The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) gained 3.21% to stand at 973.65 points, by the week ending March 08 2019, while the market capitalization rose from last week’s $9.19B to $9.49B to this week.In details , an average of 90,748 shares worth $795,534 were traded this week, compared to an average of 142,476 shares worth $1.19 M traded in the previous week.
Regionally, the S&P AFE 40, the S&P Pan Arab Composite Large Mid Cap and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, registered weekly falls of 1.68%, 1.02%, and 0.70%, respectively.
In the Arab World, the bourses of Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia were the week’s top gainers adding 0.68%, 0.28% and 0.04% respectively. Meanwhile, the stock markets of Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Dubai were the biggest losers, registering the respective declines of 4.35%, 3.27%, and 1.57% by the week ending March 08.
On the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE), the Banking sector grasped 71.09% of the total trading value over the week while the real estate sector and the industrial sector captured the remaining share of 27.59% and 1.32% of total trading activity.
In the real estate sector, Solidere A and B shares fell by 5.19% and 2.90% to stand at $6.21 and $6.37, respectively.
In the banking sector, BLOM Bank’s GDR shares, Bank Audi’s GDR shares and Byblos listed shares registered weekly rises of 3.05%, 2.46% and 0.76% to stand at $9.12, $5.00 and $1.33, respectively.
The biggest improvement this week was recorded on Bank Audi’s listed shares with a significant rise from $4.60 to $5.40 by the week ending March.08.
However, On the London Stock Exchange, BLOM GDR shares and Bank Audi GDR shares recorded an increase of 3.41% and 2.46% during the same period to stand at $9.10 and $5.00 respectively.
Worth mentioning that Bank Audi S.A.L announced lately a new deposit agreement for the issuance of global depositary receipts (the “GDR Programme”) .In this agreement, “Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas” was replaced by “The Bank of New York Mellon” as depositary and “Midclear S.A.L.” became the custodian, effective February 25, 2019.
As for the BLOM Preferred shares Index (BPSI), it rose slightly by 0.14%, closing the week at 86.25 points on the back of the rise in Byblos Preferred 08 by 1.33% to $76.