17.9 us cents in continued response to good results for 2015/16 fiscal year.
The main market indices suffered losses but the juniors recorded a small gain as only 4 stocks traded in the segment. The market saw all Jamaica Composite Index falling 601.11 points to 169,442.40, the JSE Market Index fell 537.49 points to 152,553.59 the JSE combined index ending with a loss of 373.17 points to 161,319.36 and the junior market index gained 12.23 points to 1,931.16.
Jamaican$ held vs US$ – Friday
Trading in the foreign exchange market resulted in the Jamaican dollar having a mixed day on Friday with the selling price remaining unchanged against the US dollar, lost value versus the Canadian dollar and making gains on the Pound. The market closed with dealers buying the equivalent of US$34,669,827 and selling US$46,733,831, in contrast to US$44,568,292 purchased and US$55,585,981 sold on Thursday.
In US dollars trading, dealers bought US$31,347,006 compared to US$40,678,858 on Thursday, as the buying rate for the US dollar fell 2 cents to end at $121.34. A total of US$45,254,299 was sold versus US$53,786,605 on Thursday, the selling rate remained steady at $122.04. 
The Canadian dollar buying rate fell 50 cents to end at $89.91 with dealers buying C$1,028,577 and selling C$697,200, at an average rate that was up by 15 cents to $92.67. The rate for buying the British Pound dropped $1.55 to $170.45 for the purchase of £1,210,457, while £514,437 was sold, as the rate declined by 56 cents to $172.90. At the end of trading, the selling rate for Euro, jumped 57 cents to close at J$139.07, from Thursday’s rate, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$136.22 for a rise of 55 cents from Thursday’s rate. The US dollar equivalent of other currencies traded, amounts to US$860,361 being bought, while US$221,326 was sold.
Highs & Lows| Notable changes to the highest and lowest rates the currencies traded at on Friday are, a big rise of $16.25 in the lowest selling rate of the US dollar to $118, with the lowest buying rate of the Canadian dollar falling by $1.49 to $73 and the highest selling rate for the British Pound dropping by $4.48 to $178.27.
Losses for JSE on Friday
The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange rose moderately on Friday with declining stocks having the upper hand on advancing stocks as 42 securities changed hands, in all market segments with 10 rising and 17 declining and 1 closing at a 52 week’s highs with one trading at an intraday high.
The market closed with 2,828,829 units valued at $41,439,170 changing hands in all markets. The junior market accounted for 988,659 units that changing hands, valued at $3,655,969.
The JSE Market Index fell 820.25 points to end at 153,091.08, the all Jamaica Composite Index dropped 917.34 points to end at 170,043.51 and the JSE combined index lost 825.39 points added, to close at 161,692.53.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading was 10 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 10 with lower offers.
At the end of the market activities, Berger Paints traded 30,352 shares but lost 24 cents, in landing at $3.76, Cable & Wireless traded only 13,977 units, to close at $1.25, Caribbean Cement lost $3.49 with 2,600 shares changing hands to end at $25, Carreras traded 3,340 shares to end at $66.15. Grace Kennedy closed with 12,101 shares changing hands at $82, Jamaica Broilers traded 34,098 units to close at $14.80, Kingston Wharves traded 9,299 shares to close at $11.50, Margaritaville (Turks) traded 298,149 shares to close at a 52 weeks’ high of 16 US cents up from 13.5 cents. Mayberry Investments gained 42 cents in trading 5,000 shares cents to end at $4.50. National Commercial Bank fell $1.20 with 87,181 shares changing hands to close at $40.05, 
Pan Jamaican Investments rose 5 cents in trading 4,288 shares to close at $93.05, Radio Jamaica traded 132,411 shares and fell 6 cents to close at $1.4o. Sagicor Group ended with 56,564 shares changed hands at $23.70, Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 69,655 shares to close at $11. Scotia Group shed 62 cents while trading 392,655 shares to close at $30, Scotia Investments fell $1.49 with 2,100 shares changing hands to end at $28. Seprod jumped $3 to end at $19 with 12,000 shares changing hands, Sterling Investments traded 45,000 units and gained 25 cents to end at $13, Supreme Ventures closed at $4.99 with 127,150 units changing hands and Proven Investments ordinary shares traded 501,600 units to end at 17.5 US cents down from 18 cents previously.
Junior market slipped slightly – Friday
Key Insurance Company that listed on Thursday traded at $2.60 on Friday today above the Initial Public offering price (IPO) of $2.27. ISP Finance that was listed earlier in the week did not traded on Friday with a wide gap between the bid at $2.15 the offer price of $3, the stock traded at $2.50 on the opening day. Jetcon Coporation that was listed on the day before Easter, traded to close at $2.90, but went as high as $2.99 compared to the IPO price of $2.25.
At the close, the junior market index fell 6.29 points being added to close at 1,918.93. The market ended with 21 active securities, 4 of which advanced and 10 declined as a mere 988,659 units changed hands, valued at $3,655,969. There were 4 stocks closing with bids that were higher than their last selling prices and 3 ended with lower offers.
In trading, AMG Packaging closed with a gain of 10 cents at $11.10 with 27,099 units changing hands, CAC 2000 traded 1,000 shares and lost 47 cents to end at $6.53, Caribbean Cream traded 22,085 shares as the price rose 35 cents to end at $4.75, Caribbean Flavours had 5,300 shares changing hands to end at $7.55. Caribbean Producers traded 3,000 shares to end with a loss of 10 cents at $4.70, Consolidated Bakeries had 29,073 units trading, with a rise of 10 cents to end at $1.25, C2W Music fell 3 cents with 4,000 units changing hands to close at 37 cents. Derrimon Trading closed with 950 shares changing hands as the price slipped 21 cents to end at $4, Honey Bun had 26,150 units trading but lost 2 cents to end at $11.01, Iron Rock had 5,000 shares trading at $4, Jamaican Teas closed at $3.80 after trading 28,510 units.
Jetcon Corporation closed at $2.90 after trading 306,956 shares, Key Insurance traded at a new high of $2.60 as 40,000 units changed hands with the price gaining 33 cents on the IPO price. KLE Group dropped 45 cents to close at $1.65 with 201,343 shares changing hands, Knutsford Express closed with 119 units changing hands to end at $22, Lasco Distributors lost 15 cents and ended with 177,390 units trading at $5.65. Lasco Financial ended at $3 with 7,077 shares changing hands, Lasco Manufacturing ended with 60,107 shares changing hands to close at $3.55, with a loss of 15 cents, Medical Disposables closed with a loss of 12 cents with 18,000 shares trading at $3.30 and tTech fell 48 cents with 17,500 shares trading to end at $4.
Modest loss for TSE stocks – Friday
National Four just one of two stocks that gained on Friday.
The market closed with the Composite Index fell by 0.12 points to close at 1,133.04, the All T&T Index declined 0.04 points to close at 1,812.30 and the Cross Listed Index declined by 0.03 points at 60.27.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator ended with 4 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 5 with offers that were lower. The market still reflects signs of weakness with about a third of the listings with no bids to buy.
Gains| National Flour ended with 139,449 shares changing hands to close with a gain of 4 cents at $2.10 and West Indian Tobacco added 5,942 shares valued at $750,356 as the price gained 1 cent to close at $126.28.
Losses| Clico Investment Fund lost 1 cent to end at $22.55 with 6,059 shares changing hands,
First Citizens had 860 shares changing hands with the price declining by 1 cent to end at a 52 weeks’ low of $33.99 and Grace Kennedy traded with 4,411 shares changing hands with a loss of 5 cents to $5.15.Firm Trades| ANSA McAl added 1,788 shares to end at $63, Ansa Merchant Bank traded 116 units at $38.95, JMMB group traded 2,505 shares to close at 59 cents, National Commercial Bank traded 49,160 shares at $2.40. Sagicor Financial closed at $7 with 17,407 units changing hands and Trinidad and Tobago NGL closed at $20.10 as 2,750 units traded.
