Top > Business > 2006 > June > 2006-06-29

Israeli Shares Fall on Gaza Incursion

Shares in Tel Aviv fell Wednesday following the incursion of Israeli troops into the southern Gaza Strip, in an attempt to rescue a soldier kidnapped from Israel in a coordinated effort by Palestinian terror groups whose members tunneled into the Jewish state earlier this week and killed two other soldiers in the attack on an armored personnel carrier that led to the kidnapping. Israeli troops entered the Gaza Strip early Wednesday after warplanes bombed a power station and a deadline passed set by Jerusalem that called for the release of the soldier.

Other factors which contributed to the drop ? the Tel Aviv-25 stock index was reported at its lowest level since February ? include the dropping of index numbers overseas and recent setbacks for a major Israeli pharmaceutical company. The Teva Pharmaceuticals company recently had to halt sales of the generic drug Biaxin pending a court ruling.

On Tuesday, the TA-25 also dropped, but the exact causes were slightly different than Wednesday?s drop. Lower global market indices had sparked warnings from investment houses in the country to their clients urging them to pay close attention to their shares. The exchange rate between Israeli and American currency stood at the end of Tuesday to be at 4.49 New Israeli Shekels to one U.S. dollar. The exchange rate between the two usually has hovered between four-to-five shekels to the dollar over the past several years.