Real Estate Transactions Governed All Activity on Beirut Stock Exchange this Week

The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) slipped by a weekly 1.09% to settle at 593.17 points by March 27^th 2020. Meanwhile, the market capitalization on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) added a weekly 3.7% to$6.08B. Trading on the BSE stalled with the Average traded volume and value declining from last week’s 124,215 shares worth $633,187 to this week’s 23,216 shares worth $207,458.

On a regional level and following the stimulus packages announced last week by the Gulf states namely the KSA, UAE, Qatar and Oman to help support the coronavirus impact on their economies, regional equity indices picked up with the S&P Pan Arab Composite Large Mid Cap Index, the S&P AFE 40 as well as the MSCI Emerging Markets Index registering weekly upticks of 1.51%, 1.64% and 11.07%, respectively.

In terms of regional top market performers, the bourses of Egypt, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi rose by a weekly 13.37%, 13.22% and 11.18%, respectively. On the counterpart, top losers this week included the equity markets of Morocco and Qatar which registered the weekly downticks of 6.28% and 1.8%, respectively.

On the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE), the real estate sector grasped the lion’s share of the total trading value, with a stake of 99.91% and the remaining attributed to minor trading in the banking sector.

As such, Solidere “A” and  Solidere “B” shares climbed by 1.11% and 1.22% to end the week at 9.09$  and $9.10, respectively. Meanwhile, the banking sector trades entailed the following price drops over the week:

• Byblos Bank Listed shares declined by 10% to $0.81;
• BLOM Bank Listed shares fell by 4.76% to $3.00.

The Blom Preferred shares Index (BPSI) remained unchanged at 66.67 points.

Amid the intensified coronavirus outbreak in Lebanon and the economic and financial crisis facing the country, activity on the BSE has been inhibited since October 2019, except for real estate which continues to represent a safe haven for wealthy depositors. Nonetheless, this week’s scheduled investor presentation may provide the country a breathing space, as the government unveils a more detailed plan of its debt and banking sector restructuring processes as part of its comprehensive reform agenda.