BSI Contracted Over the Course of the Week

The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) compiled by BLOM Invest Bank on a daily basis decreased weekly by 4.51% to reach 1,715.09 on August 9th, 2024 down from 1,796.07 on August 2nd, 2024. Similarly, the market capitalization on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) declined weekly from $18.41B to $17.58B. The average volume and value of trades also totaled 58,534 shares worth $ 4,446,764.2 compared to 36,918 shares worth $ 1,952,005 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 99.9%, while the banking sector grasped the remaining 0.1%. The most noteworthy trades throughout the mentioned period included:

• Solidere (A) shares fell by 6.94% to settle at $75.05 / share
• Solidere (B) shares declined by 4.72% to settle at $76.7 / share
• BLOM GDR shares decreased by 7.06% to settle at $3.03 / share
• Audi GDR shares declined by 3.57% to settle at $1.35 / share

As for the BLOM Preferred Shares Index (BPSI), it remained constant at 27.78 on August 9^th, 2024.

The Arab stock market contracted this week affected by US stock market as S&P Pan Arab and MSCI declined respectively by 2.4% and 1.03% to stand at 943.41 and 1,050.3 points by the end of this week. Moreover, the bourse of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE declined respectively by 3.14%, 2.14%, and 1.91% by August 9^th, 2024.

The US stock markets witnessed a remarkable decrease on Monday August 5^th, 2024 and then recovered some of the losses after the good US labor market data to end the week by a contraction of S&P 500 and NASDAQ by 0.51% and 0.69% respectively to stand at 5,319.31 and 16,660.02 points by August 9^th, 2024, compared to the previous week.

After the substantial fluctuation of the US stock market this week, it is interesting to introduce the Chicago Board Options Exchange’s (CBOE) VIX index in such situation. The CBOE VIX index attempts to measure the volatility of S&P 500, so the more remarkable the price fluctuations in this index, the higher the level of the volatility. When the VIX index is above 30, it indicates increased volatility and fear in the market and it is often identified with a bear market. When observing the CBOE VIX index values this week, it increased remarkably on August 5^th, 2024 to reach 38.57 from 23.39 on August 2^nd, 2024 and then followed by a decrease to reach 27.71 on August 6^th, 2024.

Europe’s stock markets fluctuated this week as DAX Germany contracted by 1.91% compared to previous week to reach 17,737.51. However, CAC 40 France and FTSE 100 Britain rose by 0.53% and 0.1% respectively throughout the week to reach 7,290.47 and 8,183.10 on August 9^th, 2024.

For NIKKEI, it decreased by 2.46% compared to previous week and reached 35,025 by August 9^th, 2024 affected by the US stock market.

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