Bethel Finance: Sharp slide pushes Tel Aviv 25 below 1,000 points

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Bethel Finance news:

Sharp losses in morning trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) pushed the Tel Aviv 25 Index below the 1,000-point threshold for the first time since September 12. By midday, both the Tel Aviv 25 and Tel Aviv 100 indices were down 2.2% to 995 and 906 points, respectively. The market was falling for the 10th straight session, shaving 10.2% off the the Tel Aviv 25 Index. But in the afternoon the TASE recouped most of today's losses on news of an IMF assistance package for Italy.

In the morning, trading was dominated by grim news from Europe, despite market gains on Friday, and from the US, where Wall Street fell, continuing to affect the TASE. On Friday, S&P cut its bond rating for Belgium from AA+ to AA-, Moody's cut its rating for Hungarian government bonds to junk bond status, and Fitch Ratings warned that it might cut its AAA rating for France.

17 of 21 analysts in a "Bloomberg" poll expect the Bank of Israel to cut the interest rate for December by 25 basis points to 2.75%. Four analysts expect the Bank of Israel to keep the interest rate unchanged.

Food company Osem Investments Ltd. (TASE: OSEM) was the only Tel Aviv 25 company to buck this morning's losses, and only barely; it was up 0.1%. Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) continued to lead the market down, with a loss of 4.4%, while IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) unit Discount Investment Corporation (TASE: DISI) is down 4.2%, and Israel Corporation (TASE: ILCO) is down 2.9%.

Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) was leading the banks down with a drop of 2%. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) was also down 1.4%.

Three Tel Aviv 100 Index shares were also strongly bucking the market: DS Apex Holdings Ltd. (TASE:DSAP) was up 6.4%, Given Imaging Ltd. (Nasdaq: GIVN; TASE: GIVN) was up 2.9% and Plasson Industries Ltd. (TASE: PLSN) was up 3.4%

"Globes" technical analyst Ziv Segal says, "The Tel Aviv 25 Index is again below 1,060 points, which was an important support level in the past, and movement below it relative to the average downward trend is not a good sign. Although there is another safety line at 990 points, it is a very thin and rotten line that should not be relied on."