Activity on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) improved this week with the number of shares changing hands rising to 134,791 shares from 85,921 shares in the week before and value traded increasing to $4.51 million compared to $3.86 million a week earlier. Trades were mainly concentrated in real estate sector stocks, which accounted for 63.30% of weekly traded volume.

The average daily traded volume rose to 26,958 shares this week, from 21,480 shares in the week before while the average daily traded value fell to $0.90 million, from around $0.97 million a week earlier as the previous week included four trading days only.

Three losing and two gaining stocks were screened this week, dragging the BSE’s market capitalization down by 1.86% week-on-week to around $13.03 billion and the Credit Libanais Aggregate Stock Index (“CLASI”) lower by 2.00% to 1,363.03.

In the real estate sector, trades mainly consisted of Solidere “A” and “B” shares (61.82% of weekly traded volume), with the price of Solidere “A” decreasing by 3.33% week-on-week to $52.20 and that of Solidere “B” dropping by 2.50% to $52.65. On the other hand, the price of Holcim Liban shares ended the week up by 6.64% at $29.86. Consequently, the Credit Libanais Construction Sector Stock Index (“CLCI”) closed Friday’s session 2.43% lower on a weekly basis at 2,663.85.

In the banking sector, Byblos Bank listed shares amassed the highest concentration of trades (30.69% of total BSE traded volume) with a turnover ratio of 0.007%. The Credit Libanais Financial Sector Stock Index (“CLFI”) closed Friday’s session 0.56% lower w-o-w at 525.22 amid the 5.00% weekly contraction in the price of Byblos Bank listed shares to $0.57 outweighing the 0.68% appreciation in the price of Bank Audi GDRs to $1.49.

The market-cap weighted average price to book value (P/BV) multiple of listed stocks ended its week lower at 3.851 based on the closing prices of Friday’s session compared to 3.967 in the previous week.