Stocks listed in Tel Aviv finished lower on Thursday, with sectoral weakness in Banking, Financials and Insurance driving the benchmark down. At the close in Tel Aviv, the TA 35 lost 1.47%.
The session produced a split among large-cap names. The strongest performers on the TA 35 were Shapir Engineering Industry (TASE:SPEN), which climbed 1.89% or 60.00 points to close at 3,241.00; Elbit Systems Ltd (TASE:ESLT), which gained 1.83% or 4,200.00 to finish at 234,000.00; and Azrieli Group Ltd (TASE:AZRG), up 1.46% or 640.00 points to end the day at 44,370.00.
On the downside, Nova (TASE:NVMI) led declines with a 6.08% drop - down 8,670.00 points to close at 133,930.00. Mizrahi Tefahot (TASE:MZTF) fell 4.33% or 1,060.00 points to 23,420.00, while Israel Discount Bank Ltd (TASE:DSCT) declined 3.50% or 137.00 points to finish at 3,780.00.
Market breadth favored decliners: falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange by 267 to 189, and 91 issues ended unchanged.
Notably, shares of Elbit Systems Ltd rose to an all-time high in the session, up 1.83% or 4,200.00 to 234,000.00.
Commodities and currency moves accompanied the equity weakness. Crude oil for April delivery increased 1.47% or 0.96 to $66.38 a barrel. Brent oil for May delivery rose 1.91% or 1.35 to $72.04 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract declined 0.35% or 18.15 to trade at $5,208.05 a troy ounce.
In foreign exchange, USD/ILS rose 1.53% to 3.13 and EUR/ILS increased 1.40% to 3.69. The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.10% at 97.73.
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This trading day underscored divergent performance across sectors - modest gains among some industrials and defense-related names contrasted with notable weakness in banks and financials, contributing to the TA 35's decline.