Figures released by the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) indicate that the trading volume reached 84,702,491 shares in the first 11 months of 2018, constituting an increase of 12.8% from 75,059,974 shares traded in the same period of 2017; while aggregate turnover amounted to $607.1m, down by 6% from a turnover of $645.9m in the first 11 months of 2017. Market capitalization regressed by 10.6% from the end of November 2017 to $9.72bn, with banking stocks accounting for 84.6% of the total, followed by real estate equities (11.6%), industrial shares (3.5%) and trading firms' equities (0.4%). The market liquidity ratio was 6.2% in the covered period compared to 5.9% in the first 11 months of 2017.

Banking stocks accounted for 76.7% of the aggregate trading volume in the first 11 months of 2018, followed by real estate equities with 20.7%, industrial shares with 2.2%, and trading stocks with 0.3%. Also, banking stocks represented 73.5% of the aggregate value of shares traded, followed by real estate equities with 22%, industrial stocks with 4.4% and trading stocks with 0.1%. The average daily traded volume for the period was 383,269 shares for an average daily value of $2.7m. The figures reflect an increase of 13.4% in average volume, and a decline of 5.6% in the average value in the first 11 months of the year. In parallel, the Capital Markets Authority's Market Value-Weighted Index for stocks traded on the BSE dropped by 26.3% in the first 11 months of 2018, while the CMA's Banks Market Value-Weighted Index regressed by 26.2% in the covered period.