TASE- The Week in Review: November 22nd - November 26th

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

The TA-25 index, which rose 1% during the week, completed a cumulative year-to-date increase of 65%. The TA-75 index decreases 1.5% this week, bringing the cumulative year-to-date return to 134%. 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 banks advanced 3%, while the hi-tech companies decreased by 0.5% and the major real estate companies decreased by 4%.

Two corporate bond issues were completed this week in which $180 million were raised by real estate companies. The total amount raised in corporate bond issues so far this year comes to $8.3 billion, 25% higher than the amount raised during the entire year of 2008.

The Bank of Israel increased the interest rate, for the second time this year, by 0.25% to a level of 1% from December 2009.

Figures released this week by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics indicates that unemployment rate declined – 7.8% in the third quarter of 2009 compared with 8% in the second quarter.

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