The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) fell today. The Tel Aviv 25 Index fell 4.55% to 689.90 points, the Tel Aviv 100 Index fell 5.61% to 595.17 points, and the Tel-Tech fell 8.25% to 128.98 points. Turnover was NIS 1.65 billion.
The TASE tumbled today, ending a very bad week for investors. Tel Aviv 25 Index fell below 700 points for the first time since 2005, after falling 8.4% for week. The Tel Aviv 100 Index fell below 600 points, after losing 10.4% for the week. Technology stocks took another hit and the Real Estate 15 Index fell 15.8%, and lost 31.1% for the week. The Tel Bond 20 Index fell 7.1% this week and the Tel Bond 40 Index fell 8.2%.
Panic in the corporate bond market spread to blue-chip stocks today, with heavily indebted holding companies taking a battering. Lev Leviev's Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL; Pink Sheets:AFIVY) fell 30.5%, and Yitzhak Tshuva's Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) fell 29%, and both companies have lost over 80% of their value since January, exceeding the worst nightmares of any shareholder.
In the foreign currency market, the shekel-dollar exchange rate rose 1.34% to NIS 3.928/$ and the shekel-euro exchange rate rose 0.69% to NIS 4.92/€.
In the stock market, in addition to the plunges by Africa-Israel and Delek Group, few shares avoided losses. The Banking Index fell 6% with Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI; LSE:80OA) down 5.8%, Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) down 5.9%, and Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT) down 5.8%.
Among real estate shares, Kardan NV (TASE: KRNV;AEX:KARD) fell 20.5% and subsidiary Global Trade Centre Real Estate NV (TASE:GTC) fell 1.3% after Standard & Poor's Maalot Ltd. downgraded their bonds. Delek Real Estate Ltd. (TASE: DLKR) fell 19%, and no share on the index was spared.
Among blue-chip stocks, only NICE Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: NICE; TASE: NICE) posted a gain, rising 8.3%, and Perrigo Company (Nasdaq:PRGO; TASE:PRGO) rose 0.6% after acquiring a company in Florida.
Israel Corp. (TASE: ILCO) fell another 14.6% after Maalot downgraded the bonds of subsidiary Oil Refineries Ltd. (TASE:ORL), which fell 16.6%, while Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL) fell 7.9%.
Migdal Insurance and Financial Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MGDL) rose 8.8%, after the TASE issued an order allowing the company to return to the Tel Aviv 25 Index.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 13, 2008
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