Sun: Oil exploration cos fall

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) rose today. The Tel Aviv 25 Index rose 0.64% to 1,215.33 points, the Tel Aviv 100 Index rose 0.82% to 1,147.63 points, and the Tel-Tech Index rose 2.70% to 279.80 points. Turnover was NIS 1.94 billion.

The Tel Aviv 25 Index continued to approach its all-time high today, after gains on Wall Street on Friday.

Long-term Shahar unlinked government bonds fell by up to 0.1% and long-term Galil CPI-linked bonds ranged between falls of up to 0.2% and gains of up to 0.2%. The corporate bond benchmark Tel-Bond 20 Index rose 0.25%.

In the foreign currency market, options pointed to a 0.05% drop in the shekel-dollar exchange rate to NIS 3.7697/$, but a 0.20% rise in the shekel-euro exchange rate to NIS 5.135/�.

In the stock market, NICE Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: NICE; TASE: NICE) rose 5.5% for the biggest gain among Tel Aviv 25 shares, after rising 2.5% on Nasdaq on Friday. Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL) also stood out with a rise of 1.2%, after Canadian potash export organization Canoptex raised its prices above its recently signed contracts.

The partners in the Tamrur Cliff 4 oil well Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) subsidiaries Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L) and Avner Oil and Gas LP (TASE: AVNR.L) also stood out with drops of 3.2% and 2.5% respectively, after announcing disappointing results from the production tests. Delek Group fell 1.2%. Their partner Zerah Oil And Gas Explorations LP (TASE: ZRAH) fell 23.3% in heavy trading.

Other oil and gas exploration partnerships also performed poorly today. Lapidoth Heletz LP. (TASE: LPHL) fell 5%, Modiin Energy LP (TASE:MDIN.L) fell 4.8%, and Givot Olam Oil Exploration LP (TASE:GIVO.L) fell 3%.

The Banking Index was unchanged today, with Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) up 0.5%, but Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) down 0.4%. Psagot Investment House Ltd. today said that Bank Hapoalim's share had upside potential in 2010, and therefore gave it a "Buy" recommendation. However, it gave Mizrahi Tefahot Bank (TASE:MZTF) a "Sell" recommendation, Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT) a "Market perform" recommendation and Bank Leumi an "Outperform" recommendation.

The Real Estate 15 Index rose 0.1%. Nitsba Holdings Ltd. (TASE: NTBA) rose 2.7% and Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL; Pink Sheets:AFIVY) rose 2.3%.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 7, 2010

Sun: Oil exploration cos fall

The market rose again today, with NICE Systems outstanding, but disappointing production test results at the Tamrur Cliff 4 prospect sent energy stocks lower.