Shares in the Tel Aviv market are falling today, after a major terrorist attack on a bus at Megiddo junction in northern Israel that left at least 17 Israelis killed and dozens injured, many seriously.
At web-posting, the Tel Aviv 25 is declining 1.1% to 385.88 points; the Tel Aviv 100 is down 0.9% at 375.48 points; and the Teltech is falling 0.6% to 227.74 points. Turnover amounts to NIS 67 million so far.
Also weighing on the market is the shekel’s weakness in the wake of the terrorist attack. At web-posting, the shekel is trading at NIS 4.975/$, a 0.67% depreciation since Tuesday’s representative rate of NIS 4.942/$.
The shekel’s decline comes as investors speculate how soon the Bank of Israel will increase the interest rate, and by how much. Bank of Israel Governor David Klein said last Thursday that raising the interest rate soon would undermine market stability, but he wouldn’t hesitate to halt the shekel depreciation.
The signals from abroad aren’t very encouraging. Yesterday’s session in US markets was a mixed one, as the Nasdaq recovered 1% to 1,578.12 points after sliding on Monday. The Dow Jones continued to decline, and lost 0.23% to 9,687.84 points. Among Israeli shares on Wall Street, however, Check Point (Nasdaq: CHKP) added 8.2% to $16.88 after “Globes” reported that the company easily met its sales targets for April and May.
On the TASE, Teva (Nasdaq: TEVA) is down 1.3% after starting the session with a 1% negative arbitrage gap. Teva is dominating trade today, and has generated NIS 24 million in turnover, over a third of the market.
Defense systems supplier Elbit Systems (Nasdaq: ESLT) is up 0.1% compared with a 1% positive arbitrage gap. Elbit Systems often outperforms the market after terrorist incidents.
Shares of Bank Leumi (-0.5%) are outperforming Bank Hapoalim (-1.2%). Yesterday, Credit Suisse First Boston reiterated “Buy” ratings for Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi and said long term investors would make money on the shares.
Holding company Koor is down 0.7% after announcing that it has signed an agreement with Bank Leumi to reschedule its credit to the bank into long term loans. Koor says it now has no material principal debt payments before December 2004.
The heaviest decliner in the market is Bezeq, which is losing 2.3%. This morning, local broker Nessuah Zannex said Bezeq's share price would remain stagnant at current levels until the government officially postponed the privatization process.
Arbitrage gaps Wednesday 5 June 2002
| Stock | % Change* |
| Audiocodes | -2.3 |
| Blue Square Israel | -0.3 |
| Delta Galil | 0.1 |
| Elbit Systems | 1.0 |
| Elron | 0.6 |
| Formula | -0.2 |
| Koor | -0.3 |
| Magic | -6.8 |
| Matav | -0.3 |
| Nice | -0.5 |
| Partner | -0.5 |
| Teva | -1.0 |
| Tower | -0.3 |
*%change required in Tel Aviv to meet New York closing price
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on 5 June, 2002