The TA100 was up 4.09% at 502.54 points. The TA25 was up 4.07% at 503.14 points. The Tel-Tech index was up 4.54% at 596.45 points. Turnover totaled NIS 354 million.
"Buy on rumor, sell on fact" - the golden rule of the stock exchange worked very well today vis-a-vis the Ben-Bassat report - only in reverse. In the first four trading days of last week, the TASE posted declines explained primarily by the expectations of the Committee's report. The report was published on Thursday morning, and the TASE has risen ever since.
The dual-listed shares led the rises, following sharp advances on Wall Street at the end of the week, which opened up large arbitrage gaps. Teva, for example, closed the week at NIS 188.5 per share, while this morning, it opened the week at NIS 171, a gap of 10%. The surge in Teva today totaled 8.2%, on a turnover of NIS 52 million, the day's most heavily traded share.
The sharp gains in Teva, started first on Wall Street and then on the TASE, followed the company's Q1 2000 financial reports, which were published on Thursday. Following the reports, two investment houses issued Buy recommendations for the share - Lehman Bros gave Teva a target price of $57 (25% higher than today's closing price, after its sharp gain). Bank of America was slightly more cautious, and accorded Teva a target price of $53, but this is still 16% higher than the current price.
Teva was not alone. Other dual-listed shares also posted handsome gains, despite the fact that the arbitrage gaps in them were much less significant. Elbit, for example, soared 3.1%, Matav - 1.8%, Nice - 3.5% and Formula 4.4%.
In addition to Teva, high turnovers were posted today by Bezeq, up 3.7%, on a turnover of NIS 25 million; Koor, up 3.1% on a turnover of NIS 17 million, and the banks. Bank Leumi advanced 4.5%, on a turnover of NIS 15 million, while Bank Hapoalim gained 3.53%, on a turnover of NIS 17 million.
On the subject of banks, the TASE announced a new index - the Tel Aviv Bank Index. At the first stage, calculations will be made in order to establish a history, but at the second stage, the index is expected to constitute an asset base for new derivatives. The index will include the shares o0f the five major banks: Poalim, Leumi, Discount, United Mizrahi and First Internal 5. Based on March 31 figures, the shares of Bank Hapoalim accounted for 41.6% of the new index, while the shares of Bank Leumi accounted for 34.3%. Discount Bank's "weight" is 12.9% of the index, United Mizrahi Bank 7.1%, and First International Bank 5 - 4%. The shares' weight changes according to the shares' market value.
Back to trading: investors in the Dankner Investments share were not happy with the company's announcement of the sale of Meirav Holdings' in Polish communications company Netia for NIS 70 million. At opening, the Dankner share rose a slight 1.4%, but the share later strengthened, along with the general trend of the market, and closed up 6.66%, on a turnover of NIS 1.2 million.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on May 7, 2000
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