The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) fell today. The Tel Aviv 25 index fell 0.81% to 828.36 points, the Tel Aviv 100 fell 1.00% to 844.17 points, and the Tel-Tech fell 1.24% to 372.60 points. Turnover was NIS 1.6 billion.
The TASE ended the week negatively, dragged down by the world’s markets, where the slide continued, and even accelerated. Against this backdrop, the TASE’s leading indices were in negative territory throughout the session, again led downward by the banks and real estate shares, although the slide eased towards the end of the day. Both the bond and foreign currency markets responded to global events. By the end of the day, bond prices were down slightly, and shekel-dollar trading was volatile.
The main story of the day in the market is that the Tel Aviv 25 index has effectively erased its entire gain since the beginning of the year. Just a month ago, the index was up 10%, and a hair’s breath from 900 points. The main reason for the drop in share prices over the past month is the bleak mood on the world’s markets caused by fears of renewed interest rate hikes, which will slow economic activity.
In the stock market, the large banks led the way down. The Banking index fell 1.1% today, and is down 2% for the week. The index’s return since the beginning of the year is minus 1.1%. Market players said today that, although foreign investors had sold bank shares, the sell-off was not large, as reflected in normal trading volumes. Bank Hapoalim (LSE: BKHD; TASE: POLI) fell 1.7% today and Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) fell 1.1%, on the session’s largest turnovers. First International Bank of Israel (TASE: FTIN1;FTIN5) stood out with a 4.7% fall, but Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT) rose 1.6% and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank (TASE:MZTF) rose 0.1%.
In the real estate sector, which is especially sensitive to indications about the interest rate because of its effect on property values, the sell-off continued, and the Real Estate 15 index fell 1.9%, to complete a 4.7% drop for the week. Income-producing real estate companies continued their precipitous fall, because of their fairly high exposure to fluctuations in the interest rate. Electra Real Estate Ltd. (TASE:ELCRE) fell 1.9%, Delek Real Estate Ltd. (TASE: DLKR) fell 3.5%, and Africa-Israel Properties Ltd. (TASE: AFPR) fell 2.9%.
Among other blue-chip stocks, the shares of almost all Tel Aviv 25 index companies fell today. Shares that were able to buck the trend included Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA), which rose 0.2%, and Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: CHIM), which was unchanged. Profit taking at Strauss-Elite Ltd. (TASE:STEL) pushed its share down 1.8%, after it rose over the previous days. Elbit Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: ESLT; TASE: ESLT) fell 0.7%, despite a positive recommendation from Clal Finance Batucha Ltd.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on June 8, 2006
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