Weekly Review: September 12-16, 2010

Trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) during the second week of September was marked by high volatility and price gains in most leading indices, in keeping with the global trend.

The TA-25 index which gained 0.5% over the week is now higher by 2.8% from its level at the beginning of the year, following a 75% increase in 2009.

The TA-100 index increased by 0.6% and is now 2.6% higher from its level at the beginning of this year. This follows a sharp increase of 89% attained in 2009.

The Tel Tech-15, index of large technology companies, affected by trading on NASDAQ, and the Real Estate-15 index gained 0.8% over the week, while the Finance index dropped 0.9%.

A total of US $1 billion was raised this month by the private sector in 8 corporate bond issues, approximately US $860 million of which - by the banking sector. The total amount raised by the private sector so far this year comes to US $8.3 million after total of $9.3 billion raised in the entire 2009 year.

The Israeli treasury raised US $450 million this week in a local government bond issues, bringing the 2010 total to US $10.1 billion, after total of US $17.4 billion raised in 2009.

According to the Bank of Israel, in July 2010 the flow of nonresidents' investments in Israeli shares traded on the TASE strengthened, with net investments totaling US $220 million, compared with net sales of about US $1.9 billion in February–May.

Figures released by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistic reveal that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August rose by 0.5% and approximately 1.6% from the beginning of this year. Also, the forecast for the GDP annual growth to 2010 was updated from 3.7% to 4.1%.