Market Report / TA-100 falls 0.4%, drops back under 1,000

Stocks barely moved yesterday on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, even though the market was swamped with the pessimism of American investors and a flurry of poor macroeconomic news. Here on Ahad Ha'am Street, trade was influenced more by the ongoing stream of third-quarter financial reports.

The TA-25 was down very slightly for the day to close at 1,065 points, but rose 0.9% for the trading week. The broader TA-100 lost 0.4% yesterday and ended the day back below the 1,000 point barrier, at 998 points. For the week, however, the TA-100 was also up 0.9%. Turnover was a rather quiet NIS 1.4 billion.

Since the beginning of 2009, the blue-chip TA-25 has gained 62% and the TA-100 has climbed 76%. Real estate stocks have done particularly well after last year's crash, jumping 123% so far this year, though the Real Estate-15 was down 1% yesterday. The Banks-5 was off 0.4% but has climbed 84% since the start of the year.

The dollar rose against the shekel by 0.6% yesterday to a representative rate of NIS 3.793. The shekel gained against the euro by less than 0.1%, to a representative rate of NIS 5.635.

In local shares, Delek Drilling stood out by gaining 17.3% for the week, Ampal American Israel was up 15.9% and Kardan Israel rose 10.3% for the week. On the losing side for the week were British Israel, which fell 6.2%, Radvision, down 5.9%, and Melisron, off 7.1% for the trading week.

Makhteshim Agan rose 1.4% yesterday after announcing the signing of a long-term agreement with Syngenta, under which Syngenta will supply Makhteshim with its fungicide azoxystrobin (see story on Page A8).

Israel Chemicals fell 0.7% on Sell and Underperform recommendations from Migdal and Clal Finance respectively (story on Page A8).

Alony Hetz was up 0.1%, while Jerusalem Economic Corp. rose 0.2%.

Asian stock markets turned in a mixed performance yesterday, as signs of weakness in the U.S. economy aggravated worries about the strength of the global recovery. It was the second day of middling trade in Asia and followed modest losses on Wall Street. Oil and gold prices were down slightly, while the dollar fell against the yen and rose against the euro.

European shares were down yesterday for a third consecutive session, as banking stocks weighed, and food producers also fell after Danone cut its sales growth target.

Reuters contributed to this report