TA 35 Index Falls Nearly 1% as Banking and Tech Stocks Decline

Israel's benchmark stock index, the TA 35, ended Thursday's trading session in negative territory, closing down 0.95%. The decline was driven by broad weakness across several key industries, according to market data from the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

Sector and Stock Performance

The downturn was led by poor performance in the Communication, Banking, and Financials sectors. Market breadth was negative, with falling stocks outnumbering advancing ones 230 to 211, while 118 stocks finished the session unchanged.

Among the index's worst performers were several technology companies:

• Tower Semiconductor Ltd (TASE:TSEM) was the session's biggest decliner, falling 5.85%.
• Next Vision Stabilized Systems (TASE:NXSN) dropped 4.15%.
• Nova (TASE:NVMI) decreased by 3.55%.

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Conversely, Shapir Engineering Industry (TASE:SPEN) was a notable outperformer, surging 8.63% to reach an all-time high. Other top gainers included Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TASE:TEVA), which added 2.57%, and Navitas Petroleum LP Unit (TASE:NVPTp), which rose 2.28%.

Broader Market Context

In the currency markets, the Israeli shekel weakened against major currencies. The USD/ILS pair rose by 1.11% to 3.02, while the EUR/ILS pair gained 0.91% to 3.46. The US Dollar Index Futures, which measures the dollar against a basket of other currencies, was up 0.25%.

Commodity markets showed mixed results. Brent oil for September delivery edged down 0.04% to $84.92 a barrel, while the August Gold Futures contract fell 1.29% to trade at $3,999.52 a troy ounce.