Activity on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) gained steam this week with the number of shares changing hands rising to 327,942 shares from 84,417 shares in the week before and value traded increasing to $3.73 million compared to $2.83 million a week earlier. Trades were mainly concentrated in banking sector stocks, which accounted for 77.14% of weekly traded volume.

The average daily traded volume rose to 65,588 shares this week, from 16,883 shares in the week before with the average daily traded value also increasing to $0.74 million, from around $0.57 million a week earlier.

Three gaining and one losing stock were screened this week, lifting the BSE’s market capitalization up by 1.27% week-on-week to around $13.92 billion and the Credit Libanais Aggregate Stock Index (“CLASI”) higher by 1.37% to 1,463.51.

In the real estate sector, trades mainly consisted of Solidere “A” and “B” shares (18.19% of weekly traded volume), with the price of Solidere “A” increasing by 3.60% week-on-week to $57.60 and that of Solidere “B” concurrently rising by 2.79% to $57.05. Similarly, the price of Ciments Blancs Nominal shares ended the week up by 16.52% at $12.06. Consequently, the Credit Libanais Construction Sector Stock Index (“CLCI”) closed Friday’s session 3.20% higher on a weekly basis at 2,915.96.

In the banking sector, Byblos Bank listed shares amassed the highest concentration of trades (76.99% of total BSE traded volume) with a turnover ratio of 0.045%. The Credit Libanais Financial Sector Stock Index (“CLFI”) closed Friday’s session 4.81% lower w-o-w at 527.22 mainly dragged by the 14.55% weekly contraction in the price of Bank Audi listed shares to $1.41 in the absence of any gaining banking stocks.

The market-cap weighted average price to book value (P/BV) multiple of listed stocks ended its week higher at 4.272 based on the closing prices of Friday’s session compared to 4.087 in the previous week.