The Beirut Stock Exchange reversed last week’s decline, as the BLOM Stock Index (BSI) recorded a weekly 0.43% increase to close at 1,181.69 points following heavy trade on Friday.
The average traded volume went up from 84,447 shares worth $661,163 to 510,146 shares worth $3,746,166. As for the market capitalization, it widened by $42.40M since last week to $9.87B.
As a result of the increase, the BSI managed to outperform its regional peers. The Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets Index (MSCI), the S&P AFE40 Index and the S&P Pan Arab Composite Large Midcap Index declined by 4.14%, 7.10% and 6.68%to 946.04 points, 60.86 points and 131.06 points, respectively.
In the Arab World,the BSI also outperformed the rest of the markets, where all other markets were in the red. The worst performers among the Arab bourses were Dubai and Muscat with respective drops of 13.81% and 11.70% as oil levels fell below the $60, representing a five-year low, and also drove investors away from other sectors. Qatar also suffered from low oil prices, with the stock market losing 7.40%.
Back to the BSE, the banking sector contributed around 75.22% of total traded value and was followed by the real estate sector with a share of 24.78%.
In the banking sector, Byblos listed shares, Audi GDR shares and BLOM listed and GDR shares increased by 0.61%, 0.62%, 0.57% and 0.52% to respectively close at $1.65, $6.54, $8.80 and $9.65. On the other hand, Audi listed shares lost a weekly 0.64% to $6.18.
The BLOM Preferred Stock Index (BPSI) remained almost stable, inching up 0.02% to 105.55 points, as Audi preferred shares class “F” gained 0.20% to $102.20.
In the real estate sector, Solidere shares classes “A” and “B” improved, and revealed weekly gains of 0.61% and 0.44% to $11.48 and $11.41, respectively.
In the industrial sector, Holcim shares improved by a weekly 8.07% to $16.21. In the retail sector, RYMCO shares dropped by a weekly 3.92% to $3.19 per sharefollowing the distribution of dividends.
Looking forward, the Lebanese stock market is expected to maintain its upward trend as we enter the final weeks of the year and investors maintain their end of year momentum and rebalance their positions.