The week after Fitr Holiday showed no improvement in the performance of the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) with the BLOM Stock Index (BSI) decreasing by a weekly 1.33%, to settle at 1,064.15 points by June 22, 2018. That was also mirrored by the market capitalization contracting from last week’s $10.63B to $10.49B this week.
Similarly, activity on the BSE weakened over the week’s five trading sessions with a traded average of 202,645 shares worth $1.64M as compared to last week’s 211,447 shares worth $2M.
When compared to some of its peers, the BSI’s weekly drop was slower than that of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the S&P AFE 40 and the S&P Pan Arab Composite Large Mid Cap Index which recorded losses of lost 4.04%, 1.96% and 1.44%, respectively.
Regionally, Egypt’s stock market was this week’s best performer after registering a weekly progress of 1.25%. Each of the Bahraini, Saudi and Qatari bourses followed with respective increases of 0.64%, 0.49% and 0.46%.
As for the week’s worst performers, the BSE posted the biggest loss this week and was followed by the stock markets of Tunisia and Morocco that respectively lost 0.8% and 0.67%.
On the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) this week, the banking sector grasped the largest share of the total traded value, with 82.04%, while the real estate and industrial sectors grasped the remaining shares of 12.21% and 5.75%, respectively.
In the banking sector, the listed and GDR shares of Bank Audi saw their prices fall by 3.85% and 4.57% to $5.25 and $5.01, respectively. Also, BLOM Bank GDR shares and Byblos listed shares lost 0.09% and 2.03% to end the week at $10.55 and $1.45, respectively.
As for the BLOM Preferred Shares Index (BPSI), it fell by 1.17% over the week to 95.50 points. In details, the drop is attributed to the:
On the London Stock Exchange, Bank Audi GDR shares decreased by a weekly 11.96% to reach $4.49, while BLOM Bank GDRs added 0.96% to $10.50.
In the real estate sector, Solidere A shares decreased by a weekly 0.75% to reach $7.96 while Solidere B shares lost a weekly 2.08% to end the week at $8.00.
In the manufacturing sector, Holcim Liban shares improved by 4.92% over the week to $15.77, while Ciments Blancs’ nominal shares also ticked up by 1.07% to $2.84.
For the period to come, activity on the BSE will mostly depend on resolving the political bickering related to the awaited formation of the new Cabinet, noting that a breakthrough is expected by the end of this week.