The Lebanese bourse dipped again this week as most listed stocks ended the week in the red. This was translated by a 0.11% weekly drop in the level of the BLOM Stock Index (BSI) that settled at 1,153.55 points. As for the market capitalization, it witnessed a $10.49M slump to $9.52B. Trading activity was also frail with the average traded volume dropping from 431,184 shares worth $2.90M last week to 173,379 shares worth $1.56M.
Despite its negative performance, the BSI fell at a slower pace than most of its regional peers. In fact, the S&P Pan Arab Composite Large-Mid-Cap Index and the S&P AFE 40 Index posted respective weekly falls of 0.87% and 1.41%. However, the Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets Index (MSCI) saw the steepest weekly fall after losing a weekly 3.08%.
Most of the Arab markets ended the week on a negative note as oil prices witnessed another decrease coupled with a rising U.S. dollar and heightening expectations of a potential hike in U.S. interest rates. In this context, Abu Dhabi and Dubai were the biggest losers this week with the former dropping 3.46% and the latter losing 3.43%.
In contrast, Amman and Saudi Arabia were the only stock markets to record gains, albeit the increases were negligible. In details, the Jordanian bourse increased by 0.85% meanwhile the Saudi stock market barely moved adding a mere 0.01% from last week.
On the Beirut Stock Exchange, the banking sector took 83.93% of total traded value, while the real estate sector contributed for the remaining 16.07%.
Mixed performance characterized financial stocks this week. BLOM listed and GDR shares went down by 0.69% and 1.55% to close at $10.05 and $10.15, respectively. Contrastingly, Audi listed and GDR shares rose by respective 0.85% and 0.17% to $5.95 and $6.00.
As for the BLOM Preferred Shares Index (BPSI), it decreased by 0.45% over the week, to settle at 104.04 points. This resulted from weekly declines in the prices of each of Byblos preferred shares 08 and 09, Bank of Beirut preferred “J” shares and BLOM preferred shares class 11. Hence, Byblos preferred 08 and 09 shares went down by 0.79% and 0.10% to converge at the same price of $100.10. In the meantime, Bank of Beirut preferred shares class “J” and BLOM preferred 2011 shares decreased by 4.72% and 0.59% to respective prices of $25.25 and $10.04. In contrast, Bank Audi preferred “H” shares gained a weekly 0.10% to $100.10.
In the real estate sector, Solidere class “A” added 0.91% to close at $9.93, while the class “B” declined by a weekly 1.01% to settle at $9.80.
On the London Stock Exchange, Audi GDRs added 1.69% to end the week at $6.00, while Solidere and BLOM GDRs lost 1.00% and 1.46% to $9.90 and $10.15, respectively.
Going forward, activity on the Beirut Stock Exchange is expected to remain volatile given the ongoing political uncertainty prevailing in the country.