Beirut SE (1 month) Current Year High: 3,470.63 Current Year Low: 1,761.53 The Beirut Stock Exchange’s numbers, as tallied by BLOM Bank’s BSI, pointed lower in August. The BSI closed at 1,855 points on August 22, falling back under the 2,000 points line but still up 23.5% from the start of the year. Real estate company and market cap leader Solidere led the market down, dropping 13.43% from the end of July to Aug 22. Analysts pointed to profit taking as reason for the steady index losses throughout the review period. In a bit of a change, headlines on the BSE in August were not entirely dominated by politics. One factor that influenced the market was the recurrence of tales on uneasy merger discussions between Audi Saradar Group and its shareholder, Egyptian investment bank EFG Hermes. According to media reports in London, the Audi Saradar Group issued a statement on
