The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) rose today. The Tel Aviv 25 Index rose 0.76% to 1,225.44 points, the Tel Aviv 100 Index rose 0.84% to 1,160.22 points, and the Tel-Tech Index rose 1.95% to 284.22 points. Turnover was NIS 2.94 billion.
The TASE continued yesterday's rally today, with gains by all the indices. Futures contracts on Wall Street pointed to losses at the opening, which materialized. Tomorrow, Tel Aviv 25 options for March will expire.
Bank Hapoalim Mishkan Homebuyers Index fell 1.6% in February to 135.7 points, indicating deterioration in the situation of homebuyers. The banks said, "Most of the deterioration in Israeli homebuyers' situation in this month, too, was due to the continuing rise in apartment prices." The bank also noted a decline in salaries. It said that apartment prices rose by 21% in nominal prices in the preceding 12 months, and rose by 16.6% in real prices.
In the bond market, long-term Shahar unlinked government bonds ranged between falls of 0.1% and gains of 0.1%, and long-term Galil CPI-linked bonds fell by up to 0.2%. The benchmark corporate bond Tel-Bond 20 Index was unchanged.
In the foreign currency market, the shekel-dollar representative exchange rate rose 0.03% to NIS 3.742/$, but the shekel-euro representative exchange fell 0.96% to NIS 4.999/€, the first time it has been below the NIS 5/€ threshold since November 2008.
In the stock market, Perrigo Company (Nasdaq:PRGO; TASE:PRGO) again had the biggest gain among Tel Aviv 25 shares, up 4.4%, following yesterday's acquisition of US infant formula maker PBM Holdings Inc. The share is up 13.7% so far this week.
Elbit Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: ESLT; TASE: ESLT) rose 3%, after announcing a large electronic warfare contract in Asia by subsidiary Elisra.
Several Tel Aviv 25 companies attracted attention today following the publication of their financial reports. Paz Oil Company Ltd. (TASE:PZOL) rose 3.7%. Food companies Strauss Group Ltd. (TASE:STRS) rose 1.1%, but Osem Investments Ltd. (controlled by Nestle (SWX:NESN)) (TASE: OSEM) fell 2.6%.
Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) rose 1.7%, after publishing its financials, while Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) also rose by 1.7%. The Banking Index rose 1.5%.
Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL) fell 0.9% after reporting a drop in revenue and profits for 2009, but higher fourth quarter results.
The Real Estate 15 Index rose 1.8%. Alrov (Israel) Ltd. (TASE: ALRO) rose 6%, after switching from a loss to a net profit of NIS 427.8 million in 2009.
On the Tel-Tech Index, Formula Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: FORTY; TASE: FORT) rose 8%, while VeriFone Holdings Inc. (NYSE: PAY; TASE: PAY) fell 6% on a huge turnover of NIS 520 million on its last day of trading before delisting from the TASE.
The Biomed Index rose 1.8%, with Medigus Ltd. (TASE:MDGS) jumping 15.5%.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 24, 2010
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2010