Blog Page — Page 1438

FX: Selling rates up for all

September 4, 2013 by IC Insider.com

Wednesday, 4th September 2013 | As the level of buying of foreign currency falls well below demand, the selling rates for all three major currencies appreciated against the local currency with the US dollar selling at 3 cents more than on Tuesday at $101.17 as $24.84 million were sold versus US$20.4 million bought at an average of $101.33 a 16 cents decline on Tuesday’s closing rate.

The Canadian dollar was sold on average for 47 cents more than Tuesday’s closing rate for C$883,200, while the currency was bought at 8 cents lower than on Tuesday and closed at $95.21 as $592,000 was purchased. The Pound Sterling buying rate increased by $1.08 to close at $157.88 as £1,167,212 and £945,113 was sold at 62 cents higher at $159.81.

For the US dollar, the highest buying rate gained 10 cent to $103.00, lowest buying rate was unchanged at 84.17 while the highest selling rate was 3 cents higher at the close at $107.86 and the lowest declined by $15.31 to close at $84.04.

All of the highest and lowest rates for the Canadian dollar climbed with the highest buying rate increasing by 15 cents to $97.50, the lowest was up 8 cents to 78.35. The highest selling rate for the Canadian was up by 21 cents to $101.22 and the lowest moved up by 25 cents to $94.65.

The Pound sterling saw the highest buy rate moving up 25 cents to $160.20 with the lowest being up $6.06 to $135.29. The highest selling rate was down $4.44 to $162.16 and the lowest down 30 cents $154.15.

TTSE: 52 weeks high for 4 stocks

September 4, 2013 by IC Insider.com

Wednesday, 4th September 2013 | The market activity resulted in four stocks hitting 52 weeks highs. These are Angostura Holdings closed at $9.51 but trading as high as $9.54 in exchanging 1,560 units; Unilever Caribbean gained 9 cents to end the day at $55.40, a new 52 weeks high as 838 units changed hands; National Enterprises traded at a new 52 weeks high of $16.01, up a cent on the day while trading just 500 units, the stock closed with a bid at $16.05 for just 50 units. Republic Bank traded 2,253 units at $110.02 up a cent, a new 52 weeks high.

Trading picked up on the Trinidad resulted from trading in 14 securities of which 5 advanced, 2 declined and 7 traded firm as 557,106 units changed hands valued at $8,569,826.

Stocks with reasonable volumes trading are Grace Kennedy with 200,415 shares valued at $661,370; Trinidad Cement 162,126 shares valued at $388,483 lost 10 cents to close at $2.30; ANSA McAL 67,392 shares with a value of $4,466,742; Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7,100 shares valued at $3,550. Clico Investment Fund posted a volume of 106,466 shares valued at $2,290,182, the price advanced by 1 cent to end at $21.51.

Prestige holdings exchanged 2,665 units and closed firm at $9.35; Scotia Bank traded 1,924 units firm at $70.01 and One Caribbean Media 1,602 firm at $18.02. West Indian Tobacco traded 1,188 units at $117.05.

IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows that bid for 1 stock was higher with 3 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

Filed Under: Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: Daily Trading, Trading Activity, TTSE

FX: All Tuesday’s rates up

September 3, 2013 by IC Insider.com

Tuesday, 3rd September 2013 | US$34,553,830 was purchased by dealers as the buying rate rose by 34c to an average of $101.49 and dealers sold US$32,447,951 at $102.137, an increase of 3 cents, the Canadian was purchased at $95.289 up 42 cents for C$923,276 while C$874,494 was purchased at 78 cents higher than Monday’s rate to close at $97.632. The British Pound traded at $156.806, an increase of 84 cents as £1,352,743 was purchased and £853,085 was sold for $159.189, an increase of 21 cents.

The equivalent of US$37.85 million was purchased and $34.85 million sold bettering yesterday’s take.

Dealers purchased the US dollar as high as $102.90 at 10 cents higher than on Monday and the bought as low as $84.17 which was the same rate as Monday’s low. The US dollar was sold as high as $107.89, lower by 88 cents than the rate at the close of Monday and sold as low as $ 99.35 reflecting a $15.31 increase.

The Canadian dollar was bought as high as 97.35, off 5 cents and remained unchanged for the lowest buying rate at $78.27; the highest selling rate came in at $101.01 down by 64 cents and 10 cents was added to the lowest selling price, which closed at $94.40.

The Pound gained all round with the highest buying rate closing at $159.95, which is 65 cents more than on Monday and lowest buy rate climbed 79 cents to end at $129.23. The highest rate that sales took place at is $166.60 up $1.02 and the lowest rate came in at $154.45 up $1.55

Filed Under: FX Market, Stock Market Tagged With: Daily Trading, FX Market, Trading Activity

JSE: Advancing stocks hit decliners

September 3, 2013 by IC Insider.com

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Tuesday, 3rd September 2013 | Unlike Monday when trading levels were very moderate, trading picked up on Tuesday with 9 million units changing hands valued at $41.6 million.

Proven Preference shares traded 4 million units valued at $20.4 million as the stock closed firm at $5.09; Scotia Bank traded as high as $23.49 but closed down at $22. These movements were the main factors driving the two main indices up sharply at the close. Indications are that the price indices could fall quite a bit when trading closes on Wednesday unless a stock such as NCB picks up appreciably in price. The all Jamaica index which nose dived 1,051.58 jumped 1,621.05 today to end up at 85890.59, while the main market index that slipped 597.66 on Monday was up sharply by 921.32 to 84,363.57. The junior market index bucked the positive trend by falling 0.88 to close at 782.37. Trading resulted in 25 securities exchanging ownership of which 10 advanced, 3 declined and 13 traded firm.

Trades today with reasonable volumes were Carreras with 24,051 to close at $46.40, an increase of 40 cents; Jamaica Broilers Group accounted for 1,533,057 valued at $7.97 million to close 6 cents up at $5.20; Jamaica Producers 14,260 to close at $18.25; Kingston Wharves 15,014 units and closed at $7; Mayberry Investments contributed 33,386 was firm at $2.60. National Commercial Bank 278,547 units closed firm at $18.50 as it accounted for $5.15 million of the total value traded; Sagicor Investments 83,000 units at $16.55 at the close, down 5 cents; Sagicor Life Jamaica 17,201 closed firm at $8.16 and Scotia Group 7878,700 units traded resulting in the price rising 55 cents to end of trading at $22. Having traded as high as $23.49 for a value of $18.3 million, the bulk of buying was conducted by Scotia Investment for clients.

Junior market | Trading picked up on Tuesday with 8 stocks changing hands in this segment of the market. Jamaican Teas which traded a million shares at $4.40 exchanged another million units today with the price closing firm at $4.40 with a value of $4.4 million; Blue Power gained 6 cents to close at $9.28 with 11,124 units; Caribbean Producers put in 308,00 units while trading firm at $2.03. Lasco Distributors traded 143,610 units up 5 cents to close at $1.50; Lasco Financial Services added 29,040 in trading at $1.44 for an increase of 4 cents; Lasco Manufacturing accounted for 415,241 firm at $1.62 up 6 cents and investors moved 256,036 units of Paramount Trading through the market as the price closed firm at $3.30.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows that bids for 6 stocks were higher with 2 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price. This is the second day in a row that this indicator has been strong and could mean that the market is once more ready to move upwards.

Filed Under: JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: Daily Trading, JSE Company, Trading Activity

JMMB share offer taken up

September 3, 2013 by IC Insider.com

Jamaica Money Market Brokers advised that the offer to purchase two set of preference shares at 7.25 percent and 7.50 percent was oversubscribed and in accordance with the provisions of the Prospectus, JMMB will allot further Preference Share to all applicants in the amount that was subscribed. All Shares applied for will be allotted to applicants out of Preference Share currently held by JMMB.

JMMB advised that the Offers closed on the last day of work week (last Friday) and is oversubscribed. JMMB is currently encountering administrative constraints in the compilation and processing of the subscription applications in order to provide the information to the Jamaica Stock Exchange by close of business September 2, 2013.

Filed Under: Company News, General Business News, Initial Public Offers, JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: JMMB, JSE Company

Trades deficits narrows to May

September 3, 2013 by IC Insider.com

Jamaica imported goods valued at US$2.69 billion during the January to May 2013 period, while imports for the similar period in 2012 was US$2,735 billion, a decrease of US$42 million. Exports for the January to May 2013 period amounted to US$714.0 million, when compared to the US$720.0 million recorded in the comparable 2012 period a fall of US$6.0 million narrowing the trade deficit by US$36.1 million.

Imports | The value of imports for commodity groups, showed a general downward trend. The primary commodity group imported during the period was “Mineral Fuels, etcetera” which amounted to US$960.8 million and accounted for 35.7 per cent of total imports. Relative to the US$1,143.5 million imported for the January to May 2012 period, the value of “Mineral fuels, etcetera” decreased by US$182.7 million or 16.0 per cent. This decline was as a result of reduction of items such as ‘Coal, Coke and Briquettes’ and Gas, natural and manufactured. “Machinery and Transport Equipment” valued at US$374.6 million, declined marginally from US$378.6 million in the similar 2012 period. “Manufactured Goods” valued at US$230.6 million, fell by US$30.3 Million or 11.6 per cent.

Traditional Domestic Exports | During the five months of 2013, the contribution of major traditional domestic exports to the value of domestic exports decreased from 54.9 per cent in the 2012 review period to 50.9 per cent in the similar period in 2013. Traditional exports amounted to US$347.5 million in the period, down US$35.4 million from US$382.8 million in the 2012 period. The decline is in the “Mining and Quarrying” and “Manufacture” groups.

Non-traditional exports increased during the January to May 2013 period by US$20.7 million or 6.6 per cent to US$335.2 million.

Imports from CARICOM for the first five months of 2013 accounted for 13.5 per cent of total imports and was valued at US$362.3 million representing a decrease of US$91.8 million or 20.2 per cent when compared to the US$454.1 million recorded for the 2012. The value of the Non-fuel imports from CARICOM amounted to US$125.8 million, up from US$115.1 in the comparable 2012 period.

“Mineral Fuels, etcetera” decreased during the 2013 review period, by US$102.6 million or 30.0 per cent and was valued at US$236.5 million. Other notable commodity groups imported from the region included “Food”, valued at US$76 million, “Beverages and Tobacco” US$17.2 million, “Chemicals”, US$11.4 million, and “Manufactured Goods”, US$9.9 million.

The United States of America (USA) remained Jamaica’s main trading partner during the January to May 2013, with US$923.9 million or 34.3 per cent of imports originating from that country. Total exports to the United States amounted to US$368.2 million or 51.6 per cent. Jamaica incurred a trade deficit with the United States of US$555.7 million, down from US$667.3 million in the similar 2012 period.

Total exports to CARICOM for the January to May 2013 period was valued at US$26.7 million, representing a decline of US$2.2 million or 7.8 per cent. Domestic exports to CARICOM decreased to US$22.2 million and accounted for 3.3 per cent of the country’s domestic exports. Re-export for the period increased and was valued at US$4.5 million, in the current review period.

For the first five months of 2013 Jamaica incurred a trade deficit with her CARICOM partners of US$335.6 million when compared to the US$425.2 million recorded for the January to May 2012 period. The trade gap narrowed by US$89.6 million or 21.1 per cent.

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: Economy, GOJ

Sharp increase in May Remittances

September 3, 2013 by IC Insider.com

For May 2013, net remittances were US$162.0 million, an increase of US$19.6 million or 13.7 per cent relative to the corresponding period of 2012. This resulted from an increase in gross remittance inflows and a contraction in outflows as the foreign exchange market settled after the signing of the agreement with the IMF agreement by the government.

Gross remittance inflows for the month were US$181.5 million, an increase of US$14.9 million or 8.9 per cent relative to the corresponding month of the previous year and the highest monthly inflow for 2013. The inflows are the highest since 2009 when inflows fell to US$142 million and last year’s $166.7 million. The rise in total remittance inflows emanated from increases of US$8.0 million and US$6.9 million in both the Remittance Companies and Other Remittances subcategories, respectively.

Total remittance outflows for the review month decreased by US$4.7 million to US$19.6 million. The combined impact of inflows and outflows resulted in net remittance flows increasing for May 2013.

Historical data show a link with exchange market instability and remittance flows. In 2009, other remittances started to fall from October 2008 when they fell US$10 million to US$28 million; in November it fell further to US$18.3 million; moved up to $27.1 in December while in January it fell to US$25.6 million; US$19 million in February and US$19.4 million in March. The average monthly inflows for the first quarter of 2008 was $40 million. The decline seems to coincide with the sharp fall in the value of the local dollar and scarcity of US dollars in the economy as investors, who received foreign currency, would most likely have held onto them than surrender them into the system. The same situation appears to have occurred since 2012 into the early months of this year.

January to May 2013 | Net remittances for January to May 2013 were US$753.5 million, representing a growth of US$15.6 million or 2.1 per cent relative to 2012. The out-turn for the review period reflected an increase in gross inflows, helped by a reduction in outflows. For the period, total inflows were US$854.2 million, representing a minor increase of US$2.6 million.

Remittance inflows for the year to-date were above the corresponding pre-crisis (2008) out-turn. However, the growth rate in remittance inflows has seen a deceleration since 2010, most likely due to Jamaicans speculating against the local currency as the country went through a prolonged period without an IMF agreement and a declining net international reserves and overvaluation of the Jamaican dollar as a result of years of local inflation exceeding by far that of our major trading partners.

The increase in total remittance inflows reflected a US$13.5 million or 10.8 per cent improvement in inflows through Other Remittances, together with a US$10.9 million or 1.5 per cent reduction in flows from Remittance Companies sub-category. For the review period, the positive growth in net remittances inflows was also due to a contraction of US$13.0 million in outflows.

Related posts | April remittances back on track | Remittance inflows dip

Image courtesy of Boaz Yiftach/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: BOJ, Economy, GOJ, Remittances

TTSE: Buyers back off TCL

September 3, 2013 by IC Insider.com

Tuesday, 3rd September 2013 | Trinidad Cement declined again today, this time by 10 cents, as the stock closed at $2.41 after trading 33,065 shares. The stock closed with 707,519 shares on offer at $2.40 without any stock posted to buy at the end of trading. The stock seems to have more of a price fall to go before it settles down again.

Market activity resulted from trading in 12 securities of which 1 advanced, 2 declined and 9 traded firm with 468,390 shares changing hands valued at $4.99 million.

Other stocks to trade in reasonable volumes include: National Flour Mills with 171,405 shares valued at $128,554 as it traded firm at 75 cents; National Enterprises 70,000 shares valued at $1,120,000 traded firm at $16. Jamaica Money Market Brokers contributed 65,300 shares with a value of $32,650 and the price holding firm at 50 cents. At the end of trading there were bids for 301,539 units at 43 cents and 190,111 to sell at 50 cents. Sagicor Financial Corporation added 59,274 shares valued at $406,027 trading firm at $6.85. Neal & Massy traded 4,500 units firm at $55.99, Point Lisa lost a cent to close at $3.74 but with just 1,000 units changing hands; Republic Bank traded 17,075 units valued at$187,421 firm at $110.01; Scotia Bank lost a cent to $70 with 991 units.

Clico Investment Fund, in posting a volume of 45,400 shares valued at $976,116, remained firm at $21.50.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows that bid for 1 stock was higher with 3 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

Filed Under: Stock Market, TTSE Market Tagged With: Daily Trading, Trading Activity, TTSE

D&G poor 4th quarter

September 3, 2013 by IC Insider.com

Desnoes & Geddes, brewers of the world renown Red Stripe Beer, reported flat profits of $1.2 billion for the twelve months to June this year. Redundancy payments of $311 million, of which $160 million was in the last quarter, and an adjustment of $88 million relating to taxation booked in 2012, bit into net profits.

June quarter results came in at $161 million compared to $472 million in the same quarter last year. The poor last quarter results is not indicative of future earnings. D&G had telegraphed the lackluster numbers when it declared a dividend in June of only 10 cents per share, which brought the total payment to 30 cents for the year.

Sales for the fourth quarter was $2.682 billion, 5 percent lower than the similar period in 2012 and for the full year, $10.369 billion or 6 percent below last year’s figure. A change from exporting brewed product to the USA market in the latter part of the 2012 financial year to licensing a USA based brewery to produce and market the product, resulted in a reduction in export sales from $3.4 billion to $1.93 billion. Domestic sales on the other hand grew by 13 percent in the quarter and 11 percent for the full year.

The company claimed that improved domestic performance was buoyed by new innovations in both the brewed portfolio and a stronger performing spirits portfolio. Cost of sales for the fourth quarter at $1.666 billion and full year of $6.118 billion decreased by 6 percent and 12 percent, respectively, versus the previous year. This would be partly due to the shift of production for the export US market. The shift in export strategy resulted in a big boost to profit in the export segment, which doubled from $405 million to $834 million but the domestic segment profit was flat at $2.49 billion. The domestic segment picked up more overhead cost than before when they were shared with the larger production level. D&G managed to improve the gross profit margin from 37 percent in 2012 to 40 percent in 2013 and gross profit after marketing cost to 32 percent from 26 percent excluding special consumption tax.

Profit before tax increased by 28.6 percent to reach $1.87 billion when compared to last year due to growth in domestic volumes and improved margin, dividend income which jumped by from $60 million to $184 million and royalties that moved from $342 million to $556 million.

Despite the higher pre-tax profit, result after tax was negatively impacted by a higher overall tax rate compared to 2012 when 25 percent was used compared with 30 percent in this year’s results.

Regarding marketing, selling and administrative expenses, the company stated, “Marketing expenses of $190 million for the fourth quarter decreased by $42 million or 18 percent compared to last year mainly as a result of our new export model where expenditure to promote our US exports is provided by the licensee in America. General, selling and administrative expenses for the quarter were $29m (8 percent) above last year. The company’s joint venture with partner Pepsi Cola Jamaica, Celebrations Brands Ltd, began successful operations in most distribution hubs previously operated by Red Stripe and contributed a small profit to D&G’s results.”

The results helped boost cash from $973 million to $1.7 billion after dividend payment of $843 million and $880 million, investment in fixed assets and the joint venture company and growth of $500 million in receivables offset by current liabilities that rose by $500 million as well. D&G ended the period with equity capital of more than $8 billion inclusive of deferred taxation.

Insider call | Keep an eye on this one for future developments.

Filed Under: Company News, Company Results Tagged With: D&G, JSE Company

FX: Unusually low purchases

September 2, 2013 by IC Insider.com

Monday, 2nd September 2013 | Trading for the first day of the week and month of September was unusually low for a Monday, but the heavy trading on Friday when US$53.8 million was purchased and US$39.65 million was sold may have robbed the market of much activity as just US$23.27 million was purchased with US$28.4 million sold.

Authorised dealers purchased US$19,593,289 at a buying rate of $101.1463 down 50c from Friday’s closing rate and sold US$26,278,288 at an average of $102.109 up 3c at the end of the day. The buying rate for the Canadian dollar fell $1.24 to close at $94.8671 as C$1,009,449 was purchased and sold C$515,019 at an average of $96.8504 down 97c. £1,562,581 was purchased at an average of $155.9639 representing a decline of $1.61 for the day and sale of £776,054 took place at an average of $158.981 up 44c.

There was much variation in the highest and lowest buying and selling rates amongst the three main currencies. The highest buy rate for the US dollar fell by 5c to end at $102.80, while the lowest was up 13c at $84.17 and selling was as high as $108.77 up 91c, while the lowest fell 13c to $84.04.

In the case of the Canadian dollar, the buy rate at its highest dropped $1.10 to $97.40 and the lowest fell 33c to $78.27 while selling took place as high as $101.65 with no change at the end and the lowest slipped 15cto $94.30.

The British Pound traded as high as $159.30 buying with the rate increasing by 30c, the lowest increased by $28.44 to end at $128.44 while the highest selling rate moved up by $4.58 to $165.58, and the lowest increased by 75c to close at $152.90.