Beirut Stock Exchange Boosted by Strong Bank Results

The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) ended the week with a 1.81% rise to stand at 1,238.28 points. With that, the Lebanese index would have outpaced all three of its regional peers, the S&P Pan Arab Composite LargeMidCap, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and the S&P AFE40 which respectively declined by 1.61%, 0.08% and 2.20% over the past week.

On the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE), the market capitalization rose from $10.23B last week to $10.67B this week.

The average traded volume and value on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) however declined from last week’s 461,677 and $4.39M to 188,263 and $1.98M this week, respectively.

Regionally, Egypt was the sole gaining bourse with a 1.76% weekly increase whereas the most notable declines were registered on the Dubai Financial Markets with a drop of 0.82%, on the Kuwaiti bourse with a 0.66% decline and on the Qatari stock exchange with a 0.24% fall.

In Lebanon, the banking sector accounted for 72.6% of the traded value during the period with banking stocks rising on account of the positive end of year financial results.

BLOM Bank’s GDR and listed shares grew by a weekly 4.43% and 4.63% to close at $12.01 and $11.30, respectively. Earlier this week, BLOM had posted profits of $463M in 2016. BLOM Bank’s GDRs reached their highest level since early October 2010.   

Bank Audi’s GDR and listed shares also increased over the past week by 0.88% and 3.41% to reach $6.88 and $6.97, respectively. Audi’s booked profits of $470M in 2016 was positively received by shareholders.

Bank Byblos’ listed shares added a weekly 1.17% to close at $1.73.

As for the BLOM Preferred Shares Index (BPSI), it witnessed a weekly uptick of 0.01% to 105.61 points. The newly listed Audi Preferred I shares rose by a weekly 0.5% to $100.5, BLOM’s Preferred 2011 shares grew by 3.96% to $10.50 this past week while Byblos Bank’s preferred 2008 shares slid by a weekly 0.10% to $102.10.

As for the real estate sector, which accounted for 27% of this week’s traded value, it witnessed an upturn of 1.17% in the price of Solidere A shares to $10.37 and a 0.20% drop in the price of Solidere B shares to $9.82.

In the manufacturing sector, which represented 0.47% of this week’s traded value, it saw a 9.82% fall in the price of HOLCIM’s listed shares to $10.28 and a 9.92% increase in the price of Ciments Blanc’s Bearer shares to $2.66.

On the London Stock Exchange (LSE), BLOM Bank’s GDR shares rose by a weekly 6.52% to $12.25 while Bank Audi’s GDR shares slid by 0.29% to end the week at $6.88.

The expected pick-up in activity following the release of the listed banks’ 2016 financial statement materialized over the past week. In the near future, a political consensus over an election law is likely to offer another boost to market sentiment.

 

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