The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) rose today. The Tel Aviv 25 Index rose 0.31% to 1,250.78 points, the Tel Aviv 100 Index rose 0.18% to 1,103.49 points, and the BlueTech 50 Index rose 0.69% to 314.62 points. Turnover was NIS 831 million.
The TASE rose today, in line with gains on European markets and despite a mixed opening on Wall Street.
The Bank of Israel today published a study which found, "In addition to global factors which affected the drop in turnover, local factors have been at work. The main domestic factors include the departure of foreign investors from the TASE, especially international investment funds, due in part to Israel's MSCI reclassification and Israel's higher relative risk." It added, "The sharp drop in the number of public companies supports the explanation that tighter regulation of the capital market contributed to the drop in turnover."
The study said that turnover on the TASE fell 44% between December 2009 and December 2012, compared with an 18% average drop on global markets, a 12% drop in developed markets and 33% drop in emerging markets.
In the foreign currency market, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar representative exchange rate at NIS 3.682/$, down 0.22% on yesterday's rate, and set the shekel-euro representative exchange rate at NIS 4.79/€, down 0.15%.
In the bond market, long-term Shahar unlinked shekel government were unchanged, and long term Galil CPI-linked government ranged between losses of 0.1% and gains of 0.2%. The corporate bond benchmark Tel-Bond 20 Index fell 0.63%.
In the stock market, Mellanox Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq:MLNX; TASE:MLNX) rose 9.9% on a positive arbitrage gap for the biggest gain among Tel Aviv 25 shares, while EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. (Nasdaq: EZCH; TASE:EZCH) corrected upwards 5.1%. NICE Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: NICE; TASE: NICE) fell 1.4%, and Elbit Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: ESLT; TASE: ESLT) fell 2.2% for the biggest loss among Tel Aviv 25 shares.
Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL) fell 0.6% on the day's biggest turnover of NIS 103 million, ahead of the publication of its financials tomorrow.
Elsewhere in the market, IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) rose 10.7%, after reaching a debt settlement with its bondholders, and its bonds rose by up to 12.7%. Subsidiary Discount Investment Corporation (TASE: DISI) rose 2.2% on the resignation of its CEO.
Real estate developer Habas HZ Investments Ltd. (TASE: HABS) fell 24.6%, after announcing that it cannot meet its bond payments, while Elbit Imaging Ltd. (Nasdaq: EMITF; TASE: EMIT) rose 22% for no discernible reason.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 12, 2013
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