The holiday atmosphere continued again yesterday on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, and its traditional fare of gains during the intermediate days of Passover left investors in a festive mood - though six straight weeks of market gains may also have something to do with it. Since the start of April the TASE's blue-chip index, the TA-25, has risen 10%. A large share of that rise is due to two stocks, Israel Chemicals and its parent, The Israel Corporation. Israel Chemicals is up 34% so far this month as potash prices have jumped, and The Israel Corp. has climbed 38% as a result. Together, they are responsible for 6.2% out of the 10% gain. However, to keep things in perspective, the TA-25 is still down 10% since the beginning of 2008.
Trading opened with a 1% rise as the TA-25 options for April expired yesterday morning, and continued in light of Wednesday's gains on Wall Street and yesterday's performance in Far East markets. As the day wore on though, the TASE succumbed to downward trends in Europe and gains moderated.
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For the shortened holiday trading day, the TA-25 was up 0.4% to close at 1,099 points, and was up 0.8% for the week. The TA-100 also rose 0.4% to end the day at 1,018 points, and showed a 1% gain for the week. The TelTech-15 rose 1.8% yesterday.
Traders and investors will be waiting at the beginning of next week for Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer to announce May interest rates on Monday, and analysts are still uncertain as to what he will do. He may leave rates unchanged at 3.25%, or raise them to ward off inflationary pressures. Next Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve will announce its interest decision, with expections that Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will lower rates another 0.25% to 2%.
"World markets have stabilized. The [financial] reports of large U.S. companies were not as awful as originally feared. The shares have already priced in many bad things that could yet happen," said Roy Laufer of Excellence Nessuah. "We will continue to see stability in the short-term, and after a quarter or two we will see the market return to gains."
Israel Chemicals again drew the most interest, with the day's highest turnover of NIS 500 million; however, the share actually lost 1.9% yesterday on profit taking. The Israel Corp. followed suit and lost 3.7%, though for the week the share was down only 0.6%. Makhteshim-Agan rose 3.9% and is now up 37% so far this year, in expectation of good first quarter results and higher grain prices.
The banks were winners yesterday, with Bank Leumi up 1.2%, and Bank Hapoalim rising 0.8% after dropping 4% the previous day. Elbit Systems jumped 3.8%, probably due to analysts' positive recommendations from the day before. The Real Estate-15 rose 0.9%, making up somewhat for the preceding day.
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