Tel Aviv stocks closed off 1.6% Tuesday on later-refuted Arafat death rumor

Tel Aviv stocks dropped 1.6% Tuesday after trading off throughout the session. The Maof-25 blue chip index closed down 1.6% to 375.9 points, the TA-100 index closed down 1.3%, and technology shares closed with 1% drops. Total turnover was a low NIS 179 million.

In the late afternoon, rumors were rife on the market floor that PA chair Yassir Arafat had died. Reuters reported that although shots had been heard in the vicinity of his Ramallah headquarters, they were not directed at the PA chief's compound and he was unharmed. The rumors had some negative impact on trading.

The bond market was primarily affected by the NIS 2.8 billion treasury bill offering that ended in the afternoon at 6.94% annual yield on average.

Investment bank DBM's Rami Dror noted investors were positive about the NIS 1 billion bond issue Monday by the treasury.

Dror expects investors will assume a positive stance toward the recent declarations by Bank of Israel Governor David Klein against the NIS 13 billion emergency economic plan, given that Klein has demonstrated economic leadership and responsibility.

Drug giant Teva Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:TEVA) slipped 0.2% on 1.3% negative arbitrage spread. Teva closed up 3.3% on Monday after beating Q1 estimates, posting 11% revenue growth to $545 million, and $86 million profit, 64 cents earning per share, against the forecast 55 cents EPS. Local investors were pleased with the results, investors overseas weren't too impressed.

Dror noted that in recent quarters, Teva shares tended to climb ahead of the release of quarterly results, but after publication the company lost ground.

Cellular provider Partner Communications (Nasdaq, TASE:PTNR, LSE:PCCD) closed down 1.8%. On Monday the company posted NIS 103.8 million operating profit for Q1, double operating profit in Q4 last year. Revenue grew by 5% to NIS 929.5 million. Loss came to NIS 22.9 million, against NIS 34.2 million loss in Q4, and lower than the forecast NIS 60 million loss. Partner climbed 2.4% on Nasdaq Monday.

Digital-recording systems maker Nice Systems (Nasdaq:NICE) climbed 1.2%. Yesterday Nice closed up 5.6% on TASE, and climbed 3.1% on Nasdaq. The company announced Monday it has won a new contract worth millions of dollars and is to provide NiceTrack systems to a Western law enforcement agency. Nice didn't disclose the country, but said this is one of its biggest contracts to date.

Holding firm Discount Investments dropped 2% on big turnover, completing an aggregate 13% fall this month. Cellcom's positive Q1 report didn't manage to boost its parent company. The largest local cellular provider posted NIS 1.2 billion sales in Q1, 4% more than in the Q1 of 2001. Profit came to NIS 175 million, 28% more than in the parallel quarter.

Israel Chemicals closed off 0.3%. The company attracted attention after German chemicals giant BASF beat estimates in growth posted in Q1, and said it expects substantially improved earnings this year.

Bank Hapoalim closed off 2.9% on big turnover, and Bank Leumi closed off 2.4%.