The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange index fell by about 2% in Thursday’s trading (Shutterstock)
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange index fell by about 2% in Thursday’s trading amid fears in Israel about Tehran’s response to the targeting of the Iranian consulate in Damascus three days ago. The decline rate of some sectoral indicators reached 4%, and the insurance sector was the most affected.
El Al Airlines shares fell by about 6% due to a Competition Authority investigation into the price increase it approved after the outbreak of the war on the Gaza Strip.
This came after complaints that El Al took advantage of the sharp rise in demand for its tickets to increase ticket prices, due to foreign airlines canceling or reducing flights to or from Israel.
Following the Israeli aggression against the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi vowed an appropriate response to the attack, saying, “The Zionist entity must realize that this cowardly crime will not remain without a response.”
In Israel, which announced that it would not comment on the attack, instructions were issued to Israeli embassies around the world to strengthen their security measures in the wake of the attack on the Iranian consulate.
Last Monday, an Israeli attack targeted the Iranian consulate building in Damascus with six missiles, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced that the attack claimed the lives of two generals, the commander of the guard in Syria and Lebanon, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, and his deputy, Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, in addition to 5 other officers accompanying them.
The impact of the maximum flood
At the end of last year, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange said that the performance of local stocks in 2023 was much lower than the performance of major global stock indices, which rose by about 20% despite the high interest rate environment.
The annual report of the stock exchange stated at the time that the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange witnessed a decline in initial subscriptions in 2023, and companies’ capital slowed down, due to the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation (launched by the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation on the seventh of last October) and the subsequent war on the Gaza Strip. And the judiciary reform plan.
Israeli stocks and the shekel (the Israeli currency) are closely linked to the Standard & Poor's 500 index and global technology stocks, meaning that if the US stock index rises, the local market follows with a similar movement in the same direction and the shekel rises, and vice versa.
The stock market report at the time indicated that the year 2023 was contrary to this traditional trend, as the Israeli “TA-35” major company stock index rose by only 1.4%, while the Standard & Poor’s index jumped by 23%, and the Nasdaq 100 index rose by 51%. .
Source: Al Jazeera