Activity Trading on the junior market picked up somewhat on Wednesday to end with 8 securities traded resulting in 1,161,661 units valued at $1,552,165. The JSE Junior Market Index declined 8.68 points to close at 684.08, with the price of 2 stocks advancing and 4 declining.
At the close of the market, there were 6 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 stocks with offers that were lower. The junior market closed with 4 securities closing with no bids to buy. There were 6 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading are, AMG Packaging in trading 20,000 shares gaining 30 cents to $2.49, Caribbean Producers ending with 55,000 shares trading, the price gained 5 cents to $2.10, Caribbean Cream finishing with 80,000 shares changing hands at 75 cents, Caribbean Flavours with 43,500 shares trading lower by 1 cent, to end at $2.20. Lasco Distributors concluded trading with 404,380 units, the price fell 10 cents to $1.30, Lasco Financial finished with 34,427 shares trading and fell 5 cents to $1, Medical Disposables in traded 103,776 shares and fell 15 cents to $1.70 and Lasco Manufacturing finished with 420,578 shares trading at $1.18.
Trading picks up 4 stocks fell 2 up
3 up 3 down on TTSE
Trading on the Trinidad Stock Exchange ended with 14 securities changing hands, 3 advanced, 3 declined and 8 traded firm with a total of 148,171 units, valued at $2,592,483.
At the close of the market, the Composite Index rose 0.31 points to close at 1,150.45, the All T&T Index rose fell by just 0.61 points to close at 1,984.90 and the Cross Listed Index remained at 41.37.
Gains| Stocks increasing in price at the close are, ANSA Mcal with 1,493 shares changed hands at 23 cents higher to $66.75, Guardian Holdings traded just 89 units at $13.26 to gain 1 cent and West Indian Tobacco landed 80 units at a cent higher than Tuesday to end at $122.11, for a new 52 weeks’ high.
Declines| The stocks declining at the end of trading are, Clico Investment Fund lost 10 cents to close at $22.80 as 92,235 shares valued at $2,108,976 change hands, Scotiabank traded 724 shares to close at $62 and lost 2 cents and Trinidad Cement with 7,273 shares being traded ended at $2,25 for a 5 cents fall.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of trading are, Angostura Holdings that exchanged 4,419 shares at $16, Ansa Merchant Bank contributing 170 shares in trading to end at $38.90. Berger Paints Trinidad traded 100 units as the price closed unchanged at $3.65, First Citizens Bank traded 3,185 shares to close at $36, Jamaica Money Market Brokers with 30,000 shares changing hands, closed at 40 cent. National Enterprises traded 250 shares at $17.34, One Caribbean Media traded 3,153 units to close at $23.95 and Sagicor Financial Corporation contributed 5,000 shares to close at $5.49.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed 3 stocks with the bid higher than their last selling prices and 5 stocks with offers that were lower.
Boeing $24b sales just beat Apples’ $18b Profit
Fly Jamaica’s Boeing jet
Those are impressive numbers for a huge corporation and against a rising United States dollar that is likely to affect cost and sales, but the numbers pale in contrast to Apple’s $18 billion profit in one quarter, on sales of US$74.6 billion, based on rising iPhones sales, in the December quarter.
Boeing in its release of the full year results stated that “core earnings per share guidance for 2015 is set at between $8.20 and $8.40, while GAAP earnings per share guidance is established at between $8.10 and $8.30. Revenue guidance is between $94.5 and $96.5 billion, including commercial deliveries of between 750 and 755.”
Apple provided the following guidance for its fiscal 2015 second quarter, revenue between $52 billion and $55 billion, gross margin between 38.5 percent and 39.5 percent and operating expenses between $5.4 billion and $5.5 billion.
NCB trades at new high of $21
National Commercial Bank (NCB) closed with the price unchanged on Tuesday, but the stock traded at a new high of $21 during trading, as investors react positively to the group’s December results and hike in dividend payment. NCB has only 159,257 units posted on offer in the market at the close, between $22 and $33. Demand ranges from $19.80 down to $16. There are bids amounting to 217,950 units posted to buy at $19 or higher.
Activity on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, resulted in the prices of only 3 stocks rising, 6 declining as just 18 securities changed hands, ending in 2,915,904 units trading, valued at $27,617,128, in all market segments.
Main Market| The JSE Market Index lost 2.49 points to 77,059.90, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index fell 2.79 points to close at 84,874.85 and the JSE combined index declined 5.67 by points to close at 78,932.63
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 11 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 stocks with offers that were lower.
Gains| The sole stock gaining at the last traded price is Carreras with 76,616 shares trading, to gain 38 cents at $38 at the close.
Firm| The stocks in the main market to close without a change in their last traded prices are, Berger Paints in concluding trading in 15,500 shares with the price holding at $1.55. Kingston Wharves with 330 shares changing hands, closed at $5.60, NCB closed with 1,042,580 shares trading at $20, but after it traded at a new 52 weeks high of $21, Sagicor Group had 87,652 units exchanged at $10.20 and Supreme Ventures closed with 188,628 units trading, to close at $2.15.
Declines| The last traded prices of stocks with losses at the end of trading in the main market are, Cable & Wireless closing with 1,147,040 units trading, the price slipped 1 cent to 50 cents. Gleaner contributed 38,200 shares trading lower by 1 cent to 81 cents, Grace Kennedy closed with 235 shares changing hands to end up 43 cent lower at $62.57, Hardware & Lumber ended trading with 4,500 units, as the price slipped 14 cents to $7.51. Jamaica Broilers finished with 51,000 units trading as the price declined 1 cent to $4 and Proven Investments ended with 41,445 units trading as the price slipped 0.02 cent to 21 US cents.
Preference| Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share traded 103,000 units at $3, Proven Investments 8% preference share traded 40,300 units to close at $5.
BOJ sells to forex market again
Bank of Jamaica intervened in the forex market on Tuesday for the second consecutive day by selling into the system, helping to swell the amounts traded to the $50 million mark. The intervention did not stop slippage in the Jamaican dollar as it fell in value against the US and the British Pound, but gained on Canadian dollar. Purchase of all currencies by dealers, translated to US$51,232,598 compared with the US$79,904,490, on Monday and selling amounted the equivalent of US$49,400,152 versus US$79,481,863 sold on Monday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$47,569,610 compared to US$75,875,427 on Monday. The buying rate for the US dollar rose 4 cents to $115.50 and US$47,164,249 was sold versus US$74,047,298 on Monday, with the selling rate climbing 2 cents to $115.77. The Canadian dollar buying rate increased by $1.24 to $91.65 with dealers buying C$1,666,842, and selling C$1,086,045, at an average rate that dropped 14 cents, to $92.84. 
The rate for buying the British Pound rose 65 cents to $172.44 for the purchase of £1,473,816, while £693,617 was sold, the rate rose 46 cents to $174.61. At the end of trading it took J$130.29 to purchase the Euro, 10 cents higher than on Monday, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$128.01, an increase of 35 cents over Monday. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$139,997 while the equivalent of US$318,885, was sold.
Highs & Lows| The highest buying rate for the US dollar, dipped $1.10 to $115.90 and the lowest buying rate rose 5 cents to $94.36. The highest selling rate was unchanged at $120.91, while the lowest selling rate rose $2.03 to $96.22. 
The highest buying rate for the Canadian a dollar fell 37 cents to $93.63, the lowest buying fell 46 cents to $73.41. The highest selling rate fell $1.77 to $95.23 and the lowest selling rate eased 55 cents to $88.45. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, jumped $1.40 to $175.80. The lowest buying rate rose 50 cents to $139.11, the highest selling rate remained at $178.69 and the lowest selling rate was up 60 cents to $167.60.
Cargo Handlers profit up 43%
Junior market Cargo Handlers, reported their first quarter results to December, last year, continuing the strong growth trend of the 2014 fiscal year, with another impressive increase in operating revenue which jumped 40 percent over 2013, to $62 million. Profit was up by 43 percent to $40 million, ending with earnings per share of 96 cents. Other income fell from $6.8 million to $341,000.
Trading on the Junior Market was very low but for lack of buying interest but more due to sellers holding out for higher prices and in a number of cases there is no selling interest for nearly a third of the listings.
The market closed with only 4 securities traded and ended with 78,878 units valued at $142,210. The JSE Junior Market Index declined 0.35 points to close at 692.76, with the price of 1 advancing and none declining. At the close, there were 5 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 1 stocks with the offer that was lower. The junior market closed with only 3 securities closing with no bids to buy. There were 7 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading are, Caribbean Producers closing with 970 shares and gained 1 cent to $2.05, Blue Power ending with 1908 units changing hands at $6.51, Eppley 9.5% preference share traded 10,000 units at $6 and Lasco Financial ended trading with 66,000 shares at $1.05.
BOJ sale swells volume in forex market
Bank Of Jamaica intervened in the forex market on Monday by selling into the system, helping to swell the amounts traded to nearly $80 million. The intervention did not stop slippage in the Jamaican dollar as it fell in value against the US and the British Pound, but gained on Canadian dollar, on Monday. Purchase of all currencies by dealers, translated to US$79,904,490 compared with the US$36,907,493, on Friday and selling of the equivalent of US$79,481,863 versus US$31,955,892 sold on Friday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$75,875,427 compared to US$32,907,129 on Friday. The buying rate for the US dollar rose 25 cents to $115.46 and US$74,047,298 was sold versus US$29,758,416 on Friday, with the selling rate climbing 3 cents to $115.75. The Canadian dollar buying rate lost $1.76 to $90.41 with dealers buying C$1,149,455, and selling C$818,541, at an average selling rate that dropped 43 cents, to $92.98. The rate for buying the British Pound rose 21 cents to $171.79 for the purchase of £1,963,437, while £2,926,101 was sold, the rate rose 82 cents to $174.15. At the end of trading it took J$130.19 to purchase the Euro, $1.70 lower than on Friday, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$127.67, $1.63 lower than on Friday. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$207,763 while the equivalent of US$374,464, was sold.
Highs & Lows| The highest buying rate for the US dollar, climbed 95 cents to $117 and the lowest buying rate rose 12 cents to $94.31. The highest selling rate moved up 6 cents to $120.91, while the lowest selling rate dropped $18.76 to $94.19. The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar fell 9 cents to $94, the lowest buying fell 17 cents to $73.87. The highest selling rate fell $1 to $97 and the lowest selling rate eased 20 cents to $89. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, declined 50 cents to $174.40. The lowest buying rate dropped $1.95 to $138.61, the highest selling rate climbed 44 cents to $178.69 and the lowest selling rate declined $2.20 to $167.
10 JSE stocks rose 6 declined Monday
National Commercial Bank stock price hit a new 52 weeks high of $20 in trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Monday with 1,066,318 shares changing hands. One million units of the stock was bought and sold by Stockbroker, Sagicor Investments at $20 each.
After three consecutive days of declining stocks beating out advancing ones last week, breaking the trend that was in place since the start of the year, with no trading day closing with number of declining stocks being more than advancing ones, activity on the exchange returned to the trend prior to the days of decline on Monday. At the close on Monday, the prices of 10 stocks gained, 6 declined as 23 securities changed hands, ending in 4,912,390 units trading, valued at $30,624,883 in all market segments. The positive advance, decline ratio did not prevent large declines in the main market indices as Carreras gave back most of the gain it enjoyed on Friday.
Main Market| The JSE Market Index lost 765.65 points to 77,062.39 , the JSE All Jamaican Composite index declined 856.03 points to close at 84,877.64 and the JSE combined index declined by 716.44 points to close at 78,938.30.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 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 closing with 715,292 units changing hands, with a gain of 1 cent at 51 cents. Gleaner had 3,000 shares changing hands to close 2 cents up, at 82 cents, Grace Kennedy closed with 17,480 shares trading with a gain of 5 cents at $63, Jamaica Broilers ending with 2,000 units changing hands to close with 1 cents gain at $4.01. Jamaica Money Market Brokers finished with 4,000 ordinary shares with the price gaining 3 cents to $6.60, Jamaica Stock Exchange with 48,688 units changing hands to close with a gain of 10 cents at $2.10, National Commercial Bank closed at a new 52 weeks high with 1,066,318 shares changing hands and gained of 69 cents at $20. Proven Investments ended with 35,970 units changing hands to close 0.02 cent higher at 21.02 US cents, new all-time high and Sagicor Group closed with 20,820 shares trading with a gain of 5 cents at $10.20.
Firm| The stocks in the main market to close without a change in the last traded prices are, Berger Paints closed with 1,439 units trading at $1.55, Desnoes & Geddes concluding trading with 1,100 shares changing hands at $4.80, Mayberry Investments ended with 1,381,873 units trading to end at $2 and Scotia Group in trading 30,195 units at $20.50.
Declines| The last traded prices of stocks with losses at the end of trading in the main market are, the price of Carreras slipped $1.88 to closed with 1,650 units trading as at $37.62 and Radio Jamaica ended with 1,986 shares trading lower by 20 cent to $1.10.
Preference| Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.25% preference share closed with 200 units being active, with the price rising 1 cents to $2.50, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% finished with 1,502,471 units trading at $2 and Proven Investments 8% preference share traded 1,555 units traded at $5.
Demand for some junior stocks, supply low
Trading activity on the Junior Market closed with only 5 securities trading and ended with 76,353 units valued at $161,387 changing hands. The JSE Junior Market Index rose 0.41 points to close at 693.11, with the price of 1 stock advancing and 2 declining.
At the close of the market, there were 6 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and only 1 with the offer that was lower. The junior market closed with 4 securities closing with no bids to buy and 6 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
At the close, Honey Bun traded 4,686 shares at $1.95, Knutsford Express Services closed with 15,000 shares trading, 5 cents lower at $5.80, Lasco Distributors ended trading with 14,569 units at $1.40, Lasco Financial Services closed with 37,098 shares changing hands while gaining 5 cents to $1.05 and Lasco Manufacturing lost 1 cent in trading 5,000 shares at $1.18.
TTSE continues to reflect negativity
Angostura stock traded at a 52 weeks’ high on Monday.
At the close of the market, the Composite Index rose 0.38 points to close at 1,151.63, the All T&T Index rose fell by just 1.78 points to close at 1,986.66 and the Cross Listed Index declined by 0.14 points to end at 41.45.
Gains| Stocks increasing in price at the close are, Angostura Holdings added 36,856 shares valued at $589,666, increasing 50 cents to end at a new 52 weeks’ high of $16. National Flour Mills with 3,000 shares trading to add 2 cents to end at $1.26 and West Indian Tobacco traded 750 shares to advance by 2 cents to end at $122.02, for a new 52 weeks’ high.
Declines| The stocks declining at the end of trading are, Clico Investment Fund trading 2,670 shares and declined by 2 cents to end at $23.43. First Citizens Bank with 300,000 shares changing hands for a value of $10,918,605, lost 9 cents to close at $36.40, Guardian Holdings with 14,188 shares traded, closed down a cent at $13.26, followed by Jamaica Money Market Brokers with 70,073 shares trading at 40 cents, down 3 cents. Republic Bank declined by 2 cents to $118.88 while 185 shares were traded, Sagicor Financial traded 32,022 shares to close at $5.49, falling by 1 cent and Scotiabank put through 1,250 shares to close at $62 after shedding a cent.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of trading are, Ansa Merchant Bank trading 100 shares to close at $38.9. Grace Kennedy contributed 2,036 shares in trading at $3.67, One Caribbean Media contributed 36,963 shares with a value of $885,214, to end at $23.95. Point Lisas Industrial Port Development traded 4,885 units to close at $3.75 and Trinidad Cement traded 1,474 shares to close at $2.30.IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 7 stocks with the bid higher than their last selling prices and only 1 stock with offer being lower.
