The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) fell today. The Tel Aviv 25 Index fell 0.79% to 1,206.78 points, the Tel Aviv 100 Index fell 0.62% to 1,073.24 points, and the BlueTech 50 Index fell 0.31% to 317.24 points. Turnover was NIS 849.6 million.
The TASE fell today, in line with losses on European markets and a mixed opening on Wall Street.
In the foreign currency market, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar representative exchange rate at NIS 3.791/$, up 0.42% on Friday's rate, and set the shekel-euro representative exchange rate at NIS 4.938/€, up 0.52%.
In the bond market, long-term Shahar unlinked shekel government bonds fell by up to 0.1% and long term Galil CPI-linked government bonds ranged between losses of 0.6% and gains of 0.1%. The corporate bond benchmark Tel-Bond 20 Index fell 0.21%.
In the stock market, Mellanox Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq:MLNX; TASE:MLNX) fell 0.5%, after yesterday's upward correction. Clal Finance today downgraded its recommendation for the company from "Buy" to "Market perform", citing fears about further weakness in the coming quarters.
The Banking Index fell 1.8%, led by a 2.5% drop by Mizrahi Tefahot Bank (TASE:MZTF), for the biggest loss among Tel Aviv 25 shares. Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) fell 1.7% on the day's biggest turnover of NIS 58 million, and Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) fell 1.5%. Tel Aviv 100 Index listed First International Bank of Israel (TASE: FTIN) fell 5% after an announcement by its controlling shareholder, FIBI Holdings Ltd. (TASE: FIBI) announced that it controlling shareholder were in talks with the Bank of Israel to directly own First International Bank. FIBI fell 12.3%.
The Oil and Gas Index fell 1.1%, with Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) units Avner Oil and Gas LP (TASE: AVNR.L) and Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L) down 2.2% and 1.5%, respectively.
Bezeq bucked the market, rising 0.9% for the biggest gain among Tel Aviv 25 shares. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) and Perrigo Company (Nasdaq:PRGO; TASE:PRGO) also bucked the market, rising 0.6% and 0.7%, respectively.
Elsewhere in the market, mid-cap BiolineRX Ltd. (Nasdaq: BLRX); TASE:BLRX) rose 7.8%, after announcing that it will publish interim results in the Phase II/III clinical trial for its schizophrenia drug in March.
Small-cap Aran R&D (1982) Ltd. (TASE: ARAN) rose 28.9%, after announcing the sale of a venture for $35.5 million. Malrag - Engineering and Construction Ltd. (TASE:MLRG) rose 41.4%, after signing a letter of intent to acquire rights in the oil and gas exploration licenses of Tohar Shemesh Ltd.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 7, 2013
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