source: www.iloubnan.info

Figures released by the Beirut Stock Exchange indicate that total trading volume reached 13.6 million shares in the first four months of 2013, constituting a decrease of 21% from the same period last year; while aggregate turnover amounted to $88.5m, down 29.8% from a turnover of $126.2m in the first four months of 2012. According to Byblos Bank's "Lebanon This Week", market capitalization increased by 5.4% from end-April 2012 to $10.5bn, of which 76.9% was in banking stocks, followed by real estate stocks with 19.5%, industrial stocks with 3%, and fund stocks and trading stocks with 0.3% in each. The market liquidity ratio was 0.8% compared to 1.2% in the same period last year. Bank stocks accounted for 76.7% of aggregate trading volume in the first four months of the year, followed by real estate stocks with 16.7%, trading stocks with 3.3% and industrial stocks with 3.2%. In terms of the value of shares traded, banking stocks accounted for 63.6% of aggregate value, followed by real estate stocks with 33.4%, industrial stocks with 1.7% and trading stocks with 1.3%.The average daily traded volume for the period was 170,453 shares for an average daily value of $1.1m. The figures reflect decreases of 23% in volume and 31.6% in value year-on-year.

image: www.westhavenmanagement.com