Stocks in Tel Aviv opened lower Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose a naval blockade on Iranian ports and the Strait of Hormuz pushed global markets down and sent oil prices sharply higher.
The benchmark TA-35 and TA-125 indices both fell 1.1% in early trading. The banking index dropped 0.9% and the insurance index slid 2.1%, while the defense index rose 1.2%. The oil and gas index also gained 1.2%, tracking the surge in crude prices.
Energy shares advanced, with Delek Group rising 3.4%, Tamar Petroleum up 2.6%, Navitas adding 2.2%, NewMed Energy gaining 1.1% and Isramco edging up 0.3%. Energean, however, fell 1.4%.
Oil prices jumped sharply, with Brent crude up 7.3% and U.S. West Texas Intermediate rising 7.5%. The gains followed escalating tensions after ceasefire talks failed and the U.S. signaled a potential blockade in the region.
Global sentiment remained negative, with futures for the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all down about 0.8%.
Among individual stocks, Nice dropped 6.5% after returning to trading with a negative arbitrage gap. Camtek fell 3.4%, while Teva and Tower Semiconductor each declined 2.7%. Trading in Palo Alto Networks had not yet opened after returning to the Tel Aviv exchange with a sharp negative arbitrage gap of about 10%, following a 6.7% drop on Nasdaq on Friday.
In currency markets, the shekel weakened against both the dollar and the euro ahead of trading.
U.S. 10-year Treasury yields rose 3 basis points to 4.35%, while Israel’s 10-year government bond yield stood at 3.96% at the start of the trading week.