28 December 2014 – 1 January 2015 Trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) during the last week of 2014 was characterized by a mixed trend in the leading share indices. The largest declines this week of 6.5% were in oil and gas shares
TA-25
Share Offerings
BOI Interest Rate
The TA-25 index decreased 0.2% over the week, and increased 10.2% for the whole of 2014.
This week there were two share offerings by biomed companies amounting to US $1 million. For the whole of 2014 the business sector raised US $2.1 billion through shares on the TASE, after raising a total of US $1.7 billion in 2013.
The Bank of Israel left the interest rate unchanged at 0.25% for January 2015.
TA-100 The TA-100 index decreased 0.4% over the week, and increased 6.7% for the whole of 2014.
Corporate Bonds
The TA- Oil & Gas index decreased 6.0% over the week, and decreased 20.1% for the whole of 2014.
This week there were no corporate bond offerings, and for the whole of 2014 the business sector raised US $16.1 billion through bonds, of which US $5.8 billion on the "TACT Institutional" system, after raising US $10.1 billion in 2013.
TA-Biomed
Government Bonds
The TA-Biomed index increased 2.5% over the week and decreased 33.9% for the whole of 2014.
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) did not make any public bond offering listed on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange this week. For the whole of 2014 the MoF raised US $14.5 billion in bond offerings on the TASE, after raising US $18.2 billion in 2013.
TA-Oil & Gas
ETN Offerings This week a new ETN was issued on a US corporate bond index. Currently there are 591 ETNs traded on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange, of which 203 ETNs on bond and commodities indices.
Economic Growth Forecast – Bank of Israel The Bank of Israel released its macroeconomic forecast for the Israeli economy, which indicates that GDP is expected to grow by 2.5% in 2014 and 3.2% in 2015. The rate of inflation in 2015 will amount to 1.1% and interest rates will remain unchanged at 0.25% during 2015.
Growth Rate The Central Bureau of Statistics released this week a preliminary estimate for the whole of 2014 according to which GDP increased by 2.6% on an annual basis, after an increase of 3.2% and 3.0% for the years 2013 and 2012, respectively.