The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) fell today. The Tel Aviv 25 Index fell 0.51% to 794.81 points, the Tel Aviv 100 Index fell 0.62% to 728.33 points, and the Tel-Tech fell 1.15% to 173.90 points. Turnover was NIS 1.41 billion.
The TASE followed most international markets downward today, with an additional push by poor domestic macroeconomic figures. The sharp drop in early trading eased toward the opening on Wall Street.
The TASE will be closed tomorrow and Wednesday for Remembrance Day and Independence Day.
In a new report, Bank Leumi focused on the recent upbeat mood in the market. "We see three factors for investors' optimism in recent weeks. The first is the slowing of the decline in the US economy. The second is the better than expected results by many companies. The third is the calming messages by the US administration. We reiterate our assessment that there are investment opportunities in stocks. However, we recommend such investments for long-term investors who have the patience and financial soundness to withstand market volatility."
The Bank of Israel will publish the interest rate for May today. Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Stanley Fischer is expected to keep the 0.5% interest rate unchanged, mainly because inflation is beginning to rear its head.
Long-term Shahar unlinked government bonds rose by up to 0.1% and long-term Galil CPI-linked bonds rose by up to 0.7%. The corporate bond benchmark Tel-Bond 20 Index fell 0.21%.
In the foreign currency market, the shekel-dollar exchange rate fell 0.35% to NIS 4.233/$ and the shekel-euro exchange rate fell 1.24% to NIS 5.562/€.
In the stock market, two vaccine developers, NasVax Ltd. (TASE: NSVX) and BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (TASE:BNDX), attracted considerable attention because of the swine flu outbreak. NasVax's share went on a rollercoaster ride today. The share soared 150% in early trading, but ended the day with a gain of just 1.2% after announcing that its technology was not designed to develop a vaccine against swine flu.
BiondVax's share rocketed 211.1% today. The company, which is developing a universal flu vaccine, made no official announcement today.
Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL; Pink Sheets:AFIVY) led the Tel Aviv 25 and Real Estate 15 Index down today with a drop of 2.5%. The share has shed 22% in the past week, although it is up 96% since the beginning of the year.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA), which is due to publish its first quarter financials in early May, rose 0.1%. IBI Investment House said that the first quarter would see the first fruits of the acquisition of Barr - "Despite all the merger costs, it should create the synergies expected of it."
Bank shares were mixed today. The Banking Index rose 0.4% thanks to a 1.5% gain by Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI), which was offset by a 0.4% fall by Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI; LSE:80OA) and a 2.8% drop by Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT).
Antitrust Authority director general Ronit Kan yesterday ruled that Israel's top five banks colluded in fixing fees and today a NIS 1 billion class-action suit was filed against them. This is the third class-action suit filed against the banks for alleged price fixing of fees.
Natural gas exploration shares were mixed Isramco Ltd. (Nasdaq: ISRL; TASE: ISRA.L) fell 0.8% and Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) subsidiaries Avner Oil and Gas LP (TASE: AVNR.L) fell 0.5% but Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L) rose 0.3% after announcing that their partner in the Tamar and Dalit wells, Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) had notified them that the rig would move from the completed Dalit-1 well to the Tamar-2 well. Drilling of the new well will take three months and cost $77 million.
IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) unit Property and Building Ltd. (TASE: PTBL) fell 4.4% today, after jumping 18% yesterday. Today's turnover of NIS 2 million was well above the average daily turnover of NIS 800,000. Yesterday, the company received a "Buy" recommendation from IBI with a target price of NIS 280, 44% higher than its open yesterday.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 27, 2009
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