Activity on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) grew stronger this week with the number of shares changing hands increasing to 921,344 shares from 305,283 shares last week and value traded rising to $8.95 million this week, from $2.17 million a week before. Trades were mainly concentrated in real estate sector stocks, which accounted for 62.50% of weekly traded volume.

The average daily traded volume rose to 184,269 shares this week, from 76,321 shares in the previous week. Similarly, the average daily traded value increased to $1.79 million, from around $0.54 million a week earlier.

Three weekly gaining and three losing stocks were screened this week, lifting the BSE’s market capitalization up by 0.02% week-on-week to around $6.18 billion. The Credit Libanais Aggregate Stock Index (“CLASI”) inched upwards by 0.03% week-on-week to 580.86.

In the real estate sector, trades mainly consisted of Solidere “A” and “B” shares (57.55% of weekly traded volume), with the price of Solidere “A” rising by 1.20% week-on-week to $15.97 while that of Solidere “B” fell by 0.32% to $15.75. It is worth noting that Holcim Liban shares ended the week up by 0.15% to $13.05. Consequently, the Credit Libanais Construction Sector Stock Index (“CLCI”) ended Friday’s session 0.56% higher on a weekly basis at 832.80.

In the banking sector, BLOM Bank listed shares amassed the highest concentration of trades (18.45% of total BSE traded volume) with a very thin turnover ratio of 0.08%. The Credit Libanais Financial Sector Stock Index (“CLFI”) closed its week down by 0.68% at 405.56 owing to the 2.44% drop in the price of BLOM Bank Listed Shares to $2.00 coupled with the 3.70% contraction in the price of Byblos Bank listed shares to $0.52 outweighing the 5.26% hike in the price of BLOM Bank GDRs to $2.00.

The market-cap weighted average price to book value (P/BV) multiple of listed stocks ended its week up at 0.975 based on the closing prices of Friday’s session compared to 0.957 in the previous week.