Market Report / Gas stocks surge on gently rising market

Tel Aviv shares closed slightly higher yesterday on a relatively low turnover of NIS 1.6 billion as investors waited to see what the Bank of Israel would do with March interest rates. In the end, they were left unchanged at 1.25%. Oil and gas stocks climbed amid good news in the sector.

The TA-25 closed 0.3% higher at 1,176 points and the TA-100 gained 0.5% to end the day at 1,110 points. The blue-chip TA-25 index is now only 4.5% from its record high of November 2007. The index has risen 2.7% so far in 2010. The Banks-5 rose 0.9% and the Real Estate-15 gained 0.6% yesterday.

Asian markets had their best day in three months, climbing around 2.5%, as the yen weakened and oil prices rose. European stocks fell as the dollar rose against the euro.

Givot Olam gained 1.4% after the company announced on Sunday that its Meged 5 drilling site had a good chance of becoming a commercially viable oil well. Meanwhile, Zerah Oil and Gas Explorations jumped 9.7%, Delek Drilling gained 2%, Ratio climbed 3.9% and Avner was up 3.1% after Noble Energy, a partner in the Leviatan field with Delek, Ratio and Avner, said it would drill another significant well in that field this year.

IDB group holding company Discount Investments rose 1.2% after the company announced that it reaped a NIS 1.2 billion profit on its buyback of 8.3% of Super-Sol's share capital. Discount Investments already held a 46.2% stake in the supermarket chain and 50.3% of voting rights. Super-Sol rose 1.8%.

Bank Hapoalim gained 1.3%, Bank Leumi was up 1.1% and Israel Discount Bank rose 0.5%. Mizrahi-Tefahot lost 0.2% and Beinleumi was down 0.4% as the Ministerial Committee on Legislation unanimously voted down a bill to limit bank fees.

Other shares that stood out yesterday were cable provider HOT, which gained 5.7%, Mivtach Shamir, up 6.5%, and technology company Formula, which climbed 4%.