Activity on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) showed mixed results this week with the number of shares changing hands rising to 419,951 shares from 190,638 shares in the week before while value traded fell to $1.55 million compared to $3.21 million a week earlier. Trades were mainly concentrated in banking sector stocks, which accounted for 90.79% of weekly traded volume.

The average daily traded volume increased to 104,988 shares this week, from 38,128 shares in the week before, while the average daily traded value dropped to $0.39 million, from around $0.64 million a week earlier.

Three losing and three gaining stocks were screened this week, dragging the BSE’s market capitalization down by 0.06% week-on-week to around $10.07 billion and the Credit Libanais Aggregate Stock Index (“CLASI”) by 0.06% to 1,033.45.

In the real estate sector, trades mainly consisted of Solidere “A” and “B” shares (8.92% of weekly traded volume), with the price of Solidere “A” rising by 0.10% week-on-week to $30.57 while that of Solidere “B” decreased by 0.47% to $29.92. The price of Holcim Liban shares also increased by 15.79% week-on-week to $22.00. Consequently, the Credit Libanais Construction Sector Stock Index (“CLCI”) ended the week 0.97% higher on a weekly basis at 1,570.89.

In the banking sector, Byblos Bank listed shares amassed the highest concentration of trades (81.68% of total BSE traded volume) with a thin turnover ratio of 0.06%. The Credit Libanais Financial Sector Stock Index (“CLFI”) in its turn closed its week down by 1.62% to 667.26. This comes on the back of the 4.55% contraction in the price of Bank Audi listed shares to $2.10 and the 1.47% decrease in the price of BLOM Bank listed shares to $3.35, which altogether outweighed the 2.44% appreciation in the price of Byblos Bank listed shares to $0.84.

The market-cap weighted average price to book value (P/BV) multiple of listed stocks ended its week higher at 1.913 based on the closing prices of Friday’s session compared to 1.886 in the previous week.