The real estate sector kept weakening the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE), with the BLOM Stock Index (BSI) dropping 2.01% to end the week at 1,108.49 points. However, the average traded volume and value went up from to 243,130 shares worth $1.61M last week to 833,303 shares worth $8.13M. It is worth mentioning that a key factor behind this increase was the cross-trade of 3,580,080 worth $33,831,756 As for the market capitalization, it narrowed from $9.40B to $9.21B.
Hence, the BSI was outperformed by the Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets Index (MSCI) which gained 2.13%, while the S&P AFE 40 Index and the S&P Pan Arab Composite Large-Mid-Cap Index recorded weekly losses of 1.27% and 1.45%.
Most Arab Bourses saw weekly downturns, the largest being in Saudi Arabia, Tunis and Dubai, decreasing by 2.30%, 1.80%, and 1.51%, respectively. These declines were mainly due to low oil prices and instability in the global economy. On the other hand, the only 3 bourses that saw improvement were Amman, Egypt, and Bahrain, gaining weekly 0.64%, 0.45% and 0.01% respectively.
Back to the Beirut Stock Exchange, the banking sector captured 95.91% of the total traded value during the week while the real estate sector and the industrial grasped the remaining 3.33% and 0.76%, respectively. In the banking sector, BLOM GDR shares and Audi GDR shares lost weekly 0.42% and 0.34%, to close the week at $9.58 and $5.95, respectively. In contrast, BEMO listed shares and gained 22.58% to $1.90.
As for the performance of preferred shares, the BLOM Preferred Shares Index (BPSI) progressed by 0.25% to 105.82 points. This was caused by Audi preferred shares class “G”, Byblos preferred shares 2008 and 2009 augmenting by 1.99%, 0.30%, and 0.50% to $102.60, $100.50, and $100.90, respectively. On the other hand, BLOM preferred 2011 shares lost 0.10% to close at $10.15.
In the real estate sector, Solidere shares classes “A” and “B” plunged 14.49% and 10.97%, during the week, to $8.20 and $8.36, respectively.
For the coming weeks, the developments on the political front will keep affecting the performance of the Lebanese bourse.