Subscribe to Print Edition | Sun., April 05, 2009 Nisan 11, 5769 | | Israel Time: 01:22 (EST+7)   Back to Homepage web haaretz.com Haaretz Toolbar Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Joy of Giving Travel Week's End Anglo File

Netanyahu arrives, the market celebrates By Nathan Sheva The optimism on Wall Street over the past few days spread to Tel Aviv yesterday, and the local market responded with big gains. Yesterday the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange hit its highest level in five months as the TA-25 index of blue-chips jumped 5.3% to close at 765 points, and the broader TA-100 rose 1.1% to end the day just under the 700 barrier at 699 points. Advertisement Turnover also recovered somewhat, to NIS 1.7 billion for the day, 40% higher than the average over the past month and marking a return to levels seen before the economic crisis hit. The market rose 10% in March, but the TASE has actually been on its way up for a few months. The TA-100 has now gained 35% from its low point of four months ago. So far this year the TA-25 has gained back 16%, and the TA-100 24%. The TelBond-20 rose 0.2%, but the TelBond-20 climbed 1.5% and the TelBond-60 rose 0.7%. Government bonds actually lost ground, with long-term Shahar and Galil bonds down by up to 0.9%. "No one is selling," said one trader, partly as a joke but with a large element of truth and a smile. He was trying to explain how the optimism has spread through the market and infected investors. There are a number of reasons for the huge gains, but mostly they are due to the optimism around the world and in the U.S. in particular. Good economic news was released in America on Wednesday, and fears of a total collapse of the U.S. auto industry are calming down, too. U.S. markets rose around 2% on Wednesday, and yesterday European markets were up by over 3%. Local companies ended their financial reporting season on Tuesday, the last day of March. Investment house IBI summed up the numbers, and the companies included in the TA-25 index lost a combined total of NIS 2.6 billion in the last quarter of 2008. This compares to profits of NIS 6.5 billion for the parallel quarter in 2007. And this number does not even include the over $1 billion accounting loss Teva Pharmaceuticals wrote down for its merger with Barr (see story on Page 8). The biggest losers were the real estate companies, who were forced to write-down huge sums for the loss in value of various property assets. The banks also registered huge losses for the quarter. For the year, the 25 largest firms on the TASE saw their profits drop by 35%, to over NIS 21 billion. Almost everyone suffered last year, with 19 of the 25 companies in the TA-25 showing worse net profit numbers than for the same quarter of the previous year. The Banks-5 index rose about 10% in March and reclaimed all the ground lost since the beginning of the year. Yesterday the Banks-5 rose by another 8.9%. Bank Hapoalim jumped 10% after Deutsche Bank upgraded its rating to Buy and set a target price of NIS 10 per share - 26% above its price at the opening yesterday morning. Bank Leumi made due with a 8.6% gain yesterday. Israel Discount Bank had the best showing among the banks yesterday, climbing 12%. Israel Chemicals rose 5.2% on the day's heaviest trading, NIS 125 million. Investment Bank UBS reiterated its Buy rating on the stock with a target price of NIS 43 per share, a 25% premium over its market value. The company's good news also pulled up its parent, The Israel Corporation, which rose 10% yesterday. The Real Estate-15 index was up 5.7% for the day, and has now gained 50% so far in 2009. The recovery in the corporate bond market has had a good effect on the highly-leveraged real estate sector, and Africa Israel gained 9.2% yesterday, with the company's bonds gaining 7% in price. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Israel's new policy FM Lieberman: Israel not bound by Annapolis commitment for Palestinian state. Netanyahu's cabinet: An introduction to the faces - some old and some new - who make up Israel's new coalition.

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