BSI Down to 1,342.18 Driven by Lower Solidere Prices

This week, Lebanese leaders met again to negotiate forming the awaited Government. However, the meeting ended without any signs that a new government might soon be formed. As the countdown to presidential elections is looming, time is against the Lebanese leaders as forming the government is an essential step to stick to the political agenda, such as the maritime border and the final agreement with the IMF.

Amid these disruptions, The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) compiled by BLOMInvest Bank on a daily basis recorded a drop of 2.65% to reach 1,342.187 on August 26, 2022. The market capitalization on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) contracted weekly from $14.13B to $13.75B. The average volume and value of trades also totaled 25,976 shares worth $1,076,363 compared to 27,212 shares worth $1,260,689 last week.

In the Arab region, major Arab bourses recorded a worst performance this week. The MSCI and the S&P Pan Srab index both decreased by 0.61% and 0.57%, respectively, compared to last week. Moreover, Bourse of Egypt, Kuwait, and UAE added 1.91%, 1.47%, and 0.89% respectively by the end of this week. Meanwhile, the bourse of Qatar and Saudi Arabia recorded a downtick of 1.94% and 0.24% by the end of this week.

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 96.31%, while the industrial sector and the banking sector grasped the rest of 1.09% and 2.61%, respectively. The most noteworthy trades throughout the mentioned period included:

• Solidere (A) shares decreased by 4.67% to settle at $57.10/share
• Solidere (B) shares dropped by 4.35% to settle at $56.10/share
• Audi GDR plunged by 1.33% to settle at $1.48/share
• Audi Listed contracted by 3.23% to settle at $1.50/share
• Holcim Liban soared by 16% to settle at $29/share
• Ciments Blancs jumped by 12.58% to settle at $8.50/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 registered a drop for this week driven by lower Real Estate stocks’ prices. Contrarily to what have been claimed about the positive correlation between the Lebanese exchange rate and Solidere stocks, the Real Estate’ stock seemed losing their momentum as the safest haven or being no longer attractive as before as the currency depreciates. In the same token, banks stocks also decreased this week as no restructuring plan has yet put on the table while the industrial sector surprisingly registered a better performance.