The BSI Reached the Lowest Record since 2005 to 619.31points, Amid the Drop in Blom Listed Shares

The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) witnessed a significant weekly slump by 12.07% to close the week at 619.31 points (lowest record since 2005) on Feb.7, 2020 mainly due to the drop in BlomBank- Listed shares.         In turn, the Market capitalization on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) fell from last week’s $6.88B to this week’s $6.05 B. Meanwhile, the Average traded volume and value increased from last week’s 38,701 shares worth $329,459, to 89,387 shares worth $536,324 in the week ending Feb. 07, 2020.

During the week, the regional indices, MSCI Emerging Markets Index added 2.76% while the S&P AFE 40 and the S&P Pan Arab Composite Large Mid Cap Index declined by 1.58% and 1.71%, respectively.

On a regional level, the top performers over the week were the bourses of Tunisia and Egypt which increased by 0.30% and 1.63%, respectively. However, the stock exchanges of UAE and Qatar lost weekly 1.63% and 1.37%, respectively

On the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE), the real estate sector continued to grasp the highest of the total trading value at 88.20%, while the banking sector grasped the remaining share of 11.8%.

In the real estate sector, Solidere “A” shares witnessed a downtick by 0.24% over the week to $8.49 while Solidere “B” shares rose by a weekly 1.18% to stand at $8.60.

The most significant price declines recorded among Banks’ traded shares over the week were:

• BlomBank Listed shares by 55.71% to $3.10. In fact, since the start of the protests in October, Blom Listed shares didn’t witness any trade and remained at $7. The weekly slump reflects the effective shares’ price as priced on London Stock Exchange.
• Blom GDR by 6.67% to $2.80
• Audi Listed Shares by 2.85% to $2.05

As for the shares with leading upticks on the BSE this week, we note:

• Audi GDR, up by 16.02% to $2.39
• BEMO Listed Shares by 4.35% to $1.20

As for the Blom Preferred shares Index (BPSI), it remained unchanged and ended the week at 74.67 points.

On the London Stock Exchange, BLOM , Audi and Byblos Bank’s , GDR shares didn’t record a weekly change to end the week at $2.40, $1.50 and $70 , respectively.

Although the listed real estate stocks represented the highest weekly value and acted as investors’ “safe haven”, the listed banking stocks continue to witness fluctuations in their prices. In fact, investors are mainly waiting for formalizing and unifying banks’ measures, in addition to the capital raise (common equity tier one) by 20%  by the end of June 2020, in an effort to boost liquidity by attracting dollars from abroad    and reversing capital outflow.