The TASE fell sharply at the opening today, as clouds of uncertainty gather over investors heads. A day after the elections, with nearly all votes counted, the country's political future remains unclear, a situation that is liable to deter foreign investors.
With 99.7% of the votes counted, results show Kadima, led by Tzipi Livni, won the most votes in yesterday's election for the 18th Knesset, but a right wing and religious party block has more seats combined than left wing and Arab parties. The result is that even with final tallies of the election results, the identity of the next Prime Minister is still not clear.
By late afternoon, the Tel Aviv 25 Index fell 2.57% to 690 points and the Tel Aviv 100 Index fell 2.44% to 628. Sector indices also plummeted: the Tel-Tech was down 1.3% and the Real Estate 15 Index fell 4.27%.
Wall Street fell sharply yesterday, as investors responded tepidly to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's $1 trillion new bank bailout plan, and as President Barack Obama's $800 billion stimulus package passed in the Senate and moves to the House of Representatives to work out a compromise on the different versions. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq fell over 4% yesterday.
The partners in the Tamar natural gas prospect are the center of attraction, after they announced that the flow tests conducted by Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL), which owns 36% of the prospect, indicated 60% larger reserves that originally estimated. Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) is up 4.8%. Its subsidiary Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L) is up 6.1%, and another subsidiary, Avner Oil and Gas LP, (TASE: AVNR.L) is up 4.1%, while Isramco Ltd. (Nasdaq: ISRL; TASE: ISRA.L) is up 5.2%.
IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) fell 1.5%, and subsidiary IDB Development Corp. Ltd. (TASE: IDBD) fell 3.9% to NIS 36.41, after announcing that it will delay the deadline of its offer to purchase at NIS 36 per share by two weeks.
Bank shares are tumbling in line with their international peers. Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI; LSE:80OA) is down 3.7%, Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) and Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT) are both down 3.9%, and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank (TASE:MZTF) is down 3.5%.
Given Imaging Ltd. (Nasdaq: GIVN; TASE: GIVN) rose 0.6%, after publishing its fourth quarter and full year financials for 2008 last night. The company lost $2 million in the fourth quarter, compared with a net profit of $12.8 million for the corresponding quarter of 2007. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) rose 1.2% after announcing the launch of the generic version of a migraine drug.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 11, 2009
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