The TA 100 rose 0.16% to 540.51 points. The TA 25 index rose 0.28% to 541.56 points. The Tel-Tech index was down 1.16% at 652.89 points. Turnover amounted to NIS 301 million.
The market has been fighting over the 539 points level for two days. The lowering of the interest rate announced by the Bank of Israel last night did affect the market, and players claimed it was offset by the declines on Wall Street. In the last hour of trading, the leading indices passed the 540 points line.
Bezeq attracted an outstanding turnover today of NIS 61 million, slipping 2.5%. An exceptional order for over NIS 20 million was posted in the afternoon. Estimates said a very strong body (institutional?) is the major seller.
Teva continued to pull the market northwards, rising 4% on the second-highest turnover of NIS 31 million. The share opened up a positive arbitrage gap vis-a-vis New York. In contrast, the Nice share was slashed by 6% in response to the negative arbitrage gap opened last night on a similar level. Activity in the gas-oil sector reflected the changeover from rumor to news. A day after announcing another discovery off the Ashkelon coast, the Isramco share continued to go south today, and declined 7% on a high turnover.
Point of Sale sent its quarterly financial reports to the market. The share fell 1.7%, on a medium-size turnover.
Another share showing weakness for a long time is that of Israel Land Development. Since Gibor Sport's announcement last week that it had reached a 20% holding in ILD, the share has lost 15%. Gibor Sport today announced it will not include its share in the IDL financial reports, and will defer it to after the appointment of a director. The IDL share shed another 3% today.
Amat expects to benefit from the agreement between Sun International and Comverse. Amat, which markets Sun hardware and software products in Israel, is expected to significantly benefit from the announcement. The share soared 4% today, then closed unchanged, on a turnover of NIS 2.2 million.
Shemen announced this morning that it will sell its stake in the Henkel-Soad partnership to partner Henkel for $26.5 million. The Excellence investment house, Shemen's underwriter and later partner in one of the company's investments, rushed to issue a "Buy" recommendation. Excellence estimates that the industrial division of Shemen will continue to focus on improving and streamlining the company's activities. At the same time, Excellence estimates that the company will become a holding company and expand its real estate holdings, while entering into venture capital. Shemen gained 6% to NIS 222 a share.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 25 July, 2000
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