The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) lost 3.17% over the past week to reach 941.86 points as almost all stocks ended the week in the red. The average traded volume and value of shares was also down from 98,186 and $ 681,564 last week to 31,678 and $188,241 this week.
Accordingly, the market capitalization slid from last week’s $9.41B to $9.18B this week.
Regional indices registered shy weekly upturns with the S&P AFE 40, the S&P Pan Arab Composite Large Mid Cap and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index rising by 0.29%, 0.37% and 0.63% over the past week.
In the Arab World, the Bahrain and Qatar stock exchanges added 1.35% and 0.68% respectively while Egypt’s bourse slid by 0.93% over the week.
On the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE), the real estate sector accounted for 68% of the total traded value while the banking sector accounted for almost the entirety of the remaining shares as the industrial sector grasped a minimal stake in this week’s trading.
In the real estate sector, Solidere A and B shares shed 4.40% and 3.56% to end the week at $5.65 and $5.69, respectively.
In the banking sector, BLOM Bank’s GDR shares were down from $9.6 last week to $9.00 this Friday. The listed shares of Bank Audi and Bank Byblos also dropped by 6.41% and 1.47% to reach $4.67 and $1.34, respectively.
On the London Stock Exchange, BLOM GDR shares slid by 5.26% to $9.00 while the GDRs of Bank Audi rose by a weekly 1% to $5.05.
As for the BLOM Preferred shares Index (BPSI), it steadied at 87 points as the prices of the preferred shares saw no change over the past week.
In the industrial sector, HOLCIM’s listed shares fell by 1.29% to reach $15.30.
In the coming weeks, Lebanon is ahead of a major milestone which is the cabinet’s approval on the 2019 budget. Reducing the fiscal deficit is one major promise Lebanon made at the CEDRE donor conference and is the most pressing reform towards reining in the country’s massive $85 billion debt burden.