ISRAEL: Election uncertainty sees Israeli stocks open lower

Record ID: 395649

  • Title: ISRAEL: Election uncertainty sees Israeli stocks open lower
  • Date: 12th February 2009
  • Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (FEBRUARY 11, 2009) (REUTERS) TRADE ROOM OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL BANK OF ISRAEL COMPUTER SCREEN SHOWING DATA VARIOUS OF BANK TRADERS FOREIGN CURRENCY EXCHANGE DATA ON COMPUTER VARIOUS OF MANAGER OF TRADE ROOM AT THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL BANK OF ISRAEL, DROR ZAKSH, WORKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) MANAGER OF TRADE ROOM AT THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL BANK OF I
  • Embargoed: 27th February 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5MAKN45XGYFG3IA6ZCR36N2XL
  • Story Text: Israel's shekel weakens against the U.S. dollar and Tel Aviv share indexes open at least 2 percent lower as political uncertainty looms after an election produced rival winners.
    Tel Aviv share indexes opened more than 2 percent lower and the Israeli shekel weakened against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday (February 11) following steep Wall Street declines and amid disarray in Israel's election.
    The blue-chip Tel Aviv 25 index <.TA25> was 2.6 percent lower at 0825 GMT, while the broader TA-100 <.TA100> was down 2.3 percent.
    Israel faces deep political uncertainty after its Tuesday (February 10) election ended with claims of victory from both central Likud and hawkish Likud rivals.
    Nearly final results gave centrist Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's Kadima party 28 seats to 27 for hawkish rival Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud in the 120-member parliament. Both leaders claimed victory.
    Trade room manager of The First International Bank of Israel in Tel Aviv, Dror Zaksh, said uncertainty in Israeli politics along with U.S. stocks sliding nearly 5 percent on Wednesday affects the markets.

    "The results of the Israeli election wasn't really surprisingly, but still we don't know who is going to take control of the government. So this unclarity right now, is not very good for the market. We see it in the stock exchange, we see the Israeli market stock exchange going down. Based on two factors, one is the drop on the U.S. stock exchange on the last two days, and the second one of course is the election," he said.
    Zaksh also said election results pushed the Israeli shekel <ILS=> weaker against the dollar.
    The shekel <ILS=> was more than 0.5 percent weaker at 4.06 per dollar as a result of the election uncertainty.

    "Another immediate effect is on the Israeli shekel. We've seen it weakening by about one percent, almost one percent, because of the election," he said.
    Final election results are expected on Wednesday but they are certified as official only when published on Feb. 18 in the gazette.
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