The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) fell today. The Tel Aviv 25 Index fell 0.96% to 1,218.55 points, the Tel Aviv 100 Index fell 0.92% to 1,085.95 points, and the BlueTech 50 Index fell 1.06% to 303.80 points. Turnover was NIS 962 million.
The TASE fell today, after a two-day break for Memorial Day and Independence Day, in line with losses on European markets and at the opening on Wall Street.
In the foreign currency market, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar representative exchange rate at NIS 3.624/$, down 0.08% on Monday's rate, and set the shekel-euro representative exchange rate at NIS 4.759/€, up 0.43%.
In the bond market, both long-term Shahar unlinked shekel government bonds rose by up to 0.2%and long term Galil CPI-linked government bonds ranged between losses of 0.2% and gains of 0.9%. The corporate bond benchmark Tel-Bond 20 Index was unchanged.
In the stock market, Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL) corrected upwards 2.1% for the biggest gain among Tel Aviv 25 shares on the day's biggest turnover of NIS 128.4 million and parent company Israel Corporation (TASE: ILCO) rose 1%.
Banks fell hard today, led by a 3.2% drop by Mizrahi Tefahot Bank (TASE:MZTF), for the biggest loss among Tel Aviv 25 shares. Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT) fell 2.6%, Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) fell 2.2%, and Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) fell 1.9%.
Oil and gas exploration companies also fell today. Small cap Shemen Oil and Gas Resources Ltd. (TASE: SOG) fell 21.3% and Zerah Oil And Gas Explorations LP (TASE: ZRAH) fell 11.9% after announcing a halt in the drilling of the Yam 3 well.
BiolineRX Ltd. (Nasdaq: BLRX); TASE:BLRX) rose 7.4%, after announcing positive results in a clinical trial, and Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (TASE:CFBI; Bulletin Board: CANFY) fell 0.9%, after filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list its ADRs on Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange instead of the Bulletin Board. Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. (Nasdaq: MGIC; TASE: MGIC) fell 1.2%, after announcing a cooperation agreement with Gigaspaces Technologies Inc.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 17, 2013
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