Lower stock activity

Beirut bourse transactions total $90 million in Q1 2012

The total stock trading value at Beirut’s stock market reached around $90.7 million at the end of March, down from a turnover of $149.8 million in the first three months of 2011.

According to figures released by the Beirut Stock Exchange, the average daily traded value over the covered period was $1.5 million. The total volume of shares traded in the first quarter of the year was 13.3 million shares, down by 47 percent from the same period of 2011.

Banking stocks accounted for 86 percent of aggregate trading volume and for 74.7 percent of the value in the first quarter of the year. Real estate stocks represented 11.7 percent of the trading volume and 24.5 percent of the trading value.

Market capitalization stood at $10.8 billion at end-March 2012, down by 10.4 percent from end-March 2011. Banking stocks controlled 74.6 percent of the market capitalization, while real estate stocks represented 21.7 percent, followed by industrial stocks with 3.2 percent.