Market report / Boymelgreen falls 24% on heavy Q2 losses

Tel Aviv shares ended the trading week yesterday with a positive bias, which was achieved in the last half hour. Throughout the earlier part of the day, share prices went mostly nowhere. In fact all the leading indexes finished in the green, though none of them far into it.

On the other hand, now that the summer vacation is officially over (but moments before the Rosh Hashanah holiday arrives ), trading volumes increased: Yesterday's stood at NIS 1.7 billion, higher than the average for August.

Summing up the day, the benchmark Tel Aviv-25 index inched up 0.3% to 1,158 points, while the broader TA-100 index advanced 0.4% to 1,069 points. The Real Estate-15 index gained almost 1%, propelled by the 2.7% gain in Industrial Buildings Corporation and a 1.8% gain by Bayside, also known as Gav Yam.

In world markets, oil pulled back and U.S. T-bills dipped as investors ventured further into the riskier waters of stocks; analysts said this was spurred by an uptick in pending home sales in the United States and a drop in initial jobless claims.

Gold actually gained ground, though, rising to $1,250, which is indicative that jitters remain intense. European stocks ended mixed and Asian markets were spurred north by upbeat Chinese data.

Back here, the most active shares yesterday included Ratio Oil and Exploration, which gained 5% on gigantic turnover of NIS 302 million, and Israel Chemicals, which powered ahead by 4.1% on turnover of NIS 164 million.

Mobile shares were mixed despite the Communications Ministry announcement - belated but anticipated - that interconnect fees must drop by 74% starting January 1. Cellcom shares fell 2.1%, but Partner Communications gained 0.7%. Shares of the phone company Bezeq, which controls mobile operator Pelephone, gained 0.6% on turnover of NIS 42 million.

Shares of Boymelgreen Capital fell 24% after the company reported another quarter of losses, and a 44% year-over-year drop in revenues to NIS 93.4 million. Its loss from current activity amounted to NIS 45.5 million.

Makhteshim-Agan Industries announced its withdrawal from a deal to buy the Iowa-based pesticides maker Albaugh, for which the Israeli agrochemicals company had agreed to pay a billion dollars (see story, page A10 ). Without going into details, the company cited "discoveries" during the due diligence process. Makhteshim-Agan stock fell 1.7% on turnover of NIS 20 million.