Thursday, 4th July 2013 | One question on investors’ minds is what will be the market’s reaction to the 10 for 1 stock split of the three Lasco companies when trading starts on Friday with the new share structure. In today’s trading all three stocks pulled back in price from yesterday’s last traded prices. The other main issue will be the market’s reaction to the opening of the JSE IPO that opens on Friday as well.

In today’s activity, 30 stocks traded, or 50 percent more than yesterday, but the dollar value fell to $22.35 million as Cable & Wireless traded 2.65 million shares valued at only $371,427. The advance decline ratio was tilted in favour of declining stocks with 13 declining and only 7 advancing. A total of 5.6 million shares traded, as all the indices with movement, fell moderately.

Main Market | Trades of note include Carreras of which 60,000 shares traded between $54.01 and $56, the closing price. Jamaica Broilers gained 15 cents to close at $5.20, a 52 weeks high, with 606,510 units crossing hands. Jamaica Producers climbed to $19.50 up $1 while trading 134,000 units between $18.20 and the closing price. Mayberry, a stock investors should keep a keen eye on for price movement, traded 965,000 units at $2.60. Scotia Group traded 125,000 units and closed at $21.15. Scotia Investments traded up 25 cents as 12,000 units traded with the closing price at $26.50 still below the price in Trinidad of nearly $29.

Junior market | Of the 10 stocks traded on the junior market, only Caribbean Producers closed up and by just a cent, as 125,000 units traded. Lasco Distributors closed at $16.25 and 68,000 units trading the stock lost 35 cents. Lasco Finance lost 77 cents in closing at $12 as it traded between $12 and $13 with 158,000 units changing hands. Lasco Manufacturing traded at $16.30 at the close with 87,000 units trading between $16.26 and $16.50. The only other trade of note was 27,000 units of Access Financial Services which traded at $8.25.

Market intelligence | The bid for 2.6 million at 14 cents on Wednesday for Cable & Wireless was fully supplied in today’s trading at the bid price. Its removal exposes a bid for 1 million units at 12 cents while the amount on offer at 15 cents moves up to 30.4 million units at the end of trading. The next bid after the 1 million at 12 cents is at 11 cents for 9.76 million units. RJR still has a bid of $1.23 to buy 4.79 million shares, the supply seems to be drying up with the lowest offer which was at $1.89 at close on Wednesday shifted to 8,430 at $1.30 at Thursday’s close.  The next offer is at $1.89 with only 54,000 units in all on offer currently.

Carreras traded up to $56 as the offers are waning around the $56 level and the bids are rising with good support now at $53.50 and $53. Of interest, while Mayberry Investments put out a buy recommendation for Desnoes & Geddes, they have a sell order for 1 million units at $5.18 which is preventing the stock from moving up. At the same time, there are two bids for 500,000 units each at $4.67 as the only visible major bids. Grace Kennedy stock picked up in price recently and still has a 700,000 unit on offer at $61. Jamaica Producers have 20,000 shares on offer at $20, the next offer is at $28 with bids for about 200,000 units at $19 or more, an encouraging sign for early price appreciation. Kingston Wharves have very limited supply of under 60,000 units on offer but demand is not great either. Mayberry Investments stock still has one bid at $2.60 but there is no indications of great level of supply either. The strongest bid on Scotia Investments is at $26 for 221,000 but an offer of 6 million units at $30 may act as a short term barrier on the upside.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows that bids for 3 stocks were higher with 2 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price.

Wednesday, 3rd July 2013 | The junior market hit another all-time high of 815.36, up 3.34 points from yesterday’s all time high of 812.02 with Lasco Financial Services and Lasco Manufacturing posting gains on the day.

The main market, which broke its losing streak yesterday, continued the up-movement as all indices with trades climbed except the US equities. The all Jamaican Index gained 143.73 points to close at 89,037.69, the Jamaica Stock Exchange Market index closed at 87,434.18 up 96.92 on the day on a day when 8 stocks advanced in price and 8 declined.

Trading took place with 2.8 million shares as investors expended only $21.57 million, which is above the levels of Tuesday’s trading. Only one stock, Lasco Manufacturing, closed with the last traded price reaching an all-time record at the close.

Main Market | There is not much interest in this side of the market as investors’ main attraction was the Lasco stocks. As of Friday 5^th July, these stocks will trade at lower prices based on the 10 for 1 stock split. Scotia Investments, no doubt based on an arbitrage situation that now exists with the stock selling in Trinidad at $28.60 while trading at $26.25 in Jamaica, was up 15 cents. $1.3 million was swapped for the stock as 49,500 units changed hands. The next highest trade was Kingston Wharves which traded 11,400 units valued at $923,000. Pan Jamaican Investments closed down $1.52 at $51.08 as 2,435 units traded.

Market intelligence | The supply of Cable & Wireless on offer at 15 cents remains at 29.4 million units at the end of trading. The immediate bid is for 2.6 million at 14 cents, next is 1 million at 12 cents, then 9.76 million at 11 cents. RJR still has a bid of $1.23 to buy 4.79 million shares. The supply seems to be drying up with the lowest offer being at $1.89 with only 46,000 units in all on offer. There is potential for price appreciation but RJR’s recent results don’t suggest that earnings can support any major upward price movement. Carreras traded back up to $56 dollars but the bids in the system appear to be weak and offers are greater than bids that are above $53.01. Grace Kennedy’s stock, which picked up in price recently, has 700,000 unit son offer at $61 that has stymied any further upward movement for the time being. Mayberry Investments had just one bid on the stock at $2.60.

Junior market | Six junior market stocks traded, as Lasco Financial at $12.77 down 67 cents with 272,000 shares trading between $12.77 and $13.01. Lasco Manufacturing traded 337,500 shares with the price closing at $16.50 up 50 cents. Lasco Distributors, closed at $16.50 down $1.50, 346,000 units traded between $16.10 and $17. Caribbean Producers closed at $2.03 while trading 868,622 units. Blue Power did not trade and there are offers amounting to 306,000 units at $10.40 to $10.50 at the end of trading, but the bids have backed off with only 50,000 units on bid at around $9.

The junior market golden cross grows stronger. The 50 day and 120 moving averages trend-lines are crossing over the 200 day moving average which is a strong market signal for a major move in the months ahead. It will be interesting to see what effect the Lasco splits will have on values on Friday when all three stocks sell at the lower stock split prices.

IC bid-offer Indicator | At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer market sentiment indicator shows that bids for 5 stocks were higher with 5 stocks having offers lower than their last selling price. The junior market has three of the stocks in each category of higher bids and lower offers.