The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) rose today. The Tel Aviv 25 Index rose 0.83% to 1,244.51 points, the Tel Aviv 100 Index rose 0.80% to 1,098.53 points, and the BlueTech 50 Index rose 0.60% to 334.25 points. Turnover was NIS 976.1 million.
The TASE rose today, in line with gains on European markets and at the opening on Wall Street.
In a statement last night, the TASE said that there would no changes in the make-up of the Tel Aviv 25 Index at the upcoming update. Mid-cap companies Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN; TASE: CGEN), Pluristem Therapeutics Ltd. (Nasdaq:PSTI; DAX: PJT: PLTR), Kerur Holdings Ltd. (TASE: KRUR), Kamada Ltd. (TASE: KMDA), Ashtrom Properties Ltd. (TASE:ASPR), and Evogene Ltd. (TASE:EVGN) will join the Tel Aviv 100 Index, and Carasso Motors Ltd. (TASE: CRSO), Israel Land Development Company (TASE: ILDC), Israel Land Development Company Energy Ltd. (TASE: IE) and Modiin Energy LP (TASE:MDIN.L) will be relegated from it.
In the foreign currency market, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar representative exchange rate at NIS 3.806/$, down 0.58% on yesterday's rate, and set the shekel-euro representative exchange rate at NIS 4.941/€, down 0.19%.
In the bond market, long-term Shahar unlinked shekel government bonds were unchanged, and long term Galil CPI-linked government bonds ranged between losses of 0.2% and gains of 0.2%. The corporate bond benchmark Tel-Bond 20 Index fell 0.02%.
In the stock market, Oil Refineries Ltd. (TASE:ORL) rose 3.1% for the biggest gain among Tel Aviv 25 shares, after announcing the closing of the sale of the controlling interest in Avgol Nonwoven Industries Ltd. (TASE:AVGL) will terminate the lien agreement of Oil Refineries' parent company, Israel Corporation (TASE: ILCO) on Oil Refineries' shares.
Mellanox Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq:MLNX; TASE:MLNX) rose another 2% as it continues regain ground.
Elsewhere in the market, Babylon Ltd. (TASE:BBYL) rose 8.7%, after a sharp slide. Clal Biotechnology Industries Ltd. (TASE: CBI) fell 6.1%, after announcing that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) was terminating its cooperation agreement with subsidiary MediWound Ltd. Clal Biotech dragged down the Biomed Index by 0.4%.
Back on the Tel Aviv 25 Index, Teva rose 0.6% on the day's biggest turnover of NIS 59 million, ahead of the publication of its strategic plan.
Psagot Investment House Ltd. today raised its target price for Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR) from NIS 22 to NIS 28.50, with a "Buy" recommendation, and raised its target price for Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL) from NIS 32 to NIS 39, with a "Hold" recommendation. Partner fell 1.5% to NIS 23.75, but Cellcom rose 1.1% to NIS 36.06.
Banks were a focus of attention. The Banking Index stood out with a gain of 1.1%, boosted by a 1.1% rise by Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI), a 0.9% rise by Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI), and a 2.1% rise by Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT).
Small-cap Flowsense Medical Ltd. (TASE: FLSN) rose 21.5%, after an initial jump of 83%, after announcing that a foreign company was interested in acquiring it.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 11, 2012
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