Solidere Below $60, Lowest Record Since end of May

This week, the BLOM Stock Index (BSI) compiled by BLOMInvest Bank on a daily basis recorded a further decrease by 1.26% to reach 1,382.556 on July 29, 2022. The Market capitalization on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) contracted weekly from $14.35B to $14.17B. The average volume and value of trades also totaled 128,953 shares worth $2,856,336 compared to 26,141 shares worth $1,164,595 last week.

In the Arab region, all the major Arab bourses recorded a better performance as global oil prices jumped this week. As such, the S&P Pan Arab, the MSIC, and the S&P AFE 40 increased 1%, 0.70%, and 0.52%, respectively compared to last week. Moreover, Bourse of Qatar, Bahrain, and Egypt added 3.25%, 1.72%, and 1.30% respectively by the end of this week. Meanwhile, the bourse of Morocco recorded a downtick of 0.93% by the end of this week.

On top of news this week, Saudi Arabia closed an interesting deal with Greece to place an undersea data cable that will connect Europe with Asia and maintained discussions about possibility of linking their power grids to supply Europe with cheaper green energy. In addition, Saudi Arabia set to launch an $80B Neom investment Fund, one of the most important projects of Saudi vision 2030, to be invested in companies and corporations that would agree to operate in Neom and aim to diversify the Kingdom’s economic structure far from the oil sector.

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 95.56%, while banking sector grasped 4.24% and the industrial sector gripped 0.20%. The most noteworthy trades throughout the mentioned period included:

• Solidere (A) shares decreased by 1.97% to settle at $59.75/share
• Solidere (B) shares retreated by 1.49% to settle at $59.55/share
• HOLCIM shares added 2.89% to settle at $28.50/share
• BLOM GDR dropped by 0.40% to settle at $2.49/share
• Audi contracted by 0.71% to settle at $1.40/share
• Byblos slumped by 2.86% to settle at $0.68/share

As for the BLOM Preferred Shares Index (BPSI), no major changes were recorded as the index stood at 40.66 by the end of this week.

The BSI retreated this week driven by significant drops in Real Estate and banks stocks. Solidere registered agitated fluctuations all over the week and dropped below the $60/share, the lowest since end of May 2022, while the banks stocks kept on trading on lower levels due to uncertain recovery path. The market felt the fears and concerns as the exchange rate of the Lebanese pound exceeded the 30,000 against the dollars and political standoffs reappeared during the parliamentary sessions.