EU Central Bank Decision Outweighed Deepseek’s Tsunami

31/01/202524/01/2025% Change
BLOM Stock Index2,498.682,557.62-2.30%
Average Traded Volume38,11533,54313.63%
Average Traded Value618,5411,075,100-42.47%
Market Cap25,609,384,012.7426,213,403,744.44

The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) compiled by BLOM Invest Bank daily dropped weekly by 2.3% to 2,498.68 points on January 31st, 2025. This decrease is largely attributed to the difficulty of the newly elected Lebanese Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, to form his cabinet.

On the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE), the real estate sector dominated trading, accounting for 77.164% of the exchange’s total trading value, while the remaining were by the banking sector (17.180%) and industrial sector (5.656%). The most noteworthy trades throughout the mentioned period included:

31/01/202524/01/2025% Change
Solidere A113.3114.5-1.05%
Solidere B110.7115-3.74%
HOLCIM Liban (prev.SCL)71.270.11.57%
CB  (N)3840-5.00%
Audi Listed2.93-3.33%
Bank of Beirut (C)915-40.00%
Byblos (C)1.251.28-2.34%
BLOM (GDR)5.35.4-1.85%
31/01/202524/01/2025% Change
BLOM Preferred Shares Index27.5227.520.00%

As for the BLOM Preferred Shares Index (BPSI), it remained constant at 27.52.

 

IndexCurrency31/01/202524/01/2025% Change
S&P 500USD6,071.176,101.24-0.49%
Dow JonesUSD44,882.1344,424.251.03%
NASDAQ CompUSD19,681.7519,954.30-1.37%

*Prices are as of the time of writing this report

US stocks fluctuated over the course of the week where S&P 500 and NASDAQ Comp decreased by 0.49% and 1.37% respectively to record 6,071.17 and 19,681.75, while Dow Jones increased by 1.03% to reach 44,882.13. The week started by a significant fall in US equities after the reveal of the Chinese AI application “Deepseek”. Reportedly, the new application produced is competitive to US counterparts however it consumes less power. Later on, on Wednesday, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged which led to a rise in US equities.

IndexCurrency31/01/202524/01/2025% Change
DAXEUR21,765.1021,394.931.73%
FTSE 100GBP8,667.078,502.351.94%
CAC 40EUR7,963.557,927.620.45%
STOXX600EUR540.81530.072.03%

*Prices are as of the time of writing this report

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets increased this week after a fifth interest rate cut performed by European Central Bank (ECB) since June 2024 by 25 bps on Thursday. Moreover, ECB official signaled potential further cuts in the future. As such, STOXX 600 led the increase by 2.03% to record 540.81, followed by FTSE (1.94%), and DAX (1.73%).

IndexCurrency31/01/202524/01/2025% Change
NIKKEIJPY39,572.4939,931.98-0.90%
Hang SengHKD20,225.1120,066.190.79%
Shanghai CompCNY3,250.603,252.63-0.06%

*Prices are as of the time of writing this report

Asian markets mimicked the US equities and fluctuated this week, with the NIKKEI and Shanghai Composite indices dropped by 0.90% and 0.06% to reach 39,572.49 and 3,250.60. However, Hang Seng increased by 0.79% to reach 20,225.11.

IndexCurrency31/01/202524/01/2025% Change
MSCI Emerging MarketUSD1,095.751,090.020.53%

 As for the MSCI Emerging Market index, it rose marginally this week by 0.53% to record 1,095.75 points.

IndexCurrency31/01/202524/01/2025% Change
S&P Pan Arab USD1,024.531,020.840.36%
EGX30 – EgyptEGP30,010.6229,997.690.04%
Saudi Stock ExchangeSAR12,415.4912,354.040.50%
Qatar Stock ExchangeQAR10,666.7110,660.120.06%
Abu Dhabi Securities ExchangeAED9,577.359,563.940.14%
Dubai Financial MarketAED5,192.425,225.54-0.63%

Similarly, Arab stock markets rose this week, with all major indices showing gains except for Dubai Financial market that declined by 0.63% to record 5,192.42. The Saudi Stock Exchange was up by 0.50%, the S&P Pan Arab index increased by 0.36%, and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange rose by 0.14%.

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