Tel Aviv Set for a Choppy Open After Mixed Wall Street Session

Tel Aviv stocks were set to open after a mixed session in New York and following two sharp declines on the local market, with investors also watching the fallout from the U.S. agreement with Iran. Overnight, the Nasdaq fell 1.2% and the S&P 500 lost 0.6%, while the Dow Jones rose 0.6% to a record closing high.

Dual-listed chip names returned to trading in Tel Aviv with steep negative arbitrage gaps: Nova was down 6.8%, Camtek 4.7% and Tower 4.5%. U.S. 10-year Treasury yields stood at 4.43% after falling 3 basis points yesterday, while the Israeli 10-year yield was 3.66%.

Oil prices eased modestly after the previous day’s sharp declines, with Brent down 0.5% and WTI down 0.7%. In Tel Aviv on Monday, the TA-35 and TA-125 both fell 1.1%, the TA Banks index dropped 0.9%, and Bank Hapoalim underperformed in the sector with a 1.3% decline.

Sector moves were broad. TA Cleantech fell 2.9%, TA Tech-Elite lost 2.6%, and TA Insurance declined 2.5%, while TA Oil and Gas rose 2.4%. Within cleantech, Doral Energy plunged 7%, Enlight lost 5.9% and Apollo Power fell 5.5%; in insurance, Migdal dropped 3.8%, Clal Insurance fell 3.5% and Menora Mivtachim eased 3.3%; in oil and gas, Tamar Petroleum jumped 6.4%, Isramco gained 4.4% and Delek Group added 3%.

Separately, Fortissimo is preparing for a possible sale of its Cellcom stake. The Yuval Cohen-led fund hired Citigroup and likely another investment bank to find foreign investors for the shares, saying the goal is to broaden Cellcom’s investor base and expose the telecom company to international markets, not to sell the holding now. The process could take several months or even more than a year, while the company is also seeking Communications Ministry approvals to shrink the controlling core in Cellcom, eventually below 5% and toward a transfer of control, following a similar path approved for Searchlight at Bezeq.