The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) rose today. The Tel Aviv 25 Index rose 0.25% to 1,075.05 points, the Tel Aviv 100 Index rose 0.26% to 972.93 points, and the BlueTech 50 Index rose 0.49% to 290.35 points. Turnover was NIS 1.61 billion.
The TASE rose slightly after seesawing throughout the session, amid losses on European markets and at the opening on Wall Street. The Bank of Israel will announce the interest rate decision for March after the markets close. Analysts expect that it will keep the interest rate unchanged at 2.5%.
In the bond market, long-term Shahar unlinked government bonds fell by up to 0.1% and long-term Galil CPI-linked bonds ranged between losses of 0.1% and gains of 0.1%. The corporate bond benchmark Tel-Bond 20 Index fell 0.20%.
In the foreign currency market, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar representative exchange rate at NIS 3.803/$, up 1.25% on Friday's rate, and set the shekel-euro representative exchange rate at NIS 5.094/€, up 1.28%.
In the stock market, the Banking Index, which had the sharpest fall yesterday, rose by 0.3% today, with a 1.1% gain by Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI), for the biggest gain among Tel Aviv 25 shares on the day's biggest turnover of NIS 111 million. Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) fell 0.1%, Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT) fell 1.4%, and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank (TASE:MZTF) rose 1%.
Oil Refineries Ltd. (TASE:ORL) rose 1%, Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL) rose 0.8%, while its parent company Israel Corporation (TASE: ILCO) fell 1.3%. Clal Finance today reiterated its "Outperform" recommendation for Oil Refineries, even though it expects the company to report weak financials for the fourth quarter.
Mellanox Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq:MLNX; TASE:MLNX) rose another 1.1% today, and its Tel Aviv 25 peer NICE Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: NICE; TASE: NICE) rose 0.9%.
Tamar partners were today's biggest losers. Isramco Ltd. (Nasdaq: ISRL; TASE: ISRA.L) fell 1.8%, and Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) units Avner Oil and Gas LP (TASE: AVNR.L) and Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L) fell 1.5% and 1.8%, respectively. Delek Group fell 1.1%.
IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) fell another 4% on a larger than usual turnover. The share price has fallen over 20% in three days. Prices for its bonds fell by up to 2.7% to reach yields of up to 16.5%.
EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. (Nasdaq: EZCH; TASE:EZCH) rose 0.9%. Oppenheimer & Co. initiated coverage of the company with a "Market perform" recommendation.
Marathon Venture Capital Fund (TASE: MARA) fell 20.3%, after calling off talks to sell portfolio company Solcon Industries Ltd. (TASE: SLCN-L). Solcon was unchanged. RSL Electronics (TASE: RSEL) fell 35.2% after losing a NIS 16 million tender by a foreign country.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 27, 2012
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