The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) fell today. The Tel Aviv 25 Index fell 0.15% to 1,184.12 points, the Tel Aviv 100 Index fell 0.17% to 1,048.18 points, and the BlueTech 50 Index fell 1.46% to 310.44 points. Turnover was NIS 2.63 billion.
The TASE resumed its slide today, after one day of slight gains yesterday, despite a mixed session on European markets and gains at the opening on Wall Street. Tel Aviv 25 options for December expired today with a sharp drop of 1.7%. The Tel Aviv 25 Index fell 3% for the week, after falling 0.8% last week.
In the foreign currency market, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar representative exchange rate at NIS 3.726/$, down 0.56% on yesterday's rate, and set the shekel-euro representative exchange rate at NIS 4.943/€, down 0.20%.
In the bond market, long-term Shahar unlinked shekel government bonds were unchanged and long term Galil CPI-linked government fell by up to 0.2%. The corporate bond benchmark Tel-Bond 20 Index rose 0.08%.
In the stock market, Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL) and EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. (Nasdaq: EZCH; TASE:EZCH) both fell 3.9% for the biggest losses among Tel Aviv 25 shares. Mellanox Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq:MLNX; TASE:MLNX) fell a further 2.1%, while Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) was down a further 1.63%, but Strauss Group Ltd. (TASE:STRS) rose 3% for the biggest gain on the index.
The Banking Index rose 1%, with Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) up 0.9% and Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) up 0.7% on the day's biggest turnover of NIS 223 million.
On the Tel Aviv 100 Index, the Insurance Index rose 2.1%, led by 2.6% gains by Migdal Insurance and Financial Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MGDL) and The Phoenix Holdings Ltd. (TASE: PHOE1;PHOE5).
Small-cap Modiin Energy LP (TASE:MDIN.L) fell 20.6%, to complete a 65% drop this month, caused by a slew of bad news. The company today published a shelf prospectus for an offering at a discount on today's opening price. Israel Opportunity Energy Resources LP (TASE: ISOP.L) fell 33.1% on reports that the Ishai discovery may be smaller than initially estimated and not worthwhile to develop.
IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) fell 11.1% to a low point not seen in years, and its bonds fell by up to 4%. Subsidiary Property and Building Ltd. (TASE: PTBL) fell 0.8%, on reports of a new offer for the HSBC New York headquarters.
Babylon Ltd. (TASE:BBYL) corrected downward 6.7%.
Small-cap Best Fuel Ltd. (TASE: BSFL) rose 12.5%, after signing an investment agreement with Noam Lanir. Mid-cap Avis franchisee Kardan Vehicle Ltd. (TASE: KVCL) rose 4.7%, following its announcement earlier this week of a possible merger with GM and Isuzu importer Universal Motors Israel Ltd. (UMI).
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 27, 2012
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