Market Report /Tel Aviv stocks ease down in last session of 5770

Stocks ended the shortened holiday trading week with a dip, clawing back ground from deeper morning losses as Asian and European markets responded to U.S. President Barack Obama's economic recovery package.

The blue chip TA-25 index lost 0.2% to close at 1,171 points and the broader TA-100 index also lost 0.2% to end the day at 1,085 points. The Banks-5 index dropped 0.7% and the Real Estate-15 lost 0.1%. Turnover was average at NIS 1.5 billion.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange will be closed for the rest of the week because of the Rosh Hashanah holiday. For the Jewish year ending today the benchmark TA-25 rose over 20%: For a summary of the year, see page 8.

In the market's hottest sector, oil and gas exploration, Ratio lost 0.7%, but is still up 11% in September and 230% from the beginning of the year - based on repeated announcements of the potential for its Leviathan offshore field. Modiin Energy rose 2%.

Israel Opportunity, the oil exploration partnership founded by the Halman-Aldubi group, signed an agreement to buy 10% of the six deep-sea exploration licenses. The share was unchanged. (See story on Page A10. )

Shares of the Bezeq phone company rose 1.4% after Merrill Lynch strongly recommended the share and raised its target price to 24% over yesterday's opening price. (See briefs on Page A8. )

Melisron gained 2.9% as Psagot gave the share an Outperform rating yesterday with a target price of NIS 100.40 per share, 15% over its price at the opening. Psagot's recommendation was based on the possible acquisition by Melisron of British Israel, which would turn Melisron into Israel's largest mall operator.

Other shares that stood out in trading yesterday included Givot Olam, up 8.6%; Marathon Investments, up 11.3%; and Biomedix, up 8.5%. On the down side were Kardan Real Estate, off 7.2%; Nova, down 4.6%; and Nissan Medical Industries, off 5.9%.