Israel's main equities benchmark ended the trading day in positive territory on Thursday, as the TA-35 rose 1.69% at the close in Tel Aviv. The market advance was driven by strength in the Real Estate, Insurance and Communication sectors, which supported a larger number of gaining stocks than decliners.
At the close, the session's top performers on the TA-35 included Mega Or (TASE:MGOR), which climbed 6.72% - an increase of 3,930.00 points - to finish at 62,400.00. Defence and technology name Elbit Systems Ltd (TASE:ESLT) added 6.46%, rising 15,840.00 points to close at 261,100.00, while Tower Semiconductor Ltd (TASE:TSEM) advanced 6.16% or 4,280.00 points to reach 73,770.00.
On the downside, Navitas Petroleum LP Unit (TASE:NVPTp) was the session's weakest performer among the listed names, slipping 1.54% or 200.00 points to end at 12,790.00. Camtek Ltd (TASE:CAMT) declined 1.39%, a drop of 720.00 points to 51,090.00, and NICE Ltd (TASE:NICE) fell 1.38% or 360.00 points to close at 25,660.00.
Breadth on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange was positive: 316 stocks closed higher, 161 declined and 80 were unchanged. That distribution accompanied the benchmark's gain and reflected the widening participation across multiple sectors.
Commodities traded with mixed outcomes. Crude oil for July delivery rose 0.09% or 0.08 to settle at $90.11 a barrel, while Brent oil for August delivery dipped 0.39% or 0.36 to $92.74 a barrel. The August Gold Futures contract posted a decline of 0.88% or 36.30, trading at $4,097.00 a troy ounce at the reported close.
In foreign exchange, the shekel strengthened against the dollar and euro. USD/ILS moved down 0.48% to 2.96, and EUR/ILS fell 0.63% to 3.41. The US Dollar Index Futures was reported up 0.31% at 100.24.
Observed market moves and the numeric outcomes above reflect the day's closing prices and percentage changes as reported for the Tel Aviv market and related commodity and FX contracts.