Sun: Israel Chemicals continues slide

Israel Chemicals has fallen 10% since Finance Minister Yair Lapid said he would oppose its sale. The TASE reopens Wednesday after Independence Day.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) was flat today. The Tel Aviv 25 Index edged up 0.02% to 1,230.35 points, the Tel Aviv 100 Index dipped 0.03% to 1,096.08 points, and the BlueTech 50 Index rose 0.88% to 307.04 points. Turnover was NIS 523.4 million.

The TASE was flat today, despite losses European markets and on Wall Street on Friday. The TASE will be closed tomorrow and Tuesday for Memorial Day and Independence Day.

In the foreign currency market, options pointed to a 0.19% drop in the shekel-dollar exchange rate, compared with Friday's representative rate, to NIS 3.621/$, and to a 0.19% gain in the shekel-euro exchange rate to NIS 4.752/€.

In the bond market, both long-term Shahar unlinked shekel government bonds rose by up to 0.1%and long term Galil CPI-linked government bonds ran ged between losses of 0.4% and gains of 0.3%. The corporate bond benchmark Tel-Bond 20 Index rose 0.16%.

In the stock market, Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL) continued its slide, falling another 2.9% and parent company Israel Corporation (TASE: ILCO) fell another 1%, for the biggest losses among Tel Aviv 25 shares. Israel Chemicals had the day's biggest turnover of NIS 93 million. Israel Chemicals fell 7% last Wednesday and Thursday, and Israel Corp. fell 8%, after Minister of Finance Yair Lapid said that he opposed selling Israel Chemicals to Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. (NYSE; TSX: POT).

Mellanox Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq:MLNX; TASE:MLNX) rose 4.9%, for the biggest gain among Tel Aviv 25 shares, on a positive arbitrage gap. Its high-tech peers on the index, EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. (Nasdaq: EZCH; TASE:EZCH) fell 1.7%, but NICE Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: NICE; TASE: NICE) rose 0.1%.

Elsewhere in the market, El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL) rose 4.4%, after signing an investment deal with First Israel Mezzanine Investors Fund (FIMI).

Alon Holdings Blue Square - Israel Ltd. (NYSE: BSI; TASE: BSI) rose 0.2%, after IBI Investment House initiated coverage of the retailer with a "Buy" recommendation and target price of NIS 17.50, 40% above today closing price of NIS 12.45.

Alvarion Ltd. (Nasdaq: ALVR; TASE: ALVR) fell 12.3%, after falling 15.6% on Nasdaq on Friday, following the resignation of its CEO.

G. Willi-Food Investments Ltd. (TASE:WLFD) rose 8.8%, after US subsidiary G. Willi-Food International Ltd. (Nasdaq:WILC) announced that it expects 20% revenue growth in the first quarter of 2013, compared with the corresponding quarter of 2012.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 14, 2013

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2013

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