Weekly Review: 3 - 7 July 2011

July 2011 opened with gains in all leading share price indices
  • The TA-25 index, which gained 3.0% over the week, is still 5.0% lower than its beginning-of-the-year level, following a 16% increase in 2010.
  • The TA-100 index increased 3.2% over the week, bringing the year-to-date loss to 6.2%, following a 15% increase in 2010.
  • The TA Bluetech-50 index increased 4.2%, while the TA-Banks and TA Real Estate-15 indices gained 3.4% over the week.
  • The Treasury floated government bonds on the local market equaling US $310 million. The year-to-date total of government bond issues comes to US $8.4 billion, as opposed to US $15.2 for the entire 2010 year.
  • Figures released by the Bank of Israel indicate that foreign investors increased financial investments in TASE-traded shares by US $420 million in May and by some US $1.2 billion since the beginning of the year, following a net withdrawal of US $0.8 billion in 2010.
  • The NIS/dollar exchange rate on July 7 came to 3.406, a weekly increase of 0.2%. Since the beginning of the year, the NIS has appreciated 4.0% against the dollar, after appreciating 6% in 2010.
  • The NIS/Euro exchange rate on July 7 came to 4.8542, down 1.6% over last week. The Euro has appreciated 2.5% against the NIS since the beginning of the year, after depreciating 12.9% in 2010.