The BSI Outperformed the MSCI during the Week ending September 19

Lebanese equities edged down this week, as investors remained cautious about the local and regional developments. This was translated by a frail average daily traded volume on theBeirut Stock Exchange (BSE) for the week ending September 19, 2014 as it declined to 58,233 shares worth $411,413 compared to last week’s average volume of 4.24M traded stocks amounting for $26.47M. Nevertheless, the BLOM Stock Index (BSI) declined 0.70% to close at 1,170.28 points narrowing its year-to-date gain to 1.75%. As for the market capitalization, it tightened by $66.10M to settle at $9.38B.

The BSI outperformed the Morgan Stanley Emerging index (MSCI) which shed for the second week on a row by 1.22% to 1,056.37 points. The S&P Pan Arab Composite Large Midcap Index and the S&P AFE40 Index fared better than the Lebanese gauge rising by 0.71% and 1.59%, respectively.

Amongst Arab Bourses, Dubai stock market was the week’s top performer posting a 2.76% weekly improvement following the Emaar Malls IPO that took place this week. Egypt came second with a 2.67% increase on successful fund-raising for the Suez Canal expansion. The BSE revealed the worst weekly performance and was followed by each of Tunisia (-0.55%), Muscat (-0.53%) and Amman (-0.23%).

 Back to the BSE, the banking sector contributed for 51.23% of total traded value and was followed by the real estate sector that took a 44.19% share of the total. The industrial sector grasped the remaining 4.58% over the week.

In the banking sector, Audi listed shares were the only traded shares to post a weekly change in price. In this context, Audi listed revealed a 0.16% downtick to end the week at $6.09.

The BLOM Preferred Stock Index (BPSI) inched down by 0.07% to 104.63 points. The gauge was triggered down by the negative performance of Audi preferred “E” shares and Byblos preferred 09 shares. The former lost 0.99% to $100.50, while the latter decreased by a weekly 0.10% to $100.10.

In contrast, Bank of Beirut (BoB) preferred shares class “H” and BEMO preferred 2013 shares rose 0.19% and 0.90% to $25.75 and $101.20.

As no consensus yet over the nomination of a new president, real estate investors remained on the sidelines this week as well. Correspondingly, Solidere shares class “A” and “B” fell by 2.83% and 3.66% from last week to close below the $12.00- mark at $11.67 and $11.58, respectively.

Going forward, activity on the Beirut Stock Exchange is likely to maintain its dwindling performance if the political uncertainty prevailing in the country lingers. Investors will probably remain skeptical about the possibilities of reaching a political consensus over the nomination of a new president and a potential breakthrough in the Syrian war especially after Barack Obama authorized air strikes against the Islamic State group for the first time.