Beirut Stock Exchange – Struggling for momentum

  When the Beirut Stock exchange reopened in 1995 there were high hopes that it would regain its position as a center of Middle East trading. The bourse was originally established in 1920, second only in the region to the Cairo and Alexandria exchanges of Egypt. As a consequence of the tumultuous civil war years it was forced to close in 1983, during which time other regional bourses grew strongly, particularly fuelled by oil wealth in the GCC, and they have largely outstripped Beirut’s former reputation. Although the market cap of the BSE grew from $8.3 billion at year-end 2006 to $10.9 billion by year-end 2007, it still lags far behind the likes of Kuwait Stock Exchange with a market cap in excess of $70 billion. The BSE does have some solidly performing stocks, but is still struggling to gather momentum, with only 11 listed companies. Even at this, Solidere