The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) compiled by BLOMInvest Bank on a daily basis slightly increased by 0.34% from last week to reach 886.17 on July 02, 2021. The Market capitalization on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) increased from $9.05B to $9.08B on July 02, 2021. Moreover, the average volume and value of trades during the week ending July 02, 2021 totaled 464,335 shares worth $10,298,299 compared to 71.983 shares worth $606,411 during last week.
Regionally, the major Arab markets witnessed a better performance this week. In details, the S&P AFE 40 and S&P Pan Arab index, increased weekly by 0.55%, and 0.44%, respectively. Meanwhile, the MSCI index also added 0.06% compared to last week. In the Arab World, the bourses of UAE Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain were the top gainers this week, and they witnessed an increase of 5.35%, 0.81% and 0.60% respectively. In contrast, the bourse of Tunisia and Morocco were the worst performers for this week declining by 0.85% and 0.61%, respectively.
This week, the increase in the bourse of the Arab markets can be attributed to the sharp rebound in oil prices. In turn, a massive crude production is expected to take place as the worldwide economy recovers and the demand is expected to grow. However, the next phase of the production policy will be subject to change as a meeting will be held by the OPEC+ members today to hold more talks on oil output policy.
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 99.24%, while the banking grasped the rest with a stake of 0.76%. The most noteworthy trades throughout the mentioned period included:
As for the BLOM Preferred Shares Index (BPSI), it increased from 45.02 to 45.57 points by the end of this week.
This week, Solidere is still oscillating on Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) but its stock remains the most attractive to the investors during the financial and economic crises in the country. Interesting to note, talks about IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR) may be allocated to Lebanon in the upcoming two months that can boost BDL’s foreign reserves, once they are traded against a hard currency, can bring some needed optimism to the market even if limited.