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Last update - 01:00 17/09/2008
TA stocks slip in Wall Street's shadow, Hapoalim plunges 6.8%
By Rotem Sela and Haaretz Service
Tags: Wall Street, Bank Hapoalim 

Stocks traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange opened sharply lower on Tuesday, rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the worst share price losses on Wall Street since the terror attacks in the United States seven years ago.

The banking sector was hit particularly hard, with Bank Hapoalim sliding 6.8 percent in heavy trading. Bank Hapoalim's exposure to Lehman Brothers is believed to be the highest of Israel's major banks.

The technology sector was also badly shaken, with the Tel-Tech index down 4.7 percent by afternoon.
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Other shares jolted by the world crisis were Delek group, which plunged 7.8 percent and Africa Israel, down 7.4 percent.

The Tel Aviv 100 index was down 3.4 percent and opened down 2.7 percent, and the Maof, 2.4.

The U.S. dollar also lost ground vis a vis the shekel, losing 1.4 percent to trade at NIS 3.54.

Defense Minister and Labor Party Chairman Ehud Barak was quoted Tuesday as saying that Israel could be facing a "financial tsunami" and a serious recession.

On Monday, Bank Hapoalim announced that its exposure to the Lehman Brothers totaled about $109 million.

Although many institutions have yet to release figures on exposure to Lehman, Hapoalim and Bank Leumi are believed to have the largest in the Israeli banking system.

As share prices fell on Tuesday, Bank Leumi announced that it holds a total of $88 million in bonds and other financial instruments issued by Lehman Brothers.

By mid-afternoon, Leumi shares had lost 2.3 percent.

Israel's central bank has a relatively small exposure of about $4 million to Lehman Brothers.


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      1.   Relatively low sums involved 12:17  |  Chris Linthwaite 16/09/08
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