The BSI lost a weekly 0.76%

The BLOM Stock Index (BSI) lost 0.76% to close at 1,178.53 points on Friday. Average traded volume swelled from 68,923 to 4.24M as did average traded value rising from $702,638 to $26.47M. The large volume of Audi Listed shares that were traded during the week mainly lifted overall volume on the Beirut Stock Exchange. As for market capitalization it slid from $9.52B last week to $9.45B this Friday.

The BSI outperformed the Morgan Stanley Emerging index (MSCI) which shed 2.80% to 1,069.43 points.

The S&P Pan Arab Composite Large Midcap Index and the S&P AFE40 Index fared better than the Lebanese gauge slipping by 0.40% and 0.72%, respectively.

Amongst Arab Bourses, the Muscat bourse was the top performer with a weekly gain of 0.88% followed by gains of 0.76% for the Abu Dhabi bourse and 0.74% for the Qatari bourse.

The Dubai market was the worst performer with a weekly drop of 3.12% followed by declines of 1.81% for the Egyptian stock exchange and 0.85% for the Tunisian stock market.

 Back to the Beirut Stock Exchange, the real estate sector performed poorly over the past week with Solidere A and B shares losing 4.38% to $12.01 and 4.68% to $12.02, respectively.

In contrast, the banking sector portrayed a more upbeat picture. BLOM’s GDR shares added 0.21% to end the week at $9.37. Bank Audi’s GDR share rose by 1.43% to $6.39 and the bank’s listed shares registered a 0.16% uptick to $6.10. As for Byblos’ listed shares they added 0.61% to reach $1.65.

Likewise the BLOM Preferred Stock Index (BPSI) ticked up by 0.13% to 104.70points. Bank Audi’s preferred E shares gained 1% to $101.50 and BLC’s preferred A shares added 1.40% to $101.40. Byblos’ preferred 2008 and 2009 shares increased by 0.10% each to close at $100.70 and $100.20, respectively.

For the week-ahead, all eyes are on the local and neighboring security scenes, especially after Barack Obama authorized air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria for the first time.