Third day of declines for JSE majors

The Jamaica Stock Exchange main market declined for a third consecutive day at the close on Wednesday with less volume and value traded on Tuesday.  
Trading ended with 39 securities changing hands in the main and US dollar markets with 10 advancing, 19 declining and 10 trading firm. The market closed with the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index declining 2,717.19 points to close at 557,689.78. The JSE Index dropped 2,465.01 points to 507,546.85 and the JSE Financial Index lost 0.69 points to close at 138.52.
Main market activity ended with 36 securities trading resulting in 31,141,186 units valued at $368,051,491 in contrast to 44,023,689 units valued at $758,570,804 from 36 securities trading on Tuesday.
Stanley Motta led trading with 13 million units for 42 percent of total volume, followed by Wigton Windfarm with 6 million units accounting for 19 percent of the day’s trade and Sagicor Select Funds with 4 million shares for 13 percent of the market’s trade. Other stocks trading more than a million shares were QWI Investments with 3 million units after trading at the lowest level of $1.15 since listing and Barita Investments with 2.7 million shares.
The Market closed with an average of 865,033 units valued at an average of $10,223,653 for each security traded, in contrast to 1,222,880 units for an average of $21,071,411 on Tuesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 1,111,651 shares at $11,432,416 for each security traded and previously 1,147,595 units valued at $11,637,677 for each stock traded. The market closed out September with an average of 1,585,081 units valued at $14,071,562 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 11 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
In main market activity, Carib Cement closed $2.54 lower after 13,753 shares changed hands to end at $76.82. Eppley Caribbean Property Fund lost $1 trading 6,280 shares to settle at $35, Eppley gained 80 cents, after exchanging 21,211 shares, to close at $1. Grace Kennedy closed $1 lower to $69 with 14,245 shares traded, Jamaica Broilers ended with a loss of $2.01, closing at $34 as 22,233 shares changed hands. Jamaica Stock Exchange gained 99 cents, after exchanging 11,378 shares to settle at $29.99, JMMB Group dropped $2, closing at $43 after trading 114,321 shares, Kingston Wharves added $2 to settle at $62, after exchanging 18,100 shares. Mayberry Equities lost 47 cents to close at $11.03 with 11,364 shares traded, NCB Financial declined by $2 to close at $202 while exchanging 65,660 units, Sagicor Group closed $1.19 lower in swapping 11,515 shares to end at $68.80. Salada Foods dropped $3 to $29 with 15,000 shares changing hands, Seprod advanced $3 to end at $54 with an exchange of 6,291 shares and Supreme Ventures gained 49 cents to close at $27.49 with 208,741 shares traded.
Trading in the US dollar market ended with 28,241 units valued US$17,055 with the market index falling 0.45 points to close at 198.46. Proven Investments exchanged 13,756 shares, to close at 27 US cents, after slipping a fraction of a cent, JMMB Group 6% preference share traded 13,485 units, to end at 99 US cents and Sterling Investments rose 0.3 cents and closed at 3.3 US cents with 1,000 units changing hands.