Tel Aviv stocks sliding 1% Sunday morning
Tel Aviv stocks are opening down 1% Sunday, after closing with mild gains on Thursday. The negative mood is attributed to Friday's suicide bombing in Jerusalem, in which six people were killed and 86 injured.
However, there are other negative factors: Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's said on Thursday it cut its outlook for Israel to negative from stable as Israeli-Palestinian fighting and an ongoing recession keep the pressure on the nation's economy.
S&P said the reduction to negative, which raises the likelihood of a credit rating downgrade, came in spite of an improved outlook for the global economy.
Meanwhile investors are waiting to see the results of the meeting of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The two are due to meet today, but the meeting isn't expected to lead to any kind of breakthrough in the ongoing fighting in the region.
Israeli forces have been conducting counter-terror operations in the West Bank for some 18 days.
The Maof-25 blue chip index is down 1% to 388.8 points, and the TA-100 index is off 0.5% to 377.0 points. Technology shares are down 0.3%. Total turnover is a low NIS 10 million.
Magal Security Systems (Nasdaq:MAGS) is leaping 20.2%, cutting a huge positive spread of 21.6% on which it opened.
Drug-giant Teva Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:TEVA) stands out with 1.8% gains on the session's biggest turnover, NIS 3.5 million. On Thursday, Teva closed up 2% on NIS 27.6 million turnover. Teva received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for Fenofibrate capsules, 134 mg and 200 mg, and gave tentative approval for the 67 mg. Teva has been granted 180-day marketing exclusivity. The drug is the generic equivalent of Tricor capsules made by Abbott (NYSE:ABT), used for treating patients with very high triglyceride, blood fatty acids.
CFO Dan Suesskind two weeks ago estimated sales of the original drug in 2001 at $235 million.
IDB Holding Corporation is off 2%, IDB Development Corporation is down 1.8%. Discount Investments is dropping 2.1%, and Clal Industries is off 1.4%.
