Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) activity showed mixed results this week, with the number of shares changing hands dropping to 430,749 shares from 908,009 shares in the week before and value traded rising to $7.28 million, from $4.08 million a week earlier. Trades were mainly concentrated in real estate stocks, which accounted for 52.11% of weekly traded volume.

The average daily traded volume decreased to 107,687 shares this week, from 227,002 shares in the week before, while the average daily traded value increased to $1.82 million, from around $1.02 million a week earlier.

Four gaining and two losing stocks were screened this week, lifting the BSE’s market capitalization up by 1.16% week-on-week to around $10.23 billion. The Credit Libanais Aggregate Stock Index (“CLASI”) rose by 1.28% week-on-week to 1,051.90.

In the real estate sector, trades mainly consisted of Solidere “A” and “B” shares (50.39% of weekly traded volume), with the price of Solidere “A” rising by 0.57% week-on-week to $30.02 and that of Solidere “B” increasing by 1.25% to $30.88. The price of Ciments Blancs Nominal shares contracted by 2.54% w-o-w to $5.75. Consequently, the Credit Libanais Construction Sector Stock Index (“CLCI”) ended Friday’s session higher on a weekly basis at 1,550.18.

In the banking sector, Byblos Bank listed shares amassed the highest concentration of trades (40.74% of total BSE traded volume) with a thin turnover ratio of 0.03%. The Credit Libanais Financial Sector Stock Index (“CLFI”) in its turn closed its week up by 2.07% at 712.08. This comes on the back of the 6.52% w-o-w expansion in the price of Bank Audi listed shares to $2.45 and the 3.45% rise in the price of Byblos Bank listed shares to $0.90, outweighing the 9.68% decrease in the price of Bank Audi GDRs to $2.24.

The market-cap weighted average price to book value (P/BV) multiple of listed stocks ended its week higher at 1.864 based on the closing prices of Friday’s session compared to 1.853 in the previous week.