To: David Leichner who wrote (98 ) 2/2/2000 1:34:00 PM From: Dorine Essey Respond to of 141
TEL AVIV, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Israeli shares posted solid gains across the board for the second straight session on Wednesday, led by sharp advances from Israeli shares traded on Wall Street and strong mutual fund inflows, traders said. The Tel Aviv 100 index ended 12.42 points higher, or 2.49 percent at 511.81 points on heavy turnover of 606 million shekels, compared with 425 million shekels on Tuesday. The TA-25 blue-chip index rose 11.23 points, or 2.3 percent, at 500.18. Both indices moved back above the 500-point threshhold for the first time in three sessions. On Tuesday, Israeli shares advanced more than 1.5 percent. "The market looked strong throughout the day... and we had very nice volume," said Gilad Lahav, a trader at Koor Futures Markets. "There were a lot of flows from mutual funds pushing the market higher." Israeli shares dual-listed on Nasdaq rose on average three percent on Tuesday, boosting related shares on Tel Aviv on Wednesday, trader said. Formula Systems FORT.TA FORTY.O, Teva Pharmaceuticals TEVA.TA TEVA.O, Nice Systems NICE.TA NICE.O and Matav Cable Systems Media MATV.TA MATVY.O all gained on these arbitrage gaps. Formula's shares jumped nearly five percent to 218 shekels on turnover of 11 million shekels. Teva stocks rose 3.28 percent to 283 shekels on an exceptional 32 million shekel volume. Nice surged 4.68 percent to 246 shekels and Matav's shares soared almost seven percent to 123.80 shekels. Traders said Matav was also helped by a technical corrective bounce since its shares had lost ground on a recent earnings warning. Bezeq Israel Telecom BEZQ.TA shares were the most heavily traded, rising 0.91 percent to 22.10 shekels on turnover of 48 million shekels. 0#.TA100- Tel Aviv 100 index constituents 0#.TA25- Tel Aviv 25 index constituents .TA100- Tel Aviv 100 index .TA25- Tel Aviv 25 index Related stories on [IL] [HOT] [STX] ($1 = 4.07 shekels) REUTERS Rtr 12:43 02-02-00