Mon: Tel Aviv 25 up 9.3% in 2012

Israel Chemicals was the biggest loser on the Tel Aviv 25 Index today but Teva ended a difficult month on a positive note.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) fell today. The Tel Aviv 25 Index fell 0.10% to 1,185.60 points, the Tel Aviv 100 Index fell 0.16% to 1,049.06 points, but the BlueTech 50 Index rose 0.37% to 311.89 points. Turnover was NIS 958.4 million.

The TASE fell slightly today, after seesawing throughout the session, in line with losses on most European markets and at the opening on Wall Street.

The Tel Aviv 25 Index rose 9.3% in 2012, despite falling 3.6% in December, recovering part of its 18% plunge in 2011.

"The TASE is manic-depressive, with little news and thin trading. In contrast, the government market is at its height," said Excellence Brokerage dealing room manager Elad Borstein today.

In the foreign currency market, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar representative exchange rate at NIS 3.733/$, up 0.11% on Friday's rate, and set the shekel-euro representative exchange rate at NIS 4.921/€, up 0.05%.

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 0.1% and gains of 0.3%. The corporate bond benchmark Tel-Bond 20 Index fell 0.01%.

In the stock market, Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL) fell 2.8% and its parent company, Israel Corporation (TASE: ILCO), fell 2.6% for the biggest losses among Tel Aviv 25 companies.

Elbit Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: ESLT; TASE: ESLT) rose 3.2% for the biggest gain among Tel Aviv 25 shares, after announcing $315 million in Israeli Ministry of Defense contracts.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) rose 0.6% on the day's biggest turnover of NIS 75 million.

The Telecommunications Index rose 0.8%, but fell 33% for the year. Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR) fell 1.6% today, Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL) was unchanged, and Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) rose 2.6%.

The Banking Index was unchanged today, and rose 23% for the year. Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) fell 0.8% today, but Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) rose 0.4%.

On the Tel Aviv 100 Index, Migdal Insurance and Financial Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MGDL) fell 1.6%, pulling the Insurance Index down 1.6%.

Babylon Ltd. (TASE:BBYL) fell 2.3% today, and achieved the highest return among Tel Aviv 100 shares - 147%. Avgol Nonwoven Industries Ltd. (TASE:AVGL) rose another 5.7% today, on top of yesterday's 6.2% gain, and Elco Holdings Ltd. (TASE: ELCO) rose another 3.4% today.

Mid-cap Elbit Imaging Ltd. (Nasdaq: EMITF; TASE: EMIT) fell another 13.5% after yesterday's 9.4% drop, and its bonds fell by up to 2.4%.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 31, 2012

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012

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