Junior Market recovery continues

October 19, 2017 by

Lasco’s ICool drinks.

Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange settled on Thursday with 16 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 2,015,630 units valued at $11,835,081 compared to 1,087,963 units valued at $5,258,148 on Wednesday.
Lasco Distributors accounted for 60 percent of the volume traded as the Junior Market Index advanced by 22.19 points to close at 2,985.55. At the close of market activities, the prices of 7 securities advanced, 5 declined and 4 remained with the prices unchanged.
Trading ended with an average of 125,977 units for an average of $739,693 in contrast to 67,998 units for an average of $328,634 on Wednesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 79,378 units, valued at $354,819 and an average of 76,123 with an average value of $327,928, previously. In contrast, September closed with average of 116,176 units valued at $538,652 for each security traded.
Trading ended with the market sentiments looking mixed for Tuesday trading activity as 4 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and just 1 with a lower offer.
In market activity, Access Financial settled with a loss of 1 cent at $41.20, with 734 units trading, AMG Packaging lost 9 cents to close at $3.40, with 143,540 stock units, Caribbean Cream ended trading at $5.90, with 5,816 stock units changing hands. Caribbean Producers declined 9 cents end trading at $3.65, with 27,114 units, Consolidated Bakeries jumped 76 cents to $2.81, with 1,220 stock units, Derrimon Trading ended at $7, with 1,000 stock units, Express Catering climbed 66 cents higher to $5.10, with 73,142 shares, after the company reported that profit more than doubled in the quarter to August from a 10 percent rise in revenues. Honey Bun traded 10 cents higher at $4.40, with 1,000 units, Iron Rock closed 25 cents higher at $3.15, with 61,538 shares, ISP Finance settled at $18, with 2,983 units, Knutsford Express closed 1 cent higher at $15, with 66,270 units, Lasco Distributors settled with a loss of 5 cents at $6.25, with 1,214,790 stock units changing hands. Lasco Financial concluded trading at $4.20, with 155,534 shares, Lasco Manufacturing settled with a loss of 20 cents at $4, with 14,700 units, Main Event traded 21 cents higher at $5.36, with 9,621 units and Stationery and Office ended trading 17 cents higher at $5, with 236,628 units.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.

 

Filed Under: Feature Stories, JSE Junior Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Treasury bill rates heading to 4%

October 19, 2017 by

Treasury bill rates dropped sharply again in the latest Government of Jamaica’s October auction. Rates on the 182 days instrument, fell 34 basis points to 5.11 percent having dived 53 basis points to 5.45 percent in September.
The 91 days Treasury bill rate, fell 40 basis points from 4.98 percent in September to 4.58 percent in the latest auction. In September the rate dropped 51 basis points. The attached chart shows the resistance levels going back to early 2016 just below the 6 percent level that lent support to the rates until June when rates started to drift slowly downwards and was decisively broken in September on its way to 4 percent.

Filed Under: Economy, Feature Stories Tagged With: ,

Another record close for Jamaican stocks

October 18, 2017 by

Rose Hall hotel a  Sagicor Real Estate Fund, property. The stock closed at a new high on Wednesday.

The Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange finished at another new record close of 304,331.28 for the all Jamaica Composite Index on Wednesday. The main and US dollar markets closed with 27 securities changing hands, of which 12 advanced and 5 declined.
In the main activity, Barita Investments closed at $8, with 720 units changing hands, Berger Paints settled 10 cents higher at $11.60, with 72,142 shares, Caribbean Cement finished at $27.50, with 700 units, Carreras settled with a loss of 40 cents at $11.50, with 456,367 stock units, Ciboney Group ended with a loss of 1 cent at $0.18, with 9,835 shares traded. Grace Kennedy ended 50 cents higher at $42.50, with 7,396 units, Jamaica Broilers closed trading 50 cents higher at $18.50, with 18,060 stock units, Jamaica Producers gained 40 cents to end at $16, with 13,000 shares traded, Jamaica Stock Exchange ended trading with a loss of 5 cents at $7.20, with 4,000 units, JMMB Group finished trading at $27, with 180,823 units. Mayberry Investments finished trading 11 cents higher at $4.21, with 200 stock units, 1834 Investments concluded trading 10 cents higher at $1.35, with 3,110 units, PanJam Investment finished 60 cents higher at $38.60, with 485 shares, Portland JSX settled 25 cents higher at $9, with 4,760 units, Radio Jamaica ended trading at $1.15, with 688,353 stock units changing hands. Sagicor Group closed with a loss of $1.50 at $38.50, with 385,734 shares, Sagicor Real Estate Fund closed 75 cents higher at a 52 weeks’ closing high of $14, with 35,500 units, Scotia Group settled $1 higher at $53, trading 35,890 shares, Seprod exchanged 24,500 stock units at $30 nd Supreme Ventures ended trading at $12, with 33,492 stock units. In the main market preference segment, JMMB Group finished trading at $1.15, with 262,000 stock units, Sagicor Bank A preference share traded 1,350 units at $1.05 and the B share saw 9,000 units trading at $1.
In the US dollar market segment, JMMB Group 6% preference share finished at $1.10, with 10,000 shares Productivity Business traded 550 shares at 60 US cents, Proven Investments closed with 483,576 units trading at 23.5 US cents and Sterling Investments traded just 100 shares at a 52 weeks’ high of 12 US cents after rising 1 cent.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.

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Major stocks surge to new record

October 17, 2017 by

NCB helped push JSE to record close on Tuesday.

The JSE All Jamaican Composite Index made another big move in another attempt in breaking away from resistance around the 300,000 points levels, advancing by 2,135.19 points to close at 302,498.35 The JSE Index advanced by 1,945.40 points to a record close of 275,610.21.
NCB Financial with 611,333 units trading jumped to $93 at the close, along with Scotia Group that traded just 9,271 units to close higher at $52 were two of the main contributors to the day’s rise in the market indices.
The Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange finished trading on Tuesday with 23 securities changing hands, 12 advanced, 4 declined and 7 traded firm with 4,504,312 units valued at 68,391,852 compared to 94,545,441 units valued at 1,119,081,050 on Thursday. In the US dollar market, trading just 1 security accounted for 102,838 units with a value of $24,009 and the JSE US dollar Equities Index closing with a modest loss of 0.70 points to 183.66.
Trading ended with an average of 142,884 units for an average of $3,108,721, in contrast to 204,741 units for an average of $3,108,721 Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 2,085,099 units valued at an average of $28,710,794 and 2,279,320 units valued at $31,266,958 previously. In contrast, September closed with average of 536,395 units at $1,905,441 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading in the main and US dollar markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 10 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with lower offers.
Berger Paints resumed trading but with ne official report on the out turn of the acceptance of the offer by investors, the stock closed at $11.50 after 248,769 units were traded.

Filed Under: Feature Stories, JSE Main Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Juniors climb 38 points

October 17, 2017 by

In moderate trading, the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, ended with only 15 securities changing hands, on Tuesday, with an exchange of a mere 462,606 units valued at $2,337,749, well down on Friday’s levels.
Trading on Friday resulted in 2,090,829 units valued at $10,875,161. At the close of market activities, the prices of 9 securities advanced, 3 declined and 3 remained unchanged, leading to the Junior Market Index advancing 37.85 points to close at 2,954.25.
Trading ended with an average of 30,840 units for an average of $155,850 in contrast to 139,389 units for an average of $725,011 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 66,921 units valued at $302,510, previously. In contrast, September closed with average of 116,176 units valued at $538,652 for each security traded.
The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 71,470 units valued at $327,875 and previously 74,548 units with an average value of $323,091. In contrast, September closed with average of 116,176 units valued at $538,652 for each security traded.
Trading ended with the market sentiments looking mixed for Tuesday trading activity as 3 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with lower offers.
In market activity, volumes are those trades for the day and the closing prices are those at which the last trade took place. At the close of the market, Access Financial jumped $3.99 to $41.99, with only 400 units trading, Blue Power ended 10 cents higher at $44.10, with a mere 250 stock units, Caribbean Cream ended with a loss of 10 cents at $5.90, with 500 units, Consolidated Bakeries ended 3 cents higher at $2.05, with 250 units changing hands. Express Catering ended 19 cents higher at $4.69, with 1,706 stock units, Jetcon Corporation settled 40 cents higher at $4.90, with 220 stock units, Knutsford Express ended trading at $15, with 10,147 units trading, Lasco Distributors finished with a loss of 5 cents at $6.30, after 29,959 shares changed hands, Lasco Financial finished trading 25 cents higher at $4.25, with 1,891 units, Lasco Manufacturing gained 5 cents at $3.85, with 6,400 shares. Medical Disposables settled with a loss of 70 cents at $4.60, with 73,541 stock units, Stationery and Office closed 9 cents higher at $4.80, with 276,242 shares, tTech traded 1 cent higher at $7, with 21,000 units and in the junior market preference segment, Derrimon Trading traded 35,000 shares at $1.95, with Eppley ending trading at $6.55, with 5,100 stock units changing hands.

Filed Under: Feature Stories, JSE Junior Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

JSE eating away at resistance

October 17, 2017 by

The JSE All Jamaican Composite Index continues to eat away at resistance around the 300,000 points levels, advancing by 2,135.19 points to close at 302,498.35 with the JSE Index following with a rise of 1,945.40 points to a record close of 275,610.21.
At the close of the market, Barita Investments closed at $8, with 7,550 stock units trading, Berger Paints finished trading 25 cents higher at $11.50, with 248,769 shares, Cable & Wireless ended trading 8 cents higher at $1.18, with 1,105,000 units, Caribbean Cement ended trading 95 cents higher at $27.50, with 8,250 units, Carreras closed with a loss of 10 cents at $11.90, with 151,770 stock units, Grace Kennedy ended with a loss of 75 cents at $42, trading 85,614 shares. Jamaica Broilers finished 5 cents higher at $18, with 66,650 units, Jamaica Producers settled with a loss of 40 cents at $15.60, with 2,000 shares changing hands, Jamaica Stock Exchange closed 5 cents higher at $7.25, with 1,000 shares, JMMB Group ended $1 higher at $27, with 62,554 units, Kingston Properties rose 5 cents to end at $7.20, with 160 shares. Kingston Wharves finished trading at $30, with 25,722 stock units, 1834 Investments traded 33,558 shares at $1.25, PanJam Investment lost 52 cents to end at $38, with 10,000 stock units, Portland JSX traded 25 cents higher at $8.75, with 5,000 units, Radio Jamaica closed at $1.15, with 2,500 shares, Sagicor Group traded 37,406 units with a gain of $1.49 to end at $40. Sagicor Real Estate Fund ended trading at $13.25, with 4,000 units, Scotia Group gained $1.02 higher to $52, with 9,271 shares and Supreme Ventures ended 15 cents higher at $12, with 51,500 stock units. In the main market preference segment, JMMB Group concluded trading at $1.15, with 747,717 stock units, and Sagicor Bank B preference share traded 9,000 units at $1and in the US dollar market segment, Proven Investments closed with 102,838 units trading at 20 US cents after slipping3.5 US cents.
Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.

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J$ drops below $128 to US$

October 17, 2017 by

The Jamaica dollar slipped below $128 to purchase one US dollar in foreign exchange trading on Tuesday for the first time since 2016.
At Midday, the selling rate of the US dollar dipped as low as $127.78, with US$17.7 million being sold but clawed its way to $127.97 at the close of trading after dealers sold US$46.05 million, up from US$43.84 on Friday at a $128.22. US currency purchases, accounted for US$48.11 million on Tuesday at an average rate of $127.01 compared to Friday at US$33.81 million at $127.23.
Inflows of all currencies into Jamaica’s forex market fell to US$58.13 million on Tuesday, from US$48.73 million on Friday while Dealers sold US$52.98 million versus US$56.08 million, previously.
The selling rate for the Canadian dollar fell to J$102.78 from J$103.15 at the close on Friday. The British Pound inched up to J$168.87 for buying the British currency versus J$168.83 on Friday and the euro rose in value against the Jamaican dollar, to J$151.61 to buy the European common currency, versus J$150.87 previously.

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Jamaican stocks shooting for the stars

October 14, 2017 by

NCB could push JSE into breakout territory soon.

The JSE All Jamaican Composite Index raced to a record close of 300,363.16 on Friday, just around resistance level.
The market seems poised to break through the above level sooner than later.
This resistance is a short term one, going back to 2014, when the market started to move up within the channel shown in the accompanying chart. The market made a number of attempts to break out but was constrained by the upper resistance line. It is now making the second attempt to do so within a month and could finally do that, this coming week if NCB Financial makes its final attempt to really move higher in line with its fundamentals, with full year results that should at least reach $9 per share and the announcement of a big final dividend payment, just a few weeks away. Supporting the upward move is the shortage of the stock with only 33,603 units offered for sale at the close of the market on Friday. At the same time the stock trades in Trinidad at J$100.

Th all Jamaica Composite Index trades jsut at resistance and is itching to break out of the channel going back to 2014.

The market decisively broke through the long term resistance of 280,000 points, starting in Mid-September. The resistance line can be traced back to late 1994 and the then 2015 peak, signaling that a big move is ahead as there are no major resistance until the 360,000 market and then 505,000 depending on the pace of the market move.
The technical indicators point to a market that is clearly heading higher with the fundamentals lending support to the technical. The all Jamaica Composite Index has decisively broken through the long term resistance of 280,000 points, starting in Mid-September and heading to higher highs.
The fundamental factors include and growing economy, interest rates that are declining, low inflation, business and consumer confidence that are at record highs, employment on the rise, construction, tourism and the mining sectors growing and likely to have some direct impact on listed companies.

The market decisively broke through the long term resistance of 280,000 points, starting in Mid-September and now has no long term barrier to push much higher.

Bank leading is climbing well above the rate of inflation a good indicator for pickup in economic activities. Government fiscal operations are running with a surplus currently. The wayward Jamaica dollar seems to be tamed with the currency now at a slightly lower value than at the end of 2016. Importantly, there are few areas that can now compete well with the stock market.
Also supporting the rise higher is the fact that the average PE ratio of the main market is over 13, with the top half selling at 16.5, with more than half of the market priced 11 times and below, suggesting big gains ahead for underpriced stocks. The list includes big capitalized stocks such as Caribbean Cement, Grace Kennedy, Jamaica Broilers, JMMB Group, Sagicor Group, NCB Financial and Scotia Group.

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Juniors inch higher from few securities

October 13, 2017 by

Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange finished on Friday with 15 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 2,090,829 units valued at $10,875,161 compared to 969,013 units valued at $4,496,741 on Thursday.
The Junior Market Index advanced by 7.14 points to close at 2,916.40.
At the close of market activities, the prices of 5 securities advanced, 6 declined and 4 remained with the prices unchanged.
Trading ended with an average of 139,389 units for an average of $725,011 in contrast to 48,451 units for an average of $224,837 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 74,548 units, valued at $323,091 and 61,803 units at an average value of $309,424, previously. In contrast, September closed with average of 116,176 units valued at $538,652 for each security traded.
Trading ended with the market sentiments looking mixed for Tuesday trading activity as 5 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with lower offers.
In market activity, volumes are those traded for the day and the closing prices are those at which the last trade took place, accordingly, Caribbean Cream traded 258,135 units at $6, Caribbean Producers closed with a loss of 12 cents at $3.60, with 154,000 stock units changing hands, Express Catering settled with a loss of 5 cents at $4.50, trading 32,961 units, Jamaican Teas ended trading 1,200 shares at $4.10, Jetcon Corporation fell 50 cents to $4.50, with 50,064 shares. Key Insurance finished with a loss of 50 cents at $3.50, with 194,997 units traded, KLE Group settled at $2.50, with 250,000 units, Knutsford Express traded 11 cents higher at $15, with 202,982 stock units, Lasco Distributors finished trading 35 cents higher at $6.35, with 282,987 shares, Lasco Financial closed with a loss of 50 cents at $4, after 47,769 units traded, Lasco Manufacturing ended 5 cents higher at $3.80, with 86,540 units. Main Event ended trading 15 cents higher at $5.30, with 18,799 stock units changing hands, Medical Disposables concluded trading with 2,000 shares at $5.30, Paramount Trading got a lift from the first quarter results showing profits more than doubling and finished 30 cents higher at $2.80, after 458,395 shares were traded and tTech finished trading with a loss of 1 cent at $6.99, with 50,000 units.

Filed Under: Feature Stories, JSE Junior Market, Stock Market Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Banks push JSE to new high – Friday

October 13, 2017 by

Stocks surged higher, at the close of trading on the main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Friday with the market ending at record closing levels as JMMB Group NCB Financial and Scotia Group record strong gains, pushing the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index to a record close of 300,363.16.
Trading on the main market ended with 22 securities changing hands, 7 advanced, 6 declined and 11 traded firm with 4,504,312 units valued at $68,391,852 compared to 94,545,441 units valued at $1,119,081,050 on Thursday. In the US dollar market 425,898 units traded for a value of US$102,239 for two securities.
In market activity, volumes are those trades for the day and the closing prices are those at which the last trade took place. At the close on market activity, Barita Investments ended trading with a loss of $1 at $8, with 40,452 stock units trading, Cable & Wireless finished at $1.10, with 42,361 units, Caribbean Cement settled 54 cents higher at $26.55, with 3,000 shares, Carreras closed at $12, after 462,635 stock units changed hands, Grace Kennedy closed with a loss of 5 cents at $42.75, with 12,005 shares. Jamaica Broilers ended with a loss of 5 cents at $17.95, with 1,858 units, Jamaica Producers ended trading at $16, with 2,278 stock units, Jamaica Stock Exchange concluded trading $1.20 higher at $7.20, with 1,064,940 shares switching owners, JMMB Group finished $3 higher at $26, after trading 21,667 units, Mayberry Investments ended trading with a loss of 40 cents at $4.10, with 15,378 shares. PanJam Investment ended with a loss of $3.48 to $38.52, with 9,732 units, Portland JSX ended trading after falling 50 cents to an all-time low of $8.50, with 50,000 stock units after the company reported a loss for the six months to August of US$221,251. Radio Jamaica settled at $1.15, trading 10,100 shares, Sagicor Group traded with a loss of $1.49 cents at $38.51, with 7,700 units changing hands, Sagicor Real Estate Fund finished trading 4 cents higher at $13.25, with 19,700 stock units, after it traded at an all-time high of $15. Salada Foods closed at $8.50, with 350,000 shares, Scotia Group ended $3.08 higher at $50.98, with 414,399 stock units, Seprod traded 339 units at $30 and Supreme Ventures finished 37 cents higher at $11.85, with 130,790 shares.
In the main market preference segment, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.5%, ended trading 700,000 shares at $2 and JMMB Group 7.5% ended 1 cent higher at $1.15, with 870,000 stock units changing hands.
In the US dollar market segment, Productivity Business traded 5,898 shares at 57.5 US cents and Proven Investments closed with 420,000 units trading at 23.5 US cents.

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