These figures were given by Frank Zarb, chairman and CEO of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD).
"The 61 Israeli companies traded on the NASDAQ exchange had a market value of $8.77 billion at the end of the first quarter of 1997, and the turnover in their shares amounted to $6.84 billion". These comments were made by Frank Zarb, chairman and CEO of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) to the bi-annual convention of NASDAQ’s Advisory Committee on International Markets, meeting in Jerusalem for the first time.
The committee meets twice a year, once in Washington and once in a capital city outside of the US. Jerusalem was picked as the international site this year because of the importance NASDAQ attributes to Israeli companies and the connection of Israeli financial community to raising capital in the US.
Zarb said that an all time record of 18 Israeli companies issued IPOs on NASDAY in 1996 and Q1 ’97. He emphasized that NASDAQ, which is the second largest stock market in the world, is a lever for Israeli companies raising growth capital. The total turnover on this market was $3.3 trillion in 1996, and 56% of the security trading volume in the US took place on this exchange. Institutional investors hold half of the securities traded on NASDAQ.