Figures released by the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) indicate that trading volume reached 90,109,683 shares in 2018, constituting an increase of 3.6% from 86,989,317 shares traded in 2017; while aggregate turnover amounted to $635m, down by 16.7% from a turnover of $762.1m in 2017. Market capitalization regressed by 15.7% from the end of 2017 to $9.68bn, with banking stocks accounting for 84.2% of the total, followed by real estate equities (12.1%), industrial shares (3.4%) and trading firms' equities (0.4%). The market liquidity ratio was 6.6% in 2018, nearly unchanged from 2017.

Banking stocks accounted for 77.5% of the aggregate trading volume in 2018, followed by real estate equities with 20.1%, industrial shares with 2.1%, and trading stocks with 0.3%. Also, banking stocks represented 74% of the aggregate value of shares traded, followed by real estate equities with 21.6%, industrial stocks with 4.2% and trading stocks with 0.1%. The average daily traded volume for the period was 375,457 shares for an average daily value of $2.6m. The figures reflect an increase of 4.5% in average volume, and a decline of 16% in the average value in 2018. In parallel, the Capital Markets Authority's Market Value-Weighted Index for stocks traded on the BSE dropped by 25.1% in 2018, while the CMA's Banks Market Value-Weighted Index regressed by 27% last year.