Beirut SE: Blom (1 month) Current Year High: 1,526.31 Current Year Low: 1,168.36 (Chart unavailable at time of going to print) The Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) closed December 18 with a Blom Stock Index reading of 1,543.72 points in a period that saw the number of delays in presidential elections increase to nine. The political wrangling was not good for investor moods or any other economic assessments; thus after the assassination of leading military officer Brig. Gen. Francoise el-Hajj and the murder’s implications for the political situation, the BSE could not maintain its year high of 1574.75 points reached in early December. The exchange is nonetheless in very positive territory at the end of 2007 when compared with the war period in mid 2006 and the internal crisis months since December of the same year. In the week leading to Dec. 14, Solidere supplied 85% of traded value; the scrip
