Lebanese capital markets

The healthy financial results released by top Lebanese banks at the end of January 2012 offset investors’ worries over the regional security situation and its implications on Lebanon. Hence, the BLOM Stock index (BSI), Lebanon’s equity gauge, moved in whipsaws between a lower band of 1,163 and its highest band of 1,184 points before ending the five-week period in green. The BSI rose 1 percent to settle at 1,183 points, widening its year-to-date performance to 0.57 percent.  Trading activity on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) was subdued between January 16 and February 17, as the daily average volume of trades per month decreased to 196,470 shares worth $1.45 million, as opposed to 237,574 stocks valued $1.42 million recorded in the preceding four-week period. On a regional comparative scale, the Lebanese equity benchmark index underperformed the S&P Pan Arab Composite Large Mid Cap index that rose 5.7 percent from its previous