BEIRUT: Shares of Solidere rebounded nearly 10 percent in a week which saw the long-time Special Tribunal for Lebanon funding dispute resolved with the transfer of funds by Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s office.

Mikati had warned that a refusal by the Cabinet to fund the tribunal before a December deadline would prompt him to submit his resignation in what he described as a final-ditch effort to stave off likely international economic sanctions.

“After the funding of the tribunal, some people came to [the] market to buy, but there were few sellers, so prices were pushed up,” said Yves Rahme, head of equities unit at Byblos Bank in an interview with The Daily Star.

Solidere’s class A and B shares, which closed at $14.71 and $14.74 respectively Friday, had suffered from rising domestic and regional political instability in 2011 in addition to a deteriorating real estate market in Lebanon.

But Solidere’s rally did not come as a surprise to Nancy Elias, senior financial consultant at FFA Private Bank, who told The Daily Star that “Solidere’s share prices in the $13 range were a big surprise because we expected them to stagnate around $14, so this was [an] ... expected market correction.”

Solidere’s rally pulled the BLOM Stock Index up 2.5 percent during the week to 1,195.92 points, its highest level in a month. The Beirut Stock Exchange’s market capitalization also bounced back 2.18 percent to $10.44 billion by the close of trading Friday while volumes remained subdued at 73,155 average daily traded shares.

Banking stocks were mixed with Bank Byblos and Bank Audi adding 1.25 percent and 1.2 percent to $1.62 and $5.88 respectively, while BLOM Bank and Bank of Beirut fell 0.13 percent and 1 percent to $7.42 and $19.2 respectively. Audi’s Global Depository Receipt also rose 0.8 percent to $6.35 as BLOM’s GDR was unmoved during the week at $7.9.

Investors typically turn to banking stocks after Solidere’s shares cease to offer an attractive buying opportunity, but according to Rahme, “the capital invested this time is not too big and thus there is no buying rush to drive banking stocks.”

The surge in Solidere’s shares comes after months of continuous declines interrupted only by the positive response to the renewal of the central bank’s Governor Riad Salameh in July, and may in fact be as short-lived as its predecessor.

“For now investors still view the stock as an opportunity to buy at depressed prices, but above $15, maybe that view will change,” said Rahme who doesn’t believe this is the beginning of a turnaround in the market because “even after the funding of the STL, the domestic and regional problems are still there.”

Elias said volumes may remain low as “investors are already invested in banks and real estate.No one has enough liquidity to average down their cost.”