The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) fell today. The Tel Aviv 25 Index fell 0.32% to 1,291.89 points, the Tel Aviv 100 Index fell 0.13% to 1,177.25 points, and the BlueTech 50 Index fell 0.12% to 286.06 points. Turnover was NIS 1.57 billion.
The TASE fell in a seesawing day. The market opened with gains on the news of the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden by US commandos, but quickly turned tail. The market rebounded following the announcement by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) that it will acquire biopharmaceutical company Cephalon Inc. (Nasdaq: CEPH) for $6.8 billion, but was unable to hold onto the gain.
Futures point to gains at the opening on Wall Street, which materialized.
In the bond market, long-term Shahar unlinked government bonds fell by up to 0.1%, and long-term Galil CPI-linked bonds ranged between losses of 0.1% and gains of 0.1%. The corporate bond benchmark Tel-Bond 20 Index rose 0.12%.
In the foreign currency market, the shekel-dollar exchange rate fell 0.53% to NIS 3.377/$, and the shekel-euro representative exchange rate fell 0.53% to NIS 5.01/€.
In the stock market, Teva rose 3.5% on the day's largest turnover of NIS 194 million
Israel Corporation (TASE: ILCO) also bucked the market, with a rise of 1.1%. Migdal Capital Markets gave the share a "Buy" recommendation. Subsidiary Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL) also rose 0.6%.
Tamar partner Isramco Ltd. (Nasdaq: ISRL; TASE: ISRA.L) fell 0.7%, after announcing that it was finalizing a loan agreement to finance its share of the development of the gas field. Its Tamar partners Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) fell 1.5% and its units Avner Oil and Gas LP (TASE: AVNR.L) and Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L) both fell 0.5%.
Bank shares continued their slide since the Bank of Israel announced new mortgage restrictions. Mizrahi Tefahot Bank (TASE:MZTF) led the slide with a fall of 1.7%, while Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) fell 1.4%, Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) fell 1.5%, and Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT) fell 1.2%
Orange franchisee Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR) fell 0.9% on profit taking from yesterday's 3.5% jump.
Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (Nasdaq: TSEM; TASE: TSEM) was unchanged, while Medigus Ltd. (TASE:MDGS) rose 4.7%, after the companies announced a next-generation miniature video camera for endoscopes.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 2, 2011
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