The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) rose today. The Tel Aviv 25 index rose 3.44% to 1027.38 points, the Tel Aviv 100 rose 4.16% to 949.37 points, and the Tel-Tech rose 5.25% to 238.25 points. Turnover was NIS 1.66 billion.
The TASE rose strongly as it entered its third week of labor sanctions. Banking and real estate stocks led the way up. The Real Estate 15 index jumped 12.8% today and the Banking Index rose 5.6%, to gain 14.5% over the past three trading sessions.
Investors are waiting for Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Stanley Fischer's interest rate decision, which will be published after the market closes tomorrow. He is expected to cut the interest rate by either 25 or 50 basis points following Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben S. Bernanke's 75-basis point cut last week.
In foreign currency options trading today, the shekel-dollar exchange rate rose 2.41% to NIS 3.481/$ and the shekel-euro exchange rate rose 2.3% to NIS 5.373/€.
Gazit-Globe Ltd. (TASE: GLOB) rose 18.3% after announcing a joint investment of up to €800 million with Citibank International plc in Meinl European Land Ltd. (Vienna:MEL), a property developer in Central and Eastern Europe. Alony Hetz Property and Investments Ltd. (TASE: ALHE) rose 17.2% after publishing its financials which showed a 10.8% drop in net profit to NIS 366.5 million in 2007, despite a 19.4% increase in revenue to NIS 999.5 million.
Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI; LSE:80OA) rose 6.7%, Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) rose 5.1%, and Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT) rose 4.6%.
Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL) has also been regaining lost ground, but fell 1.6% today. Its parent Israel Corp. (TASE: ILCO) nevertheless rose 1.5%. Another Israel Corp subsidiary, Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (Nasdaq: TSEM; TASE: TSEM), is facing a possible delisting notice from Nasdaq, after its share traded below $1 for 13 consecutive days.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) rose 1.3%
IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) subsidiary Discount Investment Corporation (TASE: DISI) rose 2.3% after publishing strong financials for 2007.
Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL; Pink Sheets:AFIVY) subsidiary Africa-Israel Industries Ltd. (TASE: AFID) reported a net profit of NIS 47.9 million in 2007, up 46% on 2006, on NIS 1.43 billion revenue. Africa-Israel Investments rose 9.7%.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 23, 2008
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