Business in Brief

Dollar weakens despite treasury hedging deal

Israel’s Finance Ministry conducted its second big hedging deal in a week, buying some $200 million worth of dollars on Tuesday. But the deal, which came a day after the Bank of Israel bought as much as $400 million in the foreign currency market, did little to strengthen the dollar against the shekel. The greenback weakened 0.35% to a Bank of Israel rate of 3.4260, a new three-year low, while the euro held virtually steady at 4.6924. Last week, the treasury did a $150-million hedging deal after a three-month hiatus. Yossi Fraiman, CEO of Prico Risk Management, said the treasury was still not doing enough to weaken the shekel, leaving the Bank of Israel to fight a hopeless battle alone (Moti Bassok and Eran Azran)

EZchip buys U.S. company for up to $130 million

EZchip Semiconductor said on Tuesday it had agreed to acquire Tilera, a closely held U.S. maker of high-performance multi-core processors for as much as $130 million in cash. EZchip, a maker of high-performance network processors, said it would pay $50 million when the sale terms are concluded in the third quarter and up $80 million more if Tilera meets future performance milestones. “The addition of a multi-core product portfolio to EZchip expands and diversifies our product offerings and addressable markets,” EZchip CEO Eli Fruchter said. Devesh Garg, the CEO of Tilera, will serve as EZchip’s president in charge of U.S. operations. Shares of EZchip closed up 2.4% at 90.28 shekels ($26.34) in Tel Aviv. (TheMarker Staff)

Kidnap deaths cast pall over stock market

The deaths of the three kidnapped teenagers cast a pall over the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on Tuesday, with shares ending lower despite record highs on Wall Street. The benchmark TA-25 index ended down 0.3% at 1,384.22 points on turnover of about 728 million shekels ($212 million) while the TA-100 lost 0.2% to a finish of 1,250.86. Protalix led TA-100 stocks lower, finishing at 12.05 shekels, a decline of 6.7% for the day while Spacecom posted a second day of sharp loses, ending down 3.5% at 51.08. Gainers were led by Mazor Robotics, which rose 6.7% to 30.95 shekels, and Clal Biotechnology, which rose 4.,1% to finish at 8.87 after its reports that its Mediwound unit was moving forwards with Phase III clinical trials of its flagship NexoBrid product. (Eran Azran)