Trading on the Trinidad Stock Exchange was moderate with 12 securities changing hands of which 4 advanced, none declined and 8 traded firm, 201,944 units changed hands, with a value of $2,518,522.
The Composite Index rose by 0.08 points to close at 1,146.66, the All T&T Index advanced by 0.16 points to close at 1,980.23 and the Cross Listed Index remained at 40.98.
Gains| Stocks increasing in price at the close are, Agostini’s gaining 4 cents to end at $17.34 with 571 units, Ansa Merchant Bank traded 584 shares to close at a new 52 weeks’ high, of $39.33, by putting on a cent, First Citizens Bank gained 2 cents to $36 while trading 26,303 shares with a value of $946,904 and Massy Holdings closed with 4 cents gain to end at $68.50 while 7,130 shares traded.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of trading are, ANSA McAL at $66.25 while trading 3,201 shares, Clico Investment Fund with 9,700 shares valued at $213,400 remained at $22, Guardian Holdings traded 3,000 shares at $13.50, National Commercial Bank with a volume of 50,150 shares closed at $1, National Flour had 1,000 units changing hands to end at $1.30, ReadyMix put in only 100 units at $18.80, Sagicor Financial Corporation with 80,205 shares changing hands for a value of $501,281, closed at $6.25, followed by Scotia Investments with 20,000 shares at $1.50.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 5 stocks with the bid higher than their last selling prices and 3 stocks with offers that were lower.
No declining stocks on Tuesday on TTSE
J$ makes gains against all three
In Monday’s forex trading, the Jamaican dollar made gains against all three major intervention currencies, as authorized dealers sold more foreign currency than they purchased. Dealers bought the equivalent of US$41,974,274 versus US$46,365,635 on Friday, and sold the equivalent of US$51,652,857 compared with US$43,946,770 on Friday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$37,126,539 compared to US$41,403,298 on Friday. The buying rate for the US dollar fell 17 cents to $112.25 and US$48,978,690 was sold versus US$39,207,452 on Friday, the selling rate fell a cent to $112.71.The Canadian dollar buying rate dropped 67 cents to $100.91 with dealers buying C$2,267,277 and selling C$1,754,190 at an average selling rate that eased by 34 cents to $102.08. The rate for theBritish Pound rose 90 cents to $181.09, for the purchase of £1,638,207, while £597,521 was sold, the rate eased by 6 cents to $182.91. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$166,545, while selling was for the equivalent of US$115,744.
Highs & Lows| The highest buying rate for the US dollar, the lowest buying and the highest selling rates remained unchanged at $113.10, $91.85 and $117.70 respectively. The lowest selling rate dropped by $18.15 to $91.85. The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar fell $1.40 to $102.10, the lowest buying rate remained unchanged at $80.97. The highest selling rate fell 16 cents to $104.38. The lowest selling declined 70 cents to $96.85. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, the lowest buying and the lowest selling rates were unchanged at $183, $145.25 and $175 respectively. The highest selling rate was up $2.01 to $189.
KLE Group director sells out
Two directors KLE Group sold 8,100,000 and 5,896,500 stock units of the company, on September 9, 2014, at $1 per share, bringing to three the number of directors who sold off large portion of their holding in the floundering group, within two months. One former director, Craig Powell, dumped part of his holdings, on Friday July 11, on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. Stocks and Securities acting as brokers on behalf of the seller and buyer, executed Powell’s trade at 90 cents each for the 7,181, 043 units, in July.
Powell is not the only director that has sold shares in the company. According to a listing of holdings in March, Kevin S. Bourke a director, held 10,435,250 shares, the same as of the end of 2013 and so did the CEO Gary C. Matalon with 9,295,250 units held directly, in his name, but with a total of 16,073,628 shares that he is connected with. Zuar A. Jarrett had 10,178,500 units at the end of 2013, this was down to 6,896,500 in March. Stephen Orlando Shirley had 10,111,500 units at the end of December, but 6,761,500 in March and David A. Shirley had 6,227,750 without any change in holdings, The sale are unlikely to be coming from the lesser amounts as they are no disclosure that directors bought more shares since March to have driven up their holdings. There are only two directors with enough shares to match the recent sales of 8.1 million units, either Matalon or most likely, Kevin S. Bourke. The 5,896,500 units sold looks very similar to Zuar A. Jarrett holding less 1 million units. On the same day the directors sold the shares recently, 1,849,709 shares was also sold. The latter amount seems part of JCSD Trustee Services – Sigma Optima shares which totalled 2,849,709 units in March. The sales took place against the back ground of the company reporting one of the better quarterly results since listing.
A senior manager sold Scotia Group advised of the sale of 15,960 shares on September 8, 2014 from shares held under the Employee Share Ownership Plan.
A senior manager sold 40,000 National Commercial Bank shares during the period August 18 – 26, 2014, the company reported.
Three 7s clashed Monday on the JSE
What will happen when the three 7s clash? Whatever, the facts are that three 7s did clash at the end of trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, on Monday, as the prices of 7 stocks rose, 7 declined and 7 held firm, as 21 securities changed hands, resulting in 8,573,262 units valued at $6,218,041 being exchanged. Trading activity left the two main indices sharply down, at the close of the market.
Main Market| The JSE Market Index dived 1,027.02 points to 71,798.38 and the JSE All Jamaican Index fell 1,148.40 points to 78,991.82, with Scotia Group falling by 90 cents and Grace Kennedy by $1.50.
Gains| The volume and last traded prices of stocks with gains, at the end of trading in the main market are, Berger Paints trading 1,800 shares to close with a gain of 2 cents at $1.62, Cable & Wireless with 5,975,977 shares, gained 2 cents to 30 cents, Kingston Wharves with 18,475 units changing hands, gained 24 cents at $5.25 and Proven Investments ordinary, traded 16,900 units to gain 0.15 US cent to end at 17.25 US cents.
Firm| The stocks in the main market to close without a price change are, Desnoes & Geddes with 5,000 shares changing hands and closed at $4.70, Sagicor Group 7,000 shares ending up closing at $9.30 and Supreme Ventures 2,500 shares closed at $1.80.
Declines| The volume and last traded prices of stocks with losses at the at the end of trading in the main market are, Caribbean Cement 13,423 shares, closed down 15 cents at $2.55, Carreras 20,318 shares changing hands resulted in 25 cents lost, to $34.50, Grace Kennedy had a mere 250 units trading but the price dropped, $1.50 to $59, Jamaica Broilers put through 100,571 shares while losing 2 cents, to end at $4.50, Jamaica Money Market Brokers had 49,782 ordinary shares closing 5 cents down at $6.95 and Scotia Group with 11,600 shares, closed down 90 cents to $19.10.
Preference| Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share, traded 20,000 units at $3 and their 8.50% preference share put in 25,000 units, 5 cents lower at $3.45.
Junior Market| The JSE Junior Market Index rose 1.67 points to close at 662.16, as 6 securities traded, with 3 advancing and none declining.
Gains| Stocks recording gains at the end of trading in the junior market are, Consolidated Bakeries with 1,816,000 units changing hands, 5 cents higher to close at 80 cents, General Accident with 200,000 shares changing hands and closed with a gain of 5 cents to $1.45 and Lasco Distributors in trading 210,690 units put on a cent to $1.13.
Firm Trades| Stocks in the junior market that traded to close at the same price as the day before are, Jamaican Teas that had 11,143 shares trading at $3.30 at the close, Knutsford Express with 1,812 shares, ended at $5 and Lasco Manufacturing ended up with 65,021 units at $1.04 at the close.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 5 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 8 stocks with offers that were lower.
JMMB profits down in June quarter
JMMB Group posted net profit of $558 million and earnings per share of 34 cents for the quarter to June this year, but this was a huge 26 percent lower than the $754 million earned in 2013. Total revenues grew by 16 percent from $2.07 billion to $2.4 billion in the quarter helped by three acquisitions in two years.
Increased expense ate up the added income and more, pushing profit down sharply in the process. This is in contrast to the March quarter when profits rose 5 percent for that quarter. Interest margin got squeezed, falling from 69.3 percent in the 2013 quarter to only 63.74 percent this year as the Group’s Net Interest Income grew year-over-year from J$1.18 billion to only J$1.29 billion, an increase of J$112 million or 9.5 percent. This increase was driven mainly by expanded business lines through acquisition of Intercommercial Bank Limited (IBL) in October 2013, coupled with managing the Group’s investment portfolio and cost of funds.
Other operating revenues, comprising securities trading, foreign exchange margins from cambio trading and commission income increased by 12.4 percent, 95.5 percent and 32.1 percent respectively, driven mainly from increased volume.
Expansion of the Group through acquisition of IBL in the third quarter of 2013/14 resulted in operating expenses moving to J$1.72 billion compared to J$1.13 billion for the prior year. IBL contributed J$323 million or 28.6 percent, while the remaining J$272 million or 24 percent was due mainly to integration costs, growth in subsidiaries in the regional markets, and normal inflationary increases. The Group acquired of 100 percent of AIC Securities Limited, a Trinidad and Tobago based company for TT$5.36 million (J$92.7 million), on 30 April 2014. In Trinidad and Tobago operations are now poised to provide a full range of services to our clients, management stated.
Assets| At the end of June total asset of the JMMB Group increased by J$8.7 billion or 4.2 percent for the period, moving from J$206.7 billion at March 2014 to J$215.4 billion. This increase in assets was mainly funded by client deposits, long-term subordinated debt and repurchase agreements. The company acts as agent and earns fees for managing clients’ funds on a non-recourse basis under a management agreement. At 30 June 2014, funds managed in this way amounted to J$29,609,590,000 (2013 – J$23,242,771,000).
Interest rates down| During the quarter interest rates on treasury bills in Jamaica started to decline and would have resulted in some pressures on margin as commitments at fixed rates to customers would mature and then re-priced. Future looks like JMMB should still end up with earnings around $2 per share for the current year, but much will depend on how well they do in managing their investment portfolio and the impact that lower interest rates will have on valuations.
Low trading continues on TTSE
Trading on the Trinidad Stock Exchange was on Monday resulted in 12 active securities of which 3 advanced, 1 declined and 8 traded firm, with 265,142 units changing hands, with a value of $1,321,392. One stock closed at new 52 weeks’ high and one at 52 weeks’ low.
The Composite Index rose 0.10 points to close at 1,146.58, the All T&T Index rose by 0.19 points to close at 1,980.07 and the Cross Listed Index remained at 40.98.
Gains| Stocks increasing in price at the close are, Agostini’s as the price increased by 5 cents to end the day at $17.30, while trading 1,020 shares, Ansa Merchant Bank with 584 shares to gain 2 cents and ended at $39.32, a new 52 weeks’ high and National Enterprises, 500 shares traded 1 cent higher, at $17.76.
Declines| Readymix that seldom trades, suffered a decline of 20 cents to end at $18.80 for a new 52 weeks’ low, as 100 units changed hands, and is the sole stock declining at the end of trading.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of trading are, Ansa Mcal, 222 shares trading at $66.25, Berger Paints Trinidad with 100 shares, closed at $3.61, First Citizens Bank had 2,627 units changing hands at $35.98, Guardian Holdings contributed 65,700 shares, with a value of $886,950 and closed at $13.50, Jamaica Money Market Brokers traded 5,000 shares at 45 cents, National Commercial Bank with 100,000 shares changing hands for a value of $100,000, closed at $1, followed by Scotia Investments with 81,435 shares for $122,153 at $1.50 or the Jamaican equivalent of J$26.25. It last sold in Jamaica at $21.50, while Sagicor Financial Corporation added 7,854 shares valued at $49,088 at $6.25.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 4 stocks with the bid higher than their last selling prices and 2 stocks with offers that were lower.
Jamaica’s remittances upward climb
Jamaica net remittances for May this year, grew US$10 million or 6 percent, to US$172 million, versus May 2013. The increase resulted from gross inflows growing by US$7 million to US$189 million, and a contraction in outflows.
Remittance Companies accounted for an increases of US$13 million in inflows, while Other Remittances saw a reduction of US$5.5 million, Bank of Jamaica stated in their report on remittances.
Net remittances for the year to May, amounts to US$795 million, representing growth of US$42 million or 5.6 percent, compared to 2013 period. The outturn for the review period, reflected an increase in gross inflows, and a reduction in outflows. For the period total remittance inflows were US$887 million, representing an increase of US$33 million or 3.8 percent.
Scared of investing in stocks you need not
Many persons are scared about investing in stocks but they need not be that afraid even as markets have gone through major changes since 2007. It is not only the stock market that felt the impact. The real estate market that many swear by, suffered declines as well as demand for real estate worldwide fell.
The Jamaican stock market has languished at a low level, since 2008 when it fell to 60,952.64 on April 28, 2009 from an all-time high of 138,917.59 points on January 24, 2005. Since then, the market regained a fair amount of what it lost by moving to 118,353 points on February 2008 but fell sharply in the second half as a result of the year, in response to the world economic crisis and Jamaica’s response to it. The market has moved up from the low, but has struggled ever since as Jamaica underwent changes in government, several major economic policy shifts and long periods of uncertainty.
Knowledge matters|Like anything else, having knowledge will be a big help. For starters new investors can take simple steps. Follow some simple rules. Never get emotional about an investment. Don’t follow hypes and fads. Keep it simple. The best way is to start the investing small amounts that one can allow to stay invested for a long time if needed. Invest in good quality companies with long term prospects, with time and more knowledge, the time frame can be shortened if the investor is comfortable.
Profit drives stock prices| A good place to start, is the financial statement of listed companies. Most carry a ten year table of historical results. The simple approach is find companies that have regular increases in profits over time. Keep this most important investment adage in mind at all times, increased profit is the major driver of stock prices. If profits keep on rising stocks prices will eventually respond. Quarterly profit performance is also important. If an investors can find a good investors who knows the market, then they can get advice from them but having more than one opinion is always useful. Keep a journal, indicating what advice is received and by whom and why you are investing or not. That will help you to know who ca be relied on as well as let you understand what causes stock prices to move. All in all to become successful at investing practice becomes perfect.
The best time to buy & sell stocks
The best times to sell stocks, is generally, in late April to mid-May and the best times to start buying is during the summer months. The Jamaican stock market bottoms and starts to move upwards in more summers than at any other time in its history and this goes back to the start of the creation of the market index, back in the early 1970s.
The above two periods have been very visible when the market movements are analyzed from the start of the local stock market. No wonder the simple adage, “sell in May and go away” has been bandied around as what appears a casual investment comment, there is more than just talk as the facts support it. History suggests that it really should read, sell in May rest awhile but start your buying in July. For 2014 prices on the Jamaica stock market declined a bit from its earlier 2014 high, with several stocks hitting 52 weeks’ lows into the early summer months. The decline was taking place against the back ground of an increase in interest rates and slippage in the value of the Jamaican dollar, encouraging some investors to exist the local stock market for US dollar based investments. At a glance to the casual observer it may appear that this is a negative trend that would take the market much lower, it did not do happen. The history of the market as well as technical assessment of it suggest, otherwise. The local bear market has gone on for as long as any other and much more than what has been a 4-6 cycle of decline before a bull market sets in. When markets go through long periods of hibernation, investors lose interest, as they don’t see the market turning anytime soon, but that usually is the genesis of a new bull run. Demand declines but so is supply. If companies report improving results then the smart investors quietly picks up stocks cheaply waiting for the inevitable up turn.
J$ makes gains against US and Canadian
In Friday’s forex trading, the Jamaican dollar made gains against the US and Canadian dollars, but lost value versus the Pound. Authorized dealers purchased more foreign currency than they sold, similar to Thursday when they bought more than the amount sold. Dealers bought the equivalent of US$46,365,635 versus US$32,981,835 on Thursday, and sold the equivalent of US$43,946,770 compared with US$29,532,263 on Thursday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$41,403,298 compared to US$30,856,612 on Thursday. The buying rate for the US dollar rose 10 cents to $112.42 and US$39,207,452 was sold versus US$28,145,549 on Thursday, the selling rate fell 2 cents to $112.72.The Canadian dollar buying rate grew $1.54 to $101.58 with dealers buying C$3,288,591 and selling C$3,782,159 at an average selling rate that eased by 14 cents to $102.43.The rate for theBritish Pound rose 11 cents to $180.19, for the purchase of £1,035,975, while £624,038 was sold, the rate climbed by $1.10 to $182.96. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$330,247, while selling was for the equivalent of US$289,649.
Highs & Lows| The highest buying rate for the US dollar, the lowest buying, the highest and lowest selling rates remained unchanged at $113.10, $91.85, $117.70 and $110 respectively. The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar climbed $1.20 to $103.50, the lowest buying and the lowest selling rates remained unchanged at $80.97, and $97.55 respectively. The highest selling rate fell 96 cents to $104.54. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, gained 20 cents to $183, the lowest buying and lowest selling rates were unchanged at $145.25 and $175 respectively. The highest selling rate fell 26 cents to $186.99.
