Tel Aviv stocks were set to open after a weak night for U.S. technology shares and another day of shekel depreciation. In New York, the Nasdaq fell 1.3%, the S&P 500 slipped 0.4%, and the Dow Jones rose 0.3%. Oil prices were nearly unchanged. U.S. 10-year Treasury yields rose 5 basis points yesterday to 4.50%, while the Israeli 10-year bond yield stood at 3.78% this morning.
Tower Semiconductor was the standout before trading, with a strong positive arbitrage of 7.5% after rising 10.5% in Nasdaq trading last night. The chipmaker, which closed in Tel Aviv after three straight gains, was expected to extend that streak to four sessions. Tower also moved up to fourth place in the local market by market value after overtaking Bank Leumi, behind Palo Alto, Teva and Elbit Systems. The stock has gained 135% since the start of the year.
In the security sector, Elbit Systems and Sivan said they reached a compromise after a public dispute that went to mediation. Under the deal, Elbit will buy military laser systems from Sivan for tens of millions of dollars. Sivan will also market on its own the laser systems it developed without Elbit, which invested in the company in 2015 and still holds 5%. Elbit will market some of Sivan’s systems and also buy systems and components from it.
In other deals, Harel Insurance bought about 500 million shekels of Motorenwerke Beit Shemesh shares from FIMI in an off-exchange transaction. FIMI will still hold shares worth about $230 million, or roughly 800 million shekels, at current market prices. Motorenwerke Beit Shemesh is now valued at about 8.3 billion shekels, after rising about 15% this year but falling about 9% this month. Separately, Meitav’s provident fund company said it moved 2.4 billion shekels from competitors into its funds in May, the most in the industry, and nearly 13 billion shekels since the start of the year. It now manages 154.2 billion shekels, about 40 billion more than second-place Mor Gemel.
