The Lebanese Bourse Faced a Weekly Downturn on Political Deadlock

Following 11 months of presidential vacuum and after 22 consecutive sessions to elect a president, the ongoing political deadlock kept on overshadowing the performance of the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE).  In details, the BLOM Stock Index (BSI) posted a weekly downturn of 1.13% to 1,191.46 points, narrowing its year-to-date gain to 1.81%.

As for the average traded volume, it slightly improved to stand at 61,446 shares worth $641,650, compared to 55,662 shares amounting to $556,973. In the same context, market capitalization narrowed from $10.15B to $10.03B.

On a comparative scale, the BSI lagged behind the S&P Pan Arab Composite Large-Mid-Cap Index that gained a weekly 2.18%. The Lebanese gauge was also outpaced by the S&P AFE 40 Index that increased by 1.53% from last week and the Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets Index (MSCI) that outpaced the BSI as it grew by a weekly 0.16%.

As for the Arab stock markets, Egypt was the worst performer this week after revealing a 1.75% weekly slump. The BSE was the second biggest loser and was followed by Abu Dhabi bourse that slid by a weekly 0.52%. In contrast, Saudi Arabia bourse was the week’s winner after improving by 3.93% this week mainly on higher Brent oil prices coupled with Saudi Arabia previously confirming that they would scale back their raids in Yemen. Tunisia and Muscat followed with similar weekly improvement of 1.43%.

Back to Lebanon, the banking sector grasped 52.10% of total traded value, while the real estate sector contributed to 46.78%. As for the industrial sector, it took the remaining share of 1.11%.

In the banking sector, BLOM listed and GDR shares slipped by 5.10% and 1.19% to close at $9.30 and $9.93, respectively. The weekly decrease of the listed shares of BLOM is mainly explained by their ex-dividend date being set on Monday20 April, 2015. In addition, Bank Audi listed shares lost a weekly 2.40% to $6.10 despite their financial statements for Q1 2015 revealing a 17% yearly increase in net profit and a 2% y-t-d downtick in total deposits. In contrast, the listed shares of Byblos and Bank of Beirut added weekly 0.57% and 1.66% to $1.75 and $18.40, respectively.

Similarly, the BLOM Preferred Shares Index (BPSI), declined by 0.28% to 105.60 points, as Bank Audi’s preferred classes “H” and Byblos preferred 08 shares dropped by 2.91% and 1.37% to settle at $100 and $101.10, respectively. Byblos preferred 09 shares posted a 0.20% weekly uptick to $102.60.

The real estate sector saw a mixed activity, where Solidere shares class “A “rose by 1.00% to $11.13 while that of class “B” shares inched down by 0.63% to $11.05.

Looking ahead, the coming political developments concerning the presidential vacuum and the Lebanese banks publishing their financial statements for the first quarter of 2015 will remain the barometer of the BSE’s performance in the coming weeks.

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