The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) fell today. The Tel Aviv 25 Index fell 3.1% to 660.256 points; the Tel Aviv 100 Index fell 3.22%, to 584.64 points; and the Tel-Tech Index fell 3.03%, to 145.27 points. Turnover totaled NIS 986 million.
Today's session began with rises, but after the opening the indices pointed south, and the falls intensified as the session wore on, on the back of weak macro figures from the US, and falls on European bourses.
Corporate bond prices mainly fell today. The Tel-Bond 20 Index fell 0.6%, but the Tel-Bond 40 Index rose 0.4%. Government bonds were mixed, with long Galils falling slightly, while long Shahars rose.
On the foreign exchange market, the shekel strengthened substantially against both the US dollar and the euro. The representative shekel-dollar rate fell 0.66% to 3.889/$, while the representative shekel-euro rate fell 1.3%, to 5.143/€.
Africa Israel stood out among stocks that led the market downwards, falling 12.5%. It was reported yesterday that senior managers at the company would take a 10% salary cut.
Biogen, which sells MS treatment Tysabri that competes with Teva's Copaxone, announced a 6% rise in the number of patients treated with Tysabri in the fourth quarter of 2008. However, Leader Capital Markets analyst Yoav Burgan says that "it is still hard to see in Tysabri a renewed threat to Copaxone." Teva fell 1.9%.
After several days of rises in the shares of companies involved in the Tamar-1 gas exploration off Haifa, today saw profit taking in these shares. The biggest faller was Isramco, down 12.7%. Delek Drilling fell 1.7% and Avner 3.5%. Delek Energy, which holds both those companies, fell 15.2%.
The Banking Index fell 4.1%. Leumi fell 5%, and Hapoalim 3.7%. Discount Bank fell 2.1%.
The falls in the share price of Retalix have failed to unnerve Ishay Davidi, who is seeking a larger stake in the company. His FIMI fund has made an offer to purchase 10% of the shares in Retalix at a price of $6 per share, representing a premium of 6% over the market price before the offer. There was lively trading in Retalix shares today, which closed 0.8% lower.
Koor fell 9.8%, after the company announced the effect of its holdings in Credit Suisse in the fourth quarter of 2008. Koor will make a write down of NIS 246 million on its assets available for sale because of the fall in Credit Suisse's share price in the fourth quarter. However, in its profit and loss account, Koor will post a profit of NIS 40 million on shares in the bank sold during the quarter.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on January 14, 2009
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