Activity on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) was dull during the week ended Wednesday May 12 amid the Fitr holidays with the number of shares changing hands dropping to 285,213 shares from 848,346 shares during the previous week. Value traded fell to $3.48 million in the concerned week, down from $13.72 million the week before. Trades were mainly concentrated in banking sector stocks, which accounted for 53.96% of weekly traded volume.

The average daily traded volume decreased to 95,071 shares during the week of May 12, from 212,087 shares in the week of May 7, with the average daily traded value also dropping to $1.16 million, from around $3.43 million a week earlier.

Four losing and three gaining stocks were screened during the concerned week, dragging the BSE’s market capitalization down by 1.04% week-on-week to around $9.31 billion. The Credit Libanais Aggregate Stock Index (“CLASI”) contracted by 0.83% week-on-week to 945.40.

In the real estate sector, trades mainly consisted of Solidere “A” and “B” shares (45.25% of weekly traded volume), with the price of Solidere “A” rising by 1.46% week-on-week to $25.10 while that of Solidere “B” dropped by 0.28% to $24.86. On the other hand, the price of Holcim Liban shares rose by 12.05% to $17.94, while the price of Ciments Blancs Nominal shares fell by 13.46% to $4.50. Consequently, the Credit Libanais Construction Sector Stock Index (“CLCI”) ended the session of Wednesday May 12, 2021 1.41% higher on a weekly basis at 1,293.48.

In the banking sector, Byblos Bank listed shares amassed the highest concentration of trades (42.11% of total BSE traded volume) with a thin turnover ratio of 0.02%. The Credit Libanais Financial Sector Stock Index (“CLFI”) in its turn closed the week of May 12 down by 3.41% to 705.06. This comes on the back of the 35.48% w-o-w decrease in the price of Byblos Bank GDRs to $40 coupled with the 8.71% contraction in the price of Bank Audi listed shares to $2.41, which altogether outweighed the 1.52% rise in the price of Bank Audi GDRs to $2.00.

The market-cap weighted average price to book value (P/BV) multiple of listed stocks ended the week of May 12 higher at 1.454 based on the closing prices of Wednesday’s session compared to 1.424 in the week ended May 7.