The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) retreated from 594.80 points by May 13, 2020, to settle at 570.36 points by the week ending May 22, 2020. The Market capitalization on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) followed suit, dropping by a weekly 4.11% to $5.85B during the same period.
However, the overall performance of the trading activity witnessed higher volume and values of trade, which climbed from last week’s 64,080 shares worth $668,560 to 977,112 shares trading this week at a value of $3.58M by May 22. Worth mentioning that last week the Trading on the BSE was temporarily suspended on May 14th and 15th 2020, in-line with the government declaring a state of general mobilization across the country from May 14th – 17th, to fight the spread of Covid-19
On a regional level, the Arab stock market witnessed a positive performance. This can be mainly due to the surge in Oil prices as crude markets took heart from signals of pandemic lockdowns easing and an upturn in economic activity. As such, prime regional indices such as the S&P AFE 40, the S&P Pan Arab Composite Large Mid Cap Index as well as the MSCI Emerging Markets Index recorded inclines across the board, by a weekly 4.14%, 4.02% and 3.23%.
Moreover, the best performing bourses this week were those of the Kuwait, KSA and Bahrain. These recorded weekly rises of 5.40%, 4.97% and 2.40%, respectively. Meanwhile, the bourse of Egypt declined by a weekly 1.72%.
On the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE), the banking sector grasped the highest of the total trading value at 75.59%, while the real estate and industrial sectors grasped the remaining share of 24.37% and 0.04%, respectively.
In the real estate sector, Solidere “A” and Solidere “B” shares recorded a weekly downticks by 2.13% and 3.25% each to reach 10.11$ , each.
In the Banking sector, the most significant price decreases recorded among Banks’ traded shares over the week were:
Audi Bank Listed shares by 16.67% to $1.
Byblos Bank Listed shares by 14.67% to $0.64
Meanwhile, Blom Bank Listed shares rose weekly by 0.30% to $3.29.Worth mentioning that on Wednesday May 20, 2020, 4M shares worth $11.95M of Blom Bank Listed shares were traded. The large trades in Banking stocks could be attributed to taking positions ahead of possible banking sector restructuring in the near future.
As for the Blom Preferred shares Index (BPSI), it retreated from last week’s 66.46 points to 62.69points, owing to drops in:
Audi Bank’s Preferred “I” shares by 1.48% to $49.95.
Byblos Preferred 08 shares by 16.75% to $49.95.
Byblos Preferred 09 shares by 11.94% to $52.75.
On the London Stock Exchange, Audi Bank’s GDR shares dropped by 15.69% to end the week at $0.43
In the manufacturing sector, HOLCIM Liban and Ciment Blanc (N) shares rose by a weekly 2.99% and 0.63% to stand at $10 and $3.20, respectively.