Weekly Review November 29 - December 3, 2009

Gains in all leading indices marked the opening week of December on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE).
 
The TA-25 index, which rose 3.3% during the week, completed a cumulative year-to-date increase of 70%. The TA-75 index increased also at the same rate this week, bringing the cumulative year-to-date return to 143%. This performance can be attributed to the sharp increase in share prices of companies involved in the discovery of gas, in two sites off Israel’s Mediterranean shore, earlier this year.
 
The large real estate companies and the major banks shares advanced 5.5%-6%, while the hi-tech index gained this week only 2%.
 
On December 1st Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) launched a bond index tracking corporate bonds denominated in New Israeli Shekels (NIS), which are not linked to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and bear fixed interest.
Some more details regarding this index can be found at:
http://www.tase.co.il/eng/newsandevents/prarchive/2009/pages/pr_20091117_1.aspx
 
The Israeli treasury raised an additional US $320 million this week in a local government bond issue. Since the beginning of the year, the government has raised approximately US $16.3 billion - 10% higher than the amount raised during the entire year of 2008.