In Friday’s trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, the prices of 7 stocks rose and 7 declined as 24 securities changed hands, resulting in 3,072,116 units trading, valued at $22,272,471.
Main Market| The JSE Market Index fell by 550.24 points to 71,751.52 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index dived 615.26 points, to close at 78,939.43.
Gains| The volume and last traded prices of stocks with gains, at the end of trading in the main market are, Caribbean Cement with 7,975 shares to close with a gain of 20 cents at $2.70, Pan Jamaican Investment had 2,552 units changing hands to gain 42 cents at $49, Proven Investments ordinary share, traded 322,428 units to gain 0.15 US cents to end at 17 US cents and Radio Jamaica had just 483 units changing ownership and gained a cent to $1.05.
Firm| The stocks in the main market to close without a change in price with volume and last traded prices are, Berger Paints with 34,975 units, closed at $1.60, Cable & Wireless had just 33,384 shares trading, in closing at 29 cents, Grace Kennedy put through 684 units to close at $60.50, Jamaica Broilers 172,852 shares traded at $4.50, Jamaica Money Market Brokers ordinary, traded 217,974 shares to close at $6.95, National Commercial Bank with 50,450 shares closed at $18, Scotia Group enjoyed the exchange of 136,580 shares at $18.95 and Seprod 1,037 shares went through at $11.
Declines| The volume and last traded prices of stocks with losses at the at the end of trading in the main market are, Desnoes & Geddes with 115,228 shares, while losing 15 cents to end at $4.50, Kingston Wharves 3,500 shares was traded at 48 cents lower, to end at $5.02, Mayberry Investments with 4,080 units passing through the market, lost 23 cents to end at $1.67, Sagicor Group with 602,981 shares, lost 10 cents to end at $9.30 and Scotia Investments with 4,100 units changing hands, closed $2.60 down at $21.40.
Preference| Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share traded 80,500 units at $3 and the 7.50% preference share, traded 1,000,000 units at $2.
Junior Market| The JSE Junior Market Index, declined by 12.30 points to close at 653.94 as only 4 stocks traded, with 3 advancing and 1 declining.
Gains| Stocks recording gains at the end of trading in the junior market, are Blue Power with 5,000 shares, gaining 5 cents to $9.10, Lasco Financial with 81,000 units traded, to close 8 cents higher at $1 and Lasco Manufacturing with 15,348 shares, close with a gain of 11 cents at $1.04.
Firm Trades| There were no active stocks in the junior market that that closed at the same price as the day before.
Declines| Lasco Distributors with 146,506 shares was the sole security declining in the junior market, at the end of trading, the price slipped a cent to end at $1.11.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 7 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 6 stocks with offers that were lower. An indication that the market is moving sideways for now.
Declines & advances even as JSE continues sideways
Two new highs, 13 stocks trade on TTSE
Trading on the Trinidad Stock Exchange was moderate on Friday, with 13 securities changing hands of which 5 advanced, 2 declined and 6 traded firm with 175,230 units changing hands, with a value of $1,049,191. Prestige Holdings and Unilever closed at 52 weeks’ high.
The Composite Index rose 0.46 points to close at 1,147.50, the All T&T Index advanced by just 0.56 points to close at 1,982.21and the Cross Listed Index increased by 0.04 points to end at 40.94.
Gains| Stocks increasing in price at the close are, Jamaica Money Market Brokers added 4,500 shares with a cent gain, to 46 cents, Massy Holdings gained 6 cents in trading 198 units at $68.49, S, Prestige Holdings traded 1,052 units with a gain of 10 cents to land at $9.50, a new 52 weeks’ high, Sagicor Financial with 34,337 shares traded for $214,606 to end at $6.25 to gain a cent and Unilever Caribbean increased by 84 cents to end the day at $64, a new 52 weeks’ high.
Declines| The stocks declining at the end of trading are First Citizens lost 4 cents with 4,473 units at $35.96 and Trinidad Cement suffered a loss, of 3 cents to close at $2.74.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of trading are, Angostura Holdings with 525 shares traded to close at $12.75,Clico Investment Fund with 16,107 shares valued at $354,331 remained at $21.99, Grace Kennedy traded 1,000 units at $3.55, Guardian Holdings contributed 7,891 shares with a value of $106,607, to close at $13.51, Guardian Media with 500 shares closed at $19.76 and National Commercial Bank with 100,000 shares changing hands for a value of $100,000, to close at $1.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 3 stocks with the bid higher than their last selling prices and 4 stocks with offers that were lower.
Jamaican $ stability holding
In Thursday’s forex trading, authorized dealers sold more foreign currency than they purchased. Dealers bought the equivalent of US$32,479,891 versus US$33,226,788 on Wednesday, and sold the equivalent of US$37,797,115 compared with US$42,349,863 on Wednesday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$27,452,497 compared to US$27,754,091 on Wednesday. The buying rate for the US dollar fell 14 cents to $112.26 and US$33,759,732 was sold versus US$37,453,095 on Wednesday, the selling rate remained unchanged at $112.76.
The Canadian dollar buying rate gained $1.61 to $102.64 with dealers buying C$2,224,524 and selling C$2,629,200 at an average selling rate that gained 14 cents to $103.57.
The rate for theBritish Pound rose 23 cents to $184.26, for the purchase of £1,694,610, while £774,420 was sold, as the rate fell 21 cents to $185.29. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$212,180, while selling was for the equivalent of US$349,882.
Highs & Lows| The highest rate for the US dollar, rose by 10 cents to $113.20 and lowest buying and highest selling rates remained unchanged at $91.85 and $117.70 respectively, the lowest selling rate rose $16.48 to $110.50. The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar fell 15 cents to $103.85, the lowest buying rate remained unchanged at $81.67, the highest selling rate rose 48 cents to $106.02 and the lowest selling rate remained at $98.40. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, fell 96 cents to $185.74, the lowest buying rate declined 37 cents $148.49. The highest selling rate rose $1.93 to $191.42 and the lowest selling rate declined by 45 cents to $178.90.
Active securities climbed on JSE
In Thursday’s trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, the prices of 11 stocks rose and 9 declined as 29 securities changed hands, resulting in 4,031,674 shares trading, valued at $20,663,144.
Main Market| The JSE Market Index gained 539.88 points to 72,301.76 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index rose 603.67 points to close at 79,554.69.
Gains| The volume and last traded prices of stocks with gains at the end of trading, in the main market are, Caribbean Cement with 10,000 shares trading to close with a gain of 10 cents at $2.50, Desnoes & Geddes with 10,000 shares with 5 cents gain, to $4.65, Kingston Wharves gained 48 cents while trading 500 shares at $5.50, Mayberry Investments gained 20 cents to close at $1.90 with 144,148 units changing hands. Sagicor Group had 706,269 active units and closed 40 cents higher at $9.40, Sagicor Real Estate Fund with 28,880 units, gained 5 cents at $6.95, Scotia Investments traded only 1,000 shares and put on $2.60 to end at $24 and Seprod with 18,825 units closed 25 cents up at $11.
Firm| The stocks in the main market to close without a change in price, with volume and last traded prices are, Berger Paints with 5,000 shares closing at $1.60, Carreras trading 4,711 units and closed at $34.90 and National Commercial Bank with 25,352 shares, closed at $18.
Declines| The volume and last traded prices of stocks with losses at the at the end of trading in the main market are, Cable & Wireless with 12,000 shares, declined by a cent to close at 29 cents, Grace Kennedy with only 199 shares, dipped 50 cents to $60.50, Hardware & Lumber with 10,000 shares, lost 59 cents to end at $7.01, Jamaica Broilers with 2,374,605 shares closed 20 cent down at $4.50, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 11,406 shares, saw the price slipping by a cent to $6.95 and Scotia Group 8,950 shares traded with a loss of 5 cents at $18.95.
Preference| Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) 8.75% preference share traded 2,000 units at $3, JMMB 7.50% preference share ended trading with 240,000 units at $2 and Proven Investments 8% Preference share traded 113,300 units at $5.05.
Junior Market| The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 7.79 points to close at 641.64 as 9 stocks traded with 3 advancing and 3 declining.
Gains| Stocks recording gains at the end of trading in the junior market are, Dolphin Cove with activity in 2,000 shares as the price was up 25 cents to $8, General Accident with 15,000 shares put on 2 cents to $1.36 and Lasco Distributors traded 92,770 units at a cent higher at $1.12.
Firm Trades| Stocks in the junior market that traded to close at the same price as the day before are, Access Financial with 2,400 units at $10.18, Honey Bun ended at $2.34 with 1,736 shares changing hands and Lasco Financial 110,956 shares, traded at 92 cents.
Declines| Stocks declining in the junior market at the end of trading are, Blue Power with just 3,415 units, shed 1 cent to $9.05, Caribbean Producers with 15,000 shares lost a cent, to end at $2.35 and Lasco Manufacturing 61,252 units closed own a cent at 93 cents.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 4 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 7 stocks with offers that were lower.
Trading picks up on TTSE, will it last?
Trading on the Trinidad Stock Exchange picked up on Thursday, with 18 securities changing hands of which 5 advanced, 4 declined and 9 traded firm. A total of 530,642 units changed hands, with a value of $11,604,991.
The Composite Index advanced by 4.05 points to close at 1,147.04, the All T&T Index fell by just 0.24 points to close at 1,981.65 and the Cross Listed Index increased by 1.12 points to end at 40.90.
Gains| Stocks increasing in price at the close are, Ansa Merchant Bank gaining 10 cents to close at $39.21, a new 52 weeks’ high, with 1,000 shares changing hands, Firstcaribbean International Bank gained 25 cents, to end at $5 while trading 1,000 shares, Guardian Media 15,706 shares, traded with a 1 cent gain to $19.76, a new 52 weeks’ high, Sagicor Financial Corporation traded 9,700 shares, to close with a gain of 1 cent at $6.25 and West Indian Tobacco with 4,000 shares with a value of $472,080, inched up a cent to $118.02.
Declines| The stocks declining at the end of trading are, Agostini’s with 377,511 units changing hands for a value of $6,512,065, fell 12 cents, to close at $17.25, Clico Investment Fund traded 9,294 shares valued at $204,454, but remained at $21.99 for a cent decline, Massy Holdings with 500 shares traded, lost 7 cents at $68.43 and Republic Bank with 300 shares, declined 3 cents to close at $121.79.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of trading are, ANSA McAL with 47,997 shares, traded for $3,179,801 to close at $66.25, First Citizens Bank with 1,289 units traded, closed at $35.95, Grace Kennedy contributed 28,534 shares with a value of $101,296 and ended at $3.55, Guardian Holdings added 15,864 shares valued at $214,323 as it closed at $13.51, National Commercial Bank traded 10,000 units at $1, National Enterprises with 500 shares, closed at $17.75, Prestige Holdings traded 1,857 shares at $9.40, Scotiabank with 590 units changing hands, closed at $61.99 and Unilever Caribbean with 5,000 shares with a value of $315,800, closed at $63.16.
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 6 stocks with offers that were lower.
GOJ Tax revenues on target
Jamaican government’s tax revenues, were on target for the first 4 months of the 2014/15 fiscal year, coming in just $611 million short of the target of $112.23 billion.
Only $609 million was collected in grants, as this category fell nearly $3 billion short of target. Overall, total collections, amounted to $121.8 billion, short by $2.6 billion for the period. For the similar period in 2013 inflows amounted to $118.7 billion.
Expenditure fell by a much larger amount than inflows, at $7.7 billion to end at $139.7 billion. Lesser amounts than budgeted were paid out for wages, interest, general and capital expenditures. Government only paid $7.8 billion on the capital side, versus $12 billion budgeted. Reductions of payments were, $737 million for general expenses, wages $1.2 billion and interest $1.6 billion.
The fiscal deficit, improved by $5 billion over target, to reach $18 billion, while the primary surplus was $3.6 billion better than planned. At the same time last year, the deficit was only $5.7 billion and the primary surplus $25 billion or $4.7 billion ahead of target.
More outflows but rates holding
In Wednesday’s forex trading, authorized dealers sold more foreign currency than they purchased. Dealers bought the equivalent of US$33,226,788 versus US$49,952,055 on Tuesday, and sold the equivalent of US$42,349,863 compared with US$54,895,404 on Tuesday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$27,754,091 compared to US$44,900,566 on Tuesday. The buying rate for the US dollar rose 4 cents to $112.40 and US$37,453,095 was sold versus US$51,519,466 on Tuesday, the selling rate gained 4 cents to $112.75.
The Canadian dollar buying rate dropped 2 cents to $101.03 with dealers buying C$788,145 and selling C$900,497 at an average selling rate that gained 22 cents to $103.43.
The rate for theBritish Pound declined 59 cents to $184.03, for the purchase of £2,047,338, while £1,347,894 was sold, as the rate fell $1.35 to $185.50. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$1,412,171, while selling was the equivalent of US$1,853,249.
Highs & Lows| The highest and lowest rates for the US dollar, remained unchanged at $113.10, $91.85 and $117.70 respectively, except for the lowest selling rate that rose 72 cents to $94.02. The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar rose 70 cents to $104, the lowest buying rate fell 50 cents to $81.67, the highest selling rate dipped 63 cents to $105.54 and the lowest selling rate dropped 60 cents to $98.40. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, fell 40 cents to $186.70, the lowest buying rate declined 71 cents $148.86. The highest selling rate fell $3.75 to $189.49 and the lowest selling rate declined by $1.25 to $179.35.
Inside trades at D&G & NCB
National Commercial Bank Jamaica (NCB) advised that two directors purchased a total of 34,607 of the bank’s shares, on August 27, 2014 and Desnoes and Geddes reported the purchase of 100,000 of the company’s shares by a Director, on September 1. The company had previously reported a purchase of shares by a directors on August 29.
NCBJ reported good gains in profit for the nine moths to June this year with IC Insider forecast of $4.80 per share for the year to September and Desnoes & Geddes earned 77 cents per share from ongoing operations for the year to June.
Scotia takes back most of Tuesday’s gains
On a light trading day on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, on Wednesday’s, only 16 securities traded, as the prices of 4 rose and 5 declined, resulting in 4,375,135 securities changing hands, valued at $26,470,726.
Main Market| The JSE Market Index gave up 1,331.74 of the 1,732.90 points it gained on Tuesday, to end at 71,761.88 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index gave back 1,489.11 of the 1,937.69 points increase on Tuesday, to close at 78,951.02. Scotia Group fell back to $19 at the close, this stock was the major influence on the downward indices’ movement.
Gains| The volume and last traded prices of stocks with gains, at the end of trading in the main market, are Caribbean Cement with only 1,000 shares traded, to close with an 18 cents rise to $2.40, Carreras with 168,403 shares, to close with a gain of 10 cents at $34.90, Mayberry Investments gained 5 cents to close at $1.70, in trading 2,350 units and Supreme Ventures with 2,100 shares changing hands, gained a cent, to end at $1.81.
Firm| The stocks in the main market to close without a change in price, with volume and last traded prices are, Grace Kennedy with 4,910 shares, closing at $61, Jamaica Broilers 800 shares trading at $4.70, Kingston Wharves had only 100 units being active at $5.02, National Commercial Bank put through 27,612 shares at $18 and Scotia Investments with 2,255 units, closed at $21.40.
Declines| The volume and last traded prices of stocks with losses, at the at the end of trading in the main market are, Desnoes & Geddes with 4,055,626 units, the price declined by 5 cents to $4.60, Jamaica Money Market Brokers with 5,178 ordinary shares, lost 4 cents to end at $6.96, Sagicor Group had 87,723 changing hands, with the loss of 50 cents at $9 and Scotia Group fell from Tuesday’s jump to of $1.68 to close with 11,860 units trading, with the price falling back by $1.47 to $19.
Preference| Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share traded 4,450 units at $3.
Junior Market| The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 0.42 points to close at 649.43 as just 2 stocks traded, Blue Power with 100 shares a $9.06 and Knutsford Express with 668 units at $5, down 16 cents, for a new 52 weeks’ low.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 6 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 stocks with offers that were lower.
Peart & James for Access Board
Access Financial Services has advised of the appointment of Messer’s Neville James and Gary Peart as shareholder Directors to the board of the company. The appointments will take effect at the end of the Annual General Meeting scheduled for September 10.
James represents the his family side, while Peart will represent Mayberry Investments, one of the major shareholders in Access.
The appointments will increase the number of board members, but still leave the board short of adequate number of independent directors to help guide the company and try to bridge the differences that have developed over the past few years, between the two major shareholders. The company needs some directors who will see to the monitoring and maintenance of corporate governance and good corporate practices, the absence of which resulted in some of the issue that is the subject of the dispute that is now the subject of a court battle.
Following the announcement by Access, Lasco Financial Services advised of the resignation of Gary Peart from the Board of Directors of the company, with effect from September 2, 2014. This removes a conflict that existed, with Peart being a director of Mayberry as well as a director of Lasco Financial Services.
