TASE- The Week in Review: November 15th - November 19th

During the third week of November, trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) was marked by a mixed trend.

The TA-25 index, which rose 1% during the week, completed a cumulative year-to-date increase of 63%. The TA-75 index did not change this week, after a cumulative year-to-date return to 139%. This stellar performance can be attributed to the sharp increase in share prices of companies involved in the discovery of gas, in two sites off Israel’s Mediterranean shore, earlier this year.

The large real estate companies advanced 1%, while the major finance companies did not change and the hi-tech companies decreased by 0.5%.

The Israeli treasury raised an additional US $300 million this week in a local government bond issue. Since the beginning of the year, the government has raised approximately US $16 billion - 10% higher than the amount raised during the entire year of 2008.

Figures released this week by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics indicates that the rate of economic growth rose in Q3/2009 in 2.2% (in annual terms), after an increase of GDP in about 1% the previous quarter and a drop of 3.2% in Q1 of this year. The Bank of Israel annual estimation is that the GDP will remain unchanged during 2009.

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 627 companies listing equities, 354 index-tracking products, 37 series of government bonds, 582 series of corporate bonds and 1136 mutual funds. As of October 2009, the exchange’s market capitalization in equities was over US$200 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 and NYSE-Euronext.

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