Lebanese Political Deadlock Weighs Down on the BSI

The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) declined by 0.42% to reach 983.34 points over the last week. The market capitalization rose from $9.54B, last week, to $9.58B this week. On average, 951,407 shares worth $2,306,924 were traded on the BSE in the week ending November 9 week compared to 1,585,291 shares worth $8,046,212 traded last week.

Regionally, during the week, the S&P AFE 40, the S&P Pan Arab Composite Large Mid Cap Index declined by 0.65% and 0.38% respectively while the MSCI Emerging Markets Index recorded a rise by 0.12% In the Arab world, the bourses of Egypt, UAE and Morocco increased by 4.02%, 2.46% and 1.34% respectively while the bourses of Saudi Arabia and Tunisia witnessed a decrease by 1.73% and 1.45%, respectively.

On the London Stock Exchange, the GDR shares of BLOM Bank and Audi Bank declined by 0.50% and 0.41% over the week, to stand at $9.95 and $4.88, respectively.

On the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE), the Industrial sector grasped 62.97% of the total trading value, the highest share this week, while the banking and real estate sectors captured 30.29% and 6.74%, respectively.

During the last week, Audi GDR shares, Audi listed shares increased by 7.14% and 2.51% to reach $5.25 and $4.90, respectively. Moreover, BLOM listed shares and Byblos listed shares declined by a weekly 0.22% and 1.41% to stand at $9.25 and $1.40, respectively.

As for the BLOM Preferred shares Index (BPSI), it recorded a downtick of 0.03%, thereby ending the week at 86.75 points. In details, the downtick over the past week is attributed to the 0.57% decline in Audi Pref. H share price to $87.

In the real estate sector, Solidere A and B shares witnessed decreases of 1.91% and 2.82% to stand at $6.66 and $6.54, respectively. Moreover, in the industrial sector, HOLCIM registered a weekly rise of 0.61% to $16.60 noting that 437,264 shares of HOLCIM shares were traded on Thursday with a total value of $7.26M.

The political issue around the government formation is still affecting the BLOM Stock index. In fact, the index has been registering its lower levels since inception as for September 2018 which shows the investors hesitance to invest in the Lebanese Stock Market.

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