Market report / Real estate stocks slide on mixed market

Tel Aviv stocks ended yesterday's session mixed, in keeping with the uncertainty wracking world markets. While Israeli stocks could be said to have ended with a positive bias, not so shares in London. Tokyo shares were flat but European and Chinese share prices crept up, led by a surge in oil-related stocks as crude passed the $80 per barrel mark, after U.S. government data showed that inventories rose less than expected. The oil price was also supported by the dollar weakening to trade at more than $1.50 against the euro, Reuters reported.

Over here, the benchmark TA-25 index gained 0.4% to close at 1,046 points. The broader TA-100 index advanced by 0.1% to close at 977 points. The Banks-5 index was flat but the Real Estate-15 index lost 1.1%, dragged down by all the stocks except for Alony Hetz, Amot Investments (in both of which Nathan Hetz owns controlling interests) and Nitsba, which crept up by 0.4%. Among the losers on the index were Africa Israel Investments, which sank another 3.2% as efforts to reach a debt arrangement limp along, and Gazit, which retreated by 4%. Kardan NV also stood out with a 3.3% drop.

The day before, the Central Bureau of Statistics had a piece of heartening news: unemployment ran at 7.6% in August, based on trend data. That's a tad less than in July, but trend data can be more than a tad misleading. Also, the figure is certainly a lot higher than the 6% recorded in August the year before.

Meanwhile, Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer's personal projection for Israel's economic growth is rosier than the official stance of the central bank, say people who talked with him at the European-Israeli Business Dialogue meet taking place in Jerusalem. Fischer reportedly told participants that the Bank of Israel's estimates are conservatively based on pessimistic scenarios regarding global economic growth, which could prove to be too low. The central bank's official growth estimate for Israel is 0% for 2009 and 2.5% for 2010.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries shares gained 0.4% despite the company being sued by Roche Holdings, which claims the Israeli company is infringing on patents protecting chemotherapy drug Xeloda, which is used to treat colon, breast and stomach cancer. The patent expires in December 2013.

Israel Corporation shares gained 2.7% on reports that its fully-owned subsidiary Kallpa, a power company, will be selling 25.1% of its stock to the Peruvian company Quimpac for $74 million. Israel Corporation will be posting a $34 million capital gain on the allocation. Kallpa will be using the money to expand its capacity. For more, see the briefs on page 8.

Clal Industries of Nochi Dankner's IDB group gained 1%, while IDB Holding gained 0.6% on reports that the group - which owns a lot of building companies - is maneuvering to buy building materials supplier Hanson Israel, if the trustbuster lets it.