Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to Trade Amid Election Uncertainty and Wall Street Gains
Translated & summarized from Ice by baba
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange is trading amid political uncertainty following elections that suggest a difficult path to forming a government, causing the shekel to weaken. Wall Street saw gains on Tuesday, with tech stocks leading the advance, and Asian markets also opened higher on Wednesday. Investors await the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision and key tech earnings reports later today.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Tel Aviv Stock Exchange trading resumes amid election results pointing to potential government formation difficulties.
- The Israeli shekel weakened against the dollar and euro due to election uncertainty.
- Wall Street indices closed higher Tuesday, led by technology and AI stocks.
- Asian markets opened with gains on Wednesday, influenced by a Korean chipmaker's strong earnings.
- Investors await the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision and earnings from Alphabet and Microsoft.
Trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) resumed on Wednesday, influenced by the ongoing release of election results indicating a potential political stalemate that could hinder government formation. This uncertainty contributed to a morning weakening of the Israeli shekel against the dollar and euro.
Arbitrage shares are returning to TASE trading, with a theoretical impact of approximately 1% on the TA-35 index. Tower Semiconductor is expected to trade with a positive gap of 4.77%, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries at 2.36%, while Can-Fite BioPharma is projected to open with a negative gap of about 8.2%.
Wall Street closed Tuesday with gains, as the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.18%, the S&P 500 added 0.60%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 0.03%. These gains followed similar upticks on Monday. A renewed momentum in AI and chip stocks was observed, although the broader S&P 500 saw most of its constituents decline on Tuesday, with the index's rise largely driven by major technology companies.
Futures trading ahead of Wednesday's US session showed the S&P 500 trading nearly flat, while the Nasdaq futures climbed 0.35%. Brent crude oil rose 0.47% to $114.42 per barrel. Asian markets also experienced gains, with the Asia-Pacific index (excluding Japan) up 0.85%, Japan's Nikkei adding 1.2%, and South Korea's Kospi surging over 3% following a report of a more than sevenfold increase in operating profit from a local chip manufacturer.
The US Federal Reserve is scheduled to announce its interest rate decision at 8:00 PM Israel time, with a press conference to follow at 8:30 PM. Market expectations are for the Fed to maintain its current interest rate range of 3.75%-4%, with investors closely watching for signals regarding a potential December rate hike. Following the Wall Street close, Alphabet, Google's parent company, and Microsoft are set to release their earnings reports.
On Monday, the TA-35 index surged 1.99%, the TA-125 rose 1.81%, and the TA-90 added 1.01%, with a total stock trading volume of approximately 4.93 billion shekels. A notable stock event from Monday was the 62.06% jump in Beit B'Kfar shares after an agreement was signed for its sale to Aura at a valuation of 1.7 billion shekels.
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