Solidere Remains as the Lion’s Share of BSI

The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) compiled by BLOMInvest Bank on a daily basis slightly decreased by 0.19% since May 12, 2021 to reach 911.49 on May 21, 2021. The Market capitalization on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) decreased from $9.36B to $9.34B on May 21, 2021. Moreover, the average volume and value of trades during the week ending May 21, 2021 totaled 128,239 shares worth $2,074,824 compared to 94,858 worth $1,151,675 during last week.

Regionally, the major Arab markets witnessed better performance this week. In details, the MSCI index, , the S&P Pan Arab index, and the S&P AFE 40 Composite index all increased weekly by 1.07%, 0.58% and 0.83%,respectively. In the Arab World, the bourses of UAE Abu Dhabi, Morocco and Bahrain were the top gainers this week, the first jumped by 4.97%, and the second went up by 1.45%, while the third added 0.45%. In contrast, the bourse of Qatar and Egypt were the worst performers for this week declining by 2.11% and 0.27%, respectively.

However, the Saudi Vision 2030 is making a boom where the reforms and the opening of the Kingdom to foreign tourists are all contributing to the rapidly expanding Saudi economic prospects. In turn, interesting to note that history tells us about post-pandemic booms where people spend more, take more risks, and demand more from their politicians.

On the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE), the real estate sector grasped the lion’s share of the BSE’s trading value with a stake of 94.84%, while the banking grasped the rest with a stake of 5.16%. The most noteworthy trades throughout the mentioned period included:

• BLOM GDR shares dropped by 16.71% to $3.29/share
• BLOM listed shares went down by 3.06% to $3.49/share
• Audi (GDR) shares went up by 9.14% to $2.03/share
• Audi Listed shares decreased by 1.24% to $2.38/share
• Byblos shares soared by 20% to $1.02/share
• Solidere (A) shares retreated by 0.16% to $25.06/share
• Solidere (B) shares added 0.60% to $25.01/share

As for the BLOM Preferred Shares Index (BPSI), it remained stable at 45.63 points by the end of this week.

Beirut Stock Exchange Index (BSI) had a downtick this week. Clearly, the only sector that is still defined by a stable outlook is the Real Estate sector. In turn, investors are being wise to buy solidere stock in order to hedge against the possible loss of their deposits. However, the unknown coming period will surely affect the prices of Real Estate’s stock as the paying cash is becoming the only acceptable way of payments.  Also interesting is the increasing trades in banking stocks as viable financial instruments.