Israel's benchmark index finished slightly in the red on Thursday, with the TA 35 declining 0.04% at the close. Losses concentrated in the Technology, Biomed and Real Estate sectors were enough to tip the index into negative territory despite several notable individual winners.
Top performers
- Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TASE:TEVA) was the session's strongest performer on the TA 35, rising 2.82% - an increase of 279.00 points - to finish at 10,170.00.
- Migdal Insurance (TASE:MGDL) added 2.78% or 44.00 points to close at 1,625.00.
- Harel (TASE:HARL) gained 2.22%, up 300.00 points to close at 13,800.00.
Lagging names
- NICE Ltd (TASE:NICE) fell 4.58% or 1,600.00 points to end the day at 33,350.00.
- Next Vision Stabilized Systems (TASE:NXSN) declined 3.93%, a drop of 1,200.00 points, to finish at 29,300.00.
- Dimri (TASE:DIMRI) was down 3.45% or 1,410.00 points, closing at 39,510.00.
At the close on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, declining issues outnumbered advancing ones by 303 to 170, while 75 stocks finished unchanged.
Commodities and currencies
Energy benchmarks moved higher in the session: crude oil for March delivery rose 3.35% or 2.12 to settle at $65.33 a barrel. Brent oil for April delivery increased 3.03% or 2.04 to $69.41 a barrel. In metals, the April Gold Futures contract fell 2.19% or 116.86 to trade at $5,223.34 a troy ounce.
On the currency front, USD/ILS strengthened, rising 0.39% to 3.10, while EUR/ILS increased 0.21% to 3.69. The US Dollar Index Futures ticked up 0.05% to 96.32.
Session takeaways
The market ended the day marginally lower with a clear breadth imbalance toward decliners. While a handful of large-cap names recorded solid gains, losses among several prominent technology and biomed stocks, together with weakness in real estate-related names, exerted enough pressure to pull the TA 35 into negative territory. At the same time, oil prices moved notably higher and gold futures retreated, and the shekel weakened modestly versus the dollar and euro.