Blom Stock index recorded a better performance this week

The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) compiled by BLOMInvest Bank on a daily basis recorded a weekly increase by 3.54% to reach 1,852.87 on May 26, 2023 up from 1,788.679 on May 19, 2023. The market capitalization on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) increased weekly from $18.33B to $18.99B. The average volume and value of trades also totaled 4,694 shares worth $148,514 compared to 12,257 shares worth $1,001,652 last 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 98.27%, while banking sector grasped the rest of the stake of 1.73% .The most noteworthy trades throughout the mentioned period included:

• Solidere (A) shares increased by 3% to settle at $84.2/ share
• Solidere (B) shares increased by 5% to settle at $86.15/ share
• Blom GDR shares went down by 0.4% to stand at $2.49/share
• Audi Listed shares increased by 14.71% to $1.95/share

As for the BLOM Preferred Shares Index (BPSI), it remained constant at 39.62 by May 26, 2023.

In the Arab region, the stock market contracted this week as S&P Pan Arab and MSCI dropped weekly by 1.42% and 1.45% respectively by May 26, to stand at 920.85 and 964.01. Moreover, the bourse of Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco expanded each respectively by 2.21%, 1.78% and 0.78%, while the bourse of Saudi Arabia and Qatar contracted by 1.41% and 1.77%, respectively by May 26, 2023.

In the US, S&P 500 dropped weekly by 0.97% to stand at 4,151.28, while NASDAQ rose by 0.32% weekly to stand at 12,698.09 by May 26. The market is increasingly optimistic that an agreement regarding the US debt ceiling can be reached before the deadline. In fact, President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy are closing in on a deal that would raise the government’s $31.4T debt ceiling for two years while capping spending on most items. The deal, which is not final, would increase funding for discretionary spending on military and veterans while essentially holding non-defense discretionary spending at current-year levels.

Major European stock markets recorded a worse performance this week as DAX, CAC40 France and FTSE 100 dropped respectively by 3.18%, 3.53% and 2.37% to stand at 15,758.38, 7,227.28 and 7,573.42 respectively on May 26.  Meanwhile, NIKKEI Japan increased weekly by 0.35% to stand at 30,916.31 on May 26.