The somewhat positive movement on the BSE continues to be mostly led by banking and industrial stocks while real estate stocks are still registering a negative performance.
Accordingly, the BLOM Stock Index (BSI) rose by a weekly 0.47% to 1,155.39 points this Friday.
On average, 81,393 shares worth $644,542 were traded this week compared to 1,114,087 shares worth $6.84M traded last week.
The market capitalization also rose from last week’s $9.49B to $9.54B this week.
Regionally, the S&P Pan Arab Composite Large Mid Cap Index, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and the S&P AFE40 Index all grew over the week by respective rates of 0.22%, 2.83% and 0.41%.
In the Arab world, the bourses of Dubai and Abu Dhabi were the top gainers with weekly upticks of 0.76% and 0.38%, respectively. Meanwhile, the stock market in Qatar and Bahrain fell by weekly rates of 2.17% and 0.73%, respectively.
On the BSE, the banking sector accounted for 53.68% of total traded value while the real estate and industrial sectors represented 46.11% and 0.21%, respectively.
In the banking sector, BLOM Bank’s GDR and listed shares rose by 0.40% and 1.30% to end the week at $12.70 and $11.65, respectively. In addition, Bank Audi’s GDR and listed shares added 0.85% and 0.34% to reach $5.95 and $5.85, respectively. Byblos Bank’s listed shares also increased by 0.63% to $1.61.
Meanwhile, Bank BEMO’s listed shares fell from last week’s $1.55 to $1.30 this week.
As for the BLOM Preferred Shares Index (BPSI), it slid by 0.01% over the past week to reach 105.29 points on the back of a 0.10% downtick in the price Byblos Bank’s Preferred 09 shares to $102.10.
On the London Stock Exchange (LSE), while Bank Audi’s GDR shares fell by 2.02% to $6.07 while Byblos Bank’s GDR shares slid by 3.63% to $77.10.
In the real estate sector, Solidere A and B shares fell by 0.25% each to end the week at the price of $7.98 and $8.00, respectively.
In the industrial sector, Holcim’s shares increased from $13.01 last week to $13.99 this week.
The BSE is registering cautious upticks, with investors keeping a close eye on the developments of sensitive political topics, such as the salary scale of public sector workers.