Stock exchange: Ceasefire brings week of gains
Productive week following start of implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701
The Israeli Stock Exchange had a productive week following a ceasefire deal resulting from UN Security Council resolution 1701, which was implemented Monday. The indexes returned to their level before the war.
Weekly summary: The TA-25 was up 5.4 percent to 820 points; while the TA-100 rose 5.5 percent to 838.55 points. The TelTech 15 was up 4.2 percent to 346.68 points.
Another figure which influenced the stock exchange this week: The Central Bureau of Statistics published a report revealing that growth in the first half of 2006 was increasing at an annual rate of 5.9 percent. This follows a 5.1 percent increase in the last half of 2005 and a prior 6.1 percent increase in the first half of the same year.
Thursday: Bank Hapoalim reported net profits of NIS 665 million (about USD 152.5 million) for the second quarter of 2006, an increase of 11.2 percent compared to the same period in 2005. A half-year summary of 2006 revealed that net profits grew by 21 percent – NIS 1.842 billion (about USD 423 million) in 2006 compared to NIS 1.522 billion (about USD 350 million) in the first half of 2005. The Bank Hapoalim share noted a weekly raise of 11 percent.
Wednesday: Billionaire investor George Soros invested USD 8.7 million in Israeli mobile phone operator Partner Communications. Soros bought 1.05 million shares in Partner, Israel's second-largest mobile phone operator, at a price range of USD 7.54 to USD 8.83 a share.
Partner's shares were up 2.3 percent this week in trade in Tel Aviv.
Tuesday: Bezeq Company, Israel's national telecommunications provider, reported net earnings in the second quarter of 2006 of NIS 230 million (USD 52.75 million), compared with NIS 164 million (USD 37.6 million) last year, an increase of NIS 66 million (USD 15.2 million) or about 40 percent. The share went up 1.8 percent this week.
Sunday: GTC shares went up by 4.78 percent, pursuant to a large deal in Poland. GTC Poland (an off-shoot company) signed a memorandum of understanding with American real estate fund Heitman European Property partners, to sell Mokotow Park Business in Warsaw for a sum of USD 287.5 million. The share rose by 5.3 percent this week.
Foreign currency: The US dollar dropped 0.7 percent relative to the Israelu shekel and was traded at a rate of 4.3590.
