Trading on TASE in the first half of March ended up for all leading indices.

  • The TA-25 index gained 1.6% over the first half of the month, bringing its year-to-date return to 2.2%.
  • The TA-100 index climbed 1.6% over the two-week period, bringing its year-to-date increase to 3.8%.
  • The TA Banks stood out with a 7.2% increase over the first half of the month, while the TA BlueTech-50 and TA Real Estate-15 indices increased 3.5% and 1.2% respectively.

As for year-to-date returns, the BlueTech-50 stands out with a 13% increase, while the TA Real Estate-15 and TA Banks posted more modest cumulative gains of 5%-7%.

  • The Government of Israel floated US $735 million bonds on the local market in two separate auctions over the two weeks, bringing the year-to-date total of government bond issues to US $4.5 billion.
  • The Central Bureau of Statistics released updated growth figures, indicating that GDP growth in 2011 came to 4.7%, as opposed to 4.8% in 2010 and 0.8% in 2009.
  • The NIS/US dollar exchange rate on 15 March came to 3.784 a decrease of 0.2% against the shekel in the first half of the month. Since the beginning of the year, the dollar has depreciated 1.0% against the NIS.
  • The NIS/Euro exchange rate on 15 March came to 4.9417, a 1.8% decrease over the two-week period. Since the beginning of the year, the Euro is up 0.1% against the NIS.

About TASE

Established in September 1935, the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange is Israel’s sole stock exchange, offering an increasingly sophisticated range of products to investors, including equity, corporate bonds, treasury bills and notes, index products and derivatives. The Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange features in February 2012: 579 companies listing equities, 431 index-tracking products, 34 series of government bonds, 671 series of corporate bonds and 1,262 mutual funds. As of February 2012, the exchange’s market capitalization in equities was about US$ 163 billion. In recent years, the exchange has enhanced its international presence, signing Memorandums of Understanding with the London Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Toronto Stock Exchange and NYSE-Euronext.

Visit the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange's Website: www.tase.co.il