The all Jamaica composite index crossed the 92,000 point mark earlier in the morning and now sits at 92,020.82 after gaining 515 points.
Slow early trading on JSE – Thursday
March 5, 2015 by
Eileen Chin resigns from Lasco
March 5, 2015 by
Eileen Chin has resigned as the Managing Director of LASM with effect from March 2, 2015 a release from LASCO Manufacturing Limited (LASM) announced.
The company advised that Robert Parkins has been employed with effect from March 3, 2015 as the General Manager of the company with responsibility for the day to day operations, reporting directly to the Executive Chairman. The resignation appears sudden has there was no prior notification of her intention to step down from the position she had held for several years.
Lascelles Chin, Executive Chairman informed IC Insider that Eileen Chin was taking a break from the operations but will be back before long. The company has been on a long period of expansion of the plant, costing more than $3 billion. Last year the liquid plant started the production of water and juices. The plant for powdered products is to be operational in 2015.
Paltry junior market trading
March 4, 2015 by
Activity on the Junior Market closed with 5 securities traded ending with 26,060 units changing hands valued at $76,275. The JSE Junior Market Index declined 1.20 points to close at 699.24, with the price of 2 advancing and 3 declining.
At the close of the market, there were 6 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 stock with an offer that was lower. The junior market ended with 4 securities closing with no bids to buy and there were 6 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, Lasco Distributors closing with 1,000 shares trading, 1 cent higher to $1.46, Lasco Manufacturing finishing trading with 13,000 shares while gaining 1 cent to $1.16. Blue Power ending with 1,060 units to close lower by 5 cents to $6.30, Knutsford Express finishing trading with 10,000 units to fall 60 cents to $5.20 and Lasco Financial concluding trading with 1,000 units and declining by 1 cent to $1.05.
JSE at 20 months high heading higher
March 4, 2015 by
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Activity on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, took the market to a new 20 month high resulting from the prices of 7 stocks rising and 8 declining as 20 securities changed hands, ending in 10,902,372 units trading, valued at $48,753,888, in all market segments. Gleaner Company accounted for the bulk of the shares trading with 8 million units while Sagicor Group and Scotia Group each accounted for more than 1 million units.
The chart shows the all Jamaica composite index just crossing over short term resistance. Resistance from July 2007 at 91,700 points is the more important resistance level for it to break through to move to the next critical point of 100,000.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 9 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 stocks with offers that were lower.
Gains| Stocks gaining with last traded prices, at the end of trading in the main market are, Gleaner in having 8,267,155 shares changing hands, closed higher by 19 cents at $1.10, Grace Kennedy closed trading with 15,600 shares trading to gain 50 cents to end at $62, Hardware & Lumber ended trading with 5,000 shares changing hands for 83 cents greater at $7.40, Mayberry Investments saw trading in 17,130 units to close with a gain of 16 cents to a 52 weeks’ high of $2.36 and Sagicor Real Estate Fund ended with 6,300 shares the price rose by 10 cents to $6.80.
Firm| The stocks in the main market to close without a change in the last traded prices are, Cable & Wireless dealing in only 17,500 shares at 55 cents, Jamaica Broilers contributing 3,000 shares at $4.06. National Commercial Bank concluding trading with 37,691 shares at $23, Radio Jamaica exchanging 5,000 shares at $1.37 and Scotia Group with 1,114,723 shares changing hands to close at $21.Declines| The last traded prices of stocks with losses at the end of trading in the main market are, Carreras closed with 6,800 units as the price slipped 18 cents to $44, Desnoes & Geddes finished with 155,000 shares trading lower for 15 cents to $5.35. Jamaica Money Market Brokers with 149,000 ordinary shares closed with a loss of 2 cents at $6.90, Sagicor Group in trading 1,025,226 and lost 9 cents to $10.21 and Supreme Ventures finished trading with 28,487 shares with a loss of 20 cents to $2.20.
J$ stable against US$ on Wednesday
March 4, 2015 by
The Jamaican dollar gained value on Wednesday against the US Dollar and the British pound but declined versus the Canadian dollar. Purchases of all currencies by dealers fell sharply from the previous two days at US$36,518,886 compared with the US$51,807,330, on Tuesday and selling of the equivalent of US$38,523,072 versus US$55,758,481 on the prior trading day.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$30,375,504 compared to US$45,557,294 on Tuesday. The buying rate for the US dollar fell by 19 cents to end at $115.05 and US$34,883,857 was sold versus US$51,146,506 on Tuesday, the selling rate was unchanged at $115.58. The Canadian dollar buying rate rose 8 cents to $91.87 with dealers buying C$5,061,301 and selling C$3,684,928, at an average rate that climbed 9 cents to $92.32. The rate for buying the British Pound rose 6 cents to $175.68 for the purchase of £1,266,526, while £377,480 was sold, at an average rate of $177.15, for a decline of 47 cents. At the end of trading it took J$129.27 to purchase the Euro, 14 cents down from Tuesday, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$126.95 for 4 cents more than on Tuesday. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$167,908 while the equivalent of US$117,410, was sold.
Highs & Lows| The highest buying rate for the US dollar, rose 20 cents to $116, the lowest buying and the highest selling rates remained at $94.36 and $120.91 respectively. The lowest selling rate jumped $18.64 to $113. The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar climbed $1.40 cents to $94, the lowest buying rate fell 16 cents to $72.96. The highest selling rate gained 61 cents to $95.61 and the lowest selling rate fell 20 cents to $87.90. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, dipped $1.48 to $176.02. The lowest buying rate fell $2.74 to $139.73, the highest selling rate fell $3.70 to $179.97 and the lowest selling rate declined $3.30 to $168.35.
Margins squeezed Grace’s profit
March 4, 2015 by
Grace Kennedy reported flat profits for the 2014 year although revenues grew 20 percent for the year to reach $83.5 billion. Grace ended with net profits of $3.29 billion compared with $3.22 billion due to shareholders of the group.
Not even lower taxes that delivered savings of $200 million could push the performance that saw lower pretax profit of $4.85 billion versus $5 billion in 2013.
Gross profit climbed from $64 billion to $74.9 billion but profit margin declined to 4.13 percent from 5.23 percent in 2013. Frank James Group Chief Financial Officer attributed some of the decline to one off cost associated with the acquisition of the Le Fe subsidiary during the year and tightness in the local economy that placed pressure on the margin as the devaluation to the local currency pushed up cost which they were not able to pass on in full. But there is more to it than that. Grace’s segment results showed no growth in segment profits between the September and December quarters, in food trading and insurance, two important profit areas of the group. Profit in the last quarter was make primarily by Hardware and Lumber and money transfer.
Results for segments were mixed with money transfer ending with $2.39 billion up from $1.9 billion, Insurance rose from $122 million to $454 million. Food retailing ended at $875 million from $1.145 billion in 2013 and hardware & Lumber reported $284 million versus $343 million in 2013.
The group reported earnings of $9.90 per share and announced an interim dividend of 75 cents per share payable on May 18, 2015 to shareholders on record as at April 28 with the ex-dividend date being April 24. Return on equity for the group is only 9.5 percent a relatively low rate in a country where Treasury bill rates were close to that level during the year.
One stock gained on TTSE – Wednesday
March 4, 2015 by
Trading on the Trinidad Stock Exchange on Wednesday closed with 8 securities changing hands, 1 advanced, 4 declined and 3 traded firm with a total of 320,027 units, valued at $3,798,765.
At the close of the market, the Composite Index lost 0.24 points to close at 1,146.48, the All T&T Index fell by 0.42 points to close at 1,974.92 and the Cross Listed Index eased by a mere 0.01 points to end at 41.65.
Gains| National Flour Mills was the only stock gaining on Wednesday as 78,955 shares changed hands for a value of $122,380, the price rose 3 cents to end the day at 52 weeks’ high of $1.55.
Declines| The stocks declining at the end of trading are, Clico Investment Fund trading 85,000 shares valued at $1,920,500 and declined by 5 cents to end at $22.55 while Grace Kennedy added 30,000 shares valued at $108,018, to close at $3.60, down a cent. Guardian Holdings with a volume of 65,713 shares traded for $854,440 closed at $13 after falling 1 cent and Republic Bank lost 13 cents to close at $118.22 while trading only 1 share.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of trading are, National Enterprises contributed 34,593 shares with a value of $601,918 to close at $17.45, Guardian Media exchanged 4,080 shares at $19.75 and Sagicor Financial Corporation trading 21,685 shares to end at $5.11.
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 5 stocks with offers that were lower.
JSE looks like piering resistance
March 4, 2015 by
The all Jamaica composite index ended the day just about 200 points from the next resistance level with the index closing up by 1,219.01 points to 91,505.64 after trading in 10.876 million units with a value of $48.7 million.
The JSE index ended at 82,990.60 with a gain of 1,090.31 points. Scotia Group was the main contributor to the gain having traded mostly at $22 and as high as $22.50 before closing at $21 at the end of trading.
JSE trading data at 10:30 Wednesday
March 4, 2015 by
Scotia Group was quick out of the box, jumping to $22 and helping to move the All Jamaica Composite index up by 779.23, to more than 91,000 points.
JSE quiet bullishness continues
March 4, 2015 by
Interest in the Jamaica stock market, improved on Tuesday resulting in 24 stocks securities changing hands and the main market indices gaining more than 1,000 points. There were 11 stocks advancing, 8 declining, ending in 8,794,289 units trading, valued at $42,590,814, in all market segments. A almost doubling of profits of Supreme Ventures and a the decision by the company to pay out over $800 million in dividends, helped to push the market.
strong> Main Market| The JSE Market Index gained 1,092.76 points to 81,900.29, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index rose 1,221.75 points to close at 90,286.63, the highest it has been since early July 2013 and the JSE combined index gained 1,016.39 points to close at 83,557.44.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 8 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 stocks with offers that were lower.
Gains| Stocks gaining with last traded prices, at the end of trading in the main market are, Cable & Wireless concluding trading with 111,000 shares changing hands to close higher by 7 cents at 55 cents, Carreras exchanging 25,000 shares while trading of 8 cents higher to $44.18. For Desnoes & Geddes there was dealing in 98,827 shares at 10 cents higher to $5.50, Jamaica Money Market Brokers contributing 17,448 shares in trading for 2 cents more at $6.92. Jamaica Producers closed trading with 1,013,600 shares changing hands while gaining $1.30 to $17, National Commercial Bank closed with 58,458 shares changing hands and rising 91 cents to a new 52 weeks’ high of $23, Proven Investments finished trading with 421 units and put on 0.49 cents to 18 US cent. Radio Jamaica saw trading in 7,422 shares, to end with an increase of 2 cents to $1.37, Scotia Investments ended with 5,000 units with a gain of $2.45 at $27.50 and Supreme Ventures closed with 3,295,614 shares to close 40 cents up at $2.40, after the company release large gain in profits for 2014 and announced increased dividend payments.
Firm| The stock in the main market to close without a change in the last traded prices is, Grace Kennedy that contributed 16,959 shares at $61.50.
Declines| The last traded prices of stocks with losses at the end of trading in the main market are, Gleaner closing with 20,000 units as the price slipped 4 cents to 91 cents. Jamaica Broilers finishing with 8,008 shares trading lower by 4 cents, to $4.06, Sagicor Group in trading 532,911 shares lost 15 cents to $10.30 and Scotia Group finishing trading with 48,092 shares with a loss of 50 cents to $21.
Preference| Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share traded 17,000 shares trading at $3.04, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference share traded 2,635,000 shares at $2, Proven Investments 8% preference share traded with 260,593 shares changing hands at $5.
