The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) fell by a weekly 0.51% this past week to reach 1,163.25 points on January 26, 2018. Accordingly, the market capitalization dropped from $11.52B to $11.47B, this week.
In fact, an average of 224,350 shares worth $987,495 were traded compared to an average of 87,353 shares worth $900,140 traded in the previous week.
The S&P AFE40, the S&P Pan Arab Composite Large Mid Cap Index and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, all registered weekly increases of 0.67%, 0.26% and 0.76%, respectively.
Regionally, the Qatari and Bahraini bourses registered weekly upticks of 2.82% and 0.65%, respectively. However, the Dubai financial markets as well as the Egyptian and Saudi bourses fell by respective 1.77%, 1.56%, and 0.23%.
On the BSE, the real estate sector grasped 51.91% of total traded value while the banking sector represented the remaining 48.09%.
In the real estate sector, Solidere A shares rose by 1.61% to $8.22, while Solidere B shares fell by 0.37% to end the week at $8.15.
In the banking sector, BLOM Bank’s GDR shares and Bank Audi Listed shares grew by 0.39% and 3.28% to $12.90 and $5.99, respectively. However, BLOM listed shares and Audi GDR shares fell by 4.96% and 1.51% to reach $11.5 and $5.86, respectively.
As for the BLOM Preferred Shares Index (BPSI), it recorded a 0.31% downtick to reach 106.36 points on account of the 1.15% weekly drop in the share price of Bank Byblos’s preferred 2009 shares which settled at $102.70.
On the London Stock Exchange, BLOM Bank’s GDR shares rose by 0.78% over the week to reach $12.90.
The performance of the Lebanese bourse is expected to remain slow over the coming period up until the Lebanese banks start to release their yearly financial results for the year 2017.