NCB trades at J$35 on TTSE
At the close of the market, the Composite Index rose 4.60 points to close at 1,165.93, the All T&T Index fell 1.24 points to close at 1,968.57 and the Cross Listed Index increased by 1.40 points to end at 47.70.
Gains| Stocks increasing in price at the close are, National Commercial Bank with 105,021 shares changing hands for a value of $204,641 and enjoying an increase of 20 cents to end at a new 52 weeks high of $1.95 or the equivalent of J$35, nearly $5 higher than in Jamiaca. Point Lisas Industrial Port Development traded 75,000 shares valued at $285,750, gained 1 cent and closed at $3.81, Republic Bank traded 560 shares to close with a gain of 1 cent at $115 and Scotia Investments contributed 80,500 shares with a value of $118,335 and closed with a gain of 2 cents at $1.47.
Declines| The only stock declining at the end of trading is National Enterprises with 105,000 shares being trading with a value of $1,806,000 and ended with a loss of 10 cents at a new 52 weeks’ low of $17.20.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of the market are, ANSA McAL traded 2,600 shares with a value of $174,330 to close unchanged at $67.06, Clico Investment Fund with 31,047 units carry a value of $700,110 to remain at $22.55, First Citizens Bank trading 15,243 shares valued at $545,699 to close unchanged at $35.80. Guardian Holdings with 409 shares closed at $14.15, Guardian Media 6% preference share traded just 20 units at $65.01, Prestige Holdings traded 2,406 shares and closed at $9.99 and Trinidad Cement contributing 44,863 shares to the volume traded, the price closed unchanged at $2.80.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 2 stocks with the bid higher than their last selling prices and 2 stocks with offers that were lower.
Carreras pays $2 Mayberry 20 cents
Carreras declared an interim dividend of two dollars ($2) per share unit, payable on June 25, 2015 to shareholders on record as at June 11, 2015. The X-date is June 9. The company paid an interim dividend of $1.60 per share payable on March 12, 2015
Dividends paid prior to the one in March are, $1 per stock on December 18, and an interim dividend of $1.20 per stock unit on December 11, 2014. In September, last year Carreras paid an interim dividend of $1.20 per stock unit, $1.75 per stock unit was paid on June 26. A special capital cash distribution of $1.34 per stock unit was paid on July 31.
Mayberry Investments declared a dividend of twenty cents per share (20 cents), payable on June 17, 2015 to shareholders on record as at June 10, 2015. The X-date is June 8. The company last paid a dividend of 12 cents per share on June 18, 2014.
Board of Directors of JMMB Group will convene a meeting on Monday June 1, 2015 to consider an interim dividend payment to ordinary shareholders.
Jamaica Money Market Brokers the forerunner to JMMB Group last paid a dividend of 16 cents per ordinary on December 16, 2014, prior to that the company paid a dividend of 17 cents per ordinary share on June 26, last year.
J$ makes gains on Wednesday
Purchase of all currencies by dealers, amounted to the equivalent of US$34,384,758 on Wednesday compared with US$37,791,833, on Tuesday and selling, the equivalent of US$41,745,870 versus sale of US$47,446,182, previously as the Jamaican gained in trading.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$30,900,997 compared to US$33,833,409 on Tuesday. The buying rate for the US dollar rose 15 cents to $115.60 and US$39,876,181 was sold versus US$44,463,077 on Tuesday, the selling rate was unchanged at $116.11. The Canadian dollar buying rate dropped 21 cents to $91.14 with dealers buying C$922,677 and selling C$677,514, at an average rate that fell 75 cents to $93.05. The rate for buying the British Pound fell $1.23 to $175.61 for the purchase of £1,295,130, while £463,591, was sold, at an average rate that slipped $2.06 to $177.82. At the end of trading it took J$126.54 to purchase the Euro, $1.45 less than on Tuesday, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$123.92 for a fall of $1.79 on Tuesday’s rate. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$788,872, while the equivalent of US$616,774, was sold.
Highs & Lows| The highest buying rate for the US dollar, rose 70 cent to $117. The lowest buying rate dropped $1.41 to $89.69, but the highest selling rate was unchanged at $121.71 and the lowest selling rate jumped $18.32 to $113.30. The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar fell 90 cents to $93.30. The lowest buying rate declined $1.12 to $74.20, the highest selling rate lost 60 cents to $96.50 and the lowest selling rate fell $1.10 to $89.40. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, declined $1.06 to $179.14, the lowest buying rate closed at $143.30, down $1.33, the highest selling rate dropped $1.71 to $184.74 with the lowest selling rate falling $1.35 to $172.65.
Lasco Financial at new high
Lasco Financial closed at a new 52 weeks’ high of $1.50, the day after Mayberry bough their holdings in the company to 20 percent. At the close, Lasco Financial had no stocks on offer while there were 20,000 units on the bid at $1.25. The Junior Market ended with 11 securities trading resulting in 1,986,233 units changing hands valued at $2,961,054. The JSE Junior Market Index gained 12.29 points to close at 868.72, with the price of 4 stocks advancing and 4 declining.
At the close of the market, there were 4 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 1 with a lower offer. The junior market ended with 3 securities closing with no bids to buy and 10 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, Access Financial Services trading just 749 shares to close with the price unchanged at $17. AMG Packaging ending with 1,200 shares changing hands, 6 cents lower, at $3.19, Blue Power closed with 14,796 shares trading at $9.50, Caribbean Cream finished with 380,000 units to close with a gain of 2 cents at $1.10. Caribbean Producers with 1,000 shares trading closed lower by 1 cent at $2.99. Dolphin Cove finished trading with 6,434 units as the price remained unchanged at $10, General Accident Insurance concluded trading with 24,934 shares changing hands, 6 cents lower at $2.04, KLE Group traded at a new low of 75 cents while dropping 24 cents, with 100,000 units trading. Lasco Distributors traded 300,268 units at $1.60 to gain 5 cents, Lasco Financial Services traded 1,119,279 shares at a new 52 weeks’ high of $1.50, to gain 20 cents and Lasco Manufacturing traded 37,573 units with a gain of 2 cents to $1.27.
Only 2 stocks gained 4 declined
Trading on the Trinidad Stock Exchange ended with 11 securities changing hands, 2 advanced, 5 declined and 4 traded firm with a total of 243,198 units, valued at $2,634,888.
At the close, the Composite Index lost 0.23 points to end at 1,161.33, the All T&T Index rose fell by just 0.12 points to 1,969.81 and the Cross Listed Index fell by a mere 0.05 points to end at 46.30.
Gains| Stocks increasing in price at the close are, Massy Holdings gaining 5 cents to end at $64.10 while trading 3,262 shares valued at $209,094 and Scotiabank trading 1,542 shares to close with a gain of 1 cent at $62.53.
Declines| The stocks declining at the end of trading are, First Citizens Bank trading 1,987 units to close at $35.80, after losing 1 cent, Guardian Holdings with 35,420 shares trading, valued at $501,218, lost 5 cents to close at $14.15, JMMB Group with 100,000 shares changing hands, closed 1 cent lower at 53 cents. Prestige Holdings with 9,615 shares trading, closed down 1 cent at $9.91 and Republic Bank with 2,300 shares changing hands for a value of $264,477, declined 1 cent to close at a new 52 weeks’ low of $114.99.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged, at the end of trading are, Clico Investment Fund with 52,907 shares valued at $1,193,053, the price remained at $22.55. Firstcaribbean International Bank contributed 25,000 shares to close at $5, while, National Commercial Bank added 9,784 shares to close at $1.75 and Sagicor Financial Corporation traded 1,381 shares to close at $6.02.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 6 stocks with the bid higher than their last selling prices and only 1 with a lower offer.
JSE Market post gains
The Jamaica Stock Exchange had 30 securities trading at 11:35 on Wednesday accounting for 1.99 million units. The All Jamaican composite Index is up 929.28 points 108,844.98, the JSE index is at 98,329.41 gained 831.17points and the junior market rose 12.93 to 869.36. so far 12 stocks recorded gains versus 8 that are down.In trading, Hardware & Lumber traded 30,000 units at $12, up $1.75, Supreme Ventures lost 45 cents to $3.50 with 47,700 units changing hands, K.L.E. Group traded at a new low of 75 cents while dropping 24 cents with 100,000 units trading Lasco Distributors traded 300,000 units at $1.60 to gain 5 cents, Lasco Financial Services have so far traded 794,279 shares at a new 52 weeks’ high of $1.50 to gain 20 cents and Lasco Manufacturing traded 31,463 units with a gain of 3 cents to $1.28.
Remittances dip in February
Remittances flows into Jamaica declined for February this year, with total remittances coming up short of the inflows into the system in 2014 by a marginal decline of just $500,000 from the corresponding month last year.
Gross remittance inflows for the month amounted to US$167.8 million while net remittances were US$146.7 million, a decline of US$5 million or 3.4 percent relative to the corresponding period of 2014. The decline is the first such since December 2013.
For the first two months of the year total remittance inflows were US$334 million, representing an increase of US$7.6 million or 2.3 percent while net remittances for 2015 were US$294 million, a growth of US$4.4 million or 1.5 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2014.
J$ makes gains on Tuesday
Purchase of all currencies by dealers after the labour day holiday, amounted to the equivalent of US$37,791,833 on Tuesday compared with US$46,758,067, on Friday and selling, the equivalent of US$47,446,182 versus sale of US$40,993,978, previously.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$33,833,409 compared to US$44,452,045 on Friday. The buying rate for the US dollar fell 33 cents to $115.45 and US$44,463,077 was sold versus US$39,857,108 on Friday, the selling rate increased by 1 cent to $116.11.
The Canadian dollar buying rate dropped $1.25 to $91.35 with dealers buying C$1,028,480 and selling C$554,891, at an average rate that fell $1.19 to $93.78. The rate for buying the British Pound fell $1.17 to $176.84 for the purchase of £1,952,202, while £1,426,205, was sold, at an average rate that slipped 90 cents to $179.88. At the end of trading it took J$127.99 to purchase the Euro, $1.16 less than on Friday, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$125.72 for a fall of $1.02 on Friday’s rate. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$154,318, while the equivalent of US$325,559, was sold.
Highs & Lows| The highest buying rate for the US dollar, fell 1 cent to $116.30. The lowest buying, dropped $3.88 to $91.10, but the highest and the lowest selling rates were unchanged at $121.71 and $94.98 respectively. The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar fell $1.60 to $94.20. The lowest buying rate remained at $75.32, the highest selling rate lost $1.60 to $97.10 and the lowest selling rate fell 25 cents to $90.50. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, declined $2.31 to $180.20, the lowest buying rate closed unchanged at $144.63, the highest selling rate climbed $1.43 to $186.45 with the lowest selling rate falling 25 cents to $174.