Major Global Stock market declined this week

The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) compiled by BLOMInvest Bank on a daily basis recorded a weekly downtick of 0.98% to reach 1,812.958 on August 18, 2023 down from 1,830.930 on August 11, 2023. The market capitalization on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) increased weekly from $18.77B to $18.58B. The average volume and value of trades also totaled 62,715 shares worth $1,217,328 compared to 234,034 shares worth $1,769,366 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 92.59%, while the banking and industrials sectors grasped the remaining 7.36% and 0.14% shares respectively.  The most noteworthy trades throughout the mentioned period included:

• Solidere (A) shares dropped by 2.87% to settle at $79.40/ share
• Solidere (B) shares dropped by 1.13% to settle at $79.10/ share
• Blom Listed shares rose by 4.17% to settle at $3/ share
• Audi listed shares rose by 9% to settle at $2.18/ share
• Byblos listed shares rose by 9.64% to settle at $0.75/ share
• HOLCIM Liban added 0.86% to settle at $58.60/share
• Ciments Blancs jumped 6.58% to settle at $23.50/share

As for the BLOM Preferred Shares Index (BPSI), it remained constant at 39.62 by August 18, 2023.

The Arab stock market contracted this week as S&P Pan Arab and MSCI dropped weekly by 3.42% and 0.40% respectively by August 18, to stand at 944.69 and 973.86. Indeed, the bourse of Qatar, Morocco and Kuwait contracted respectively by 1.53%, 0.62%, and 0.47% while the bourse of Egypt and Saudi Arabia expanded respectively by 1.46%, and 0.24%, by August 11, 2023.

A steady stream of stronger-than-expected economic data, coupled with Wednesday meeting minutes suggesting Federal Reserve officials are still focusing on containing inflation, boosted yields while putting a damper on stocks and other markets. In the US, S&P 500 and NASDAQ dropped respectively by 2.2% and 3.06% to stand at 4,370.36 and 13,316.93 by August 18, compared to the previous week.

Major European stock markets recorded a worse performance this week as DAX Germany CAC40 France and FTSE 100 dropped respectively by 2.34%, 3.48% and 3.86% to stand at 15,568.26, 7,127.25 and 7,254.45 on August 18. Additionally, NIKKEI Japan dropped weekly by 3.15% to stand at 31,450.76 on August 18, 2023.