La séance du 25 Juin 2008

Israel stocks higher; ICL target up at Lehman.
Israeli stocks rose on Wednesday, led by strength in the banks as well as technology and real estate issues.
Late in the trading day, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange's benchmark TA-25 Index rose 0.52% to 1121.00, while the TA-100 rose 0.42% to 1020.90.
The Tel-Tech 15 Index of top technology stocks rose 1.35% to 233.29. The Real Estate 15 gauge added 1.3% to 458.30.
On Tuesday, the TA-25 closed 1.09% lower.
The two most-active issues were Israel Chemicals, the maker of fertilizer and chemicals derived from the Dead Sea, and its parent, Israel Corp. Those stocks were last down 3.3% and 1.9% respectively.
Analyst Joseph Wolf at Lehman Brothers lifted his price target on ICL to 100 shekels from 95. It's currently trading around 77 shekels ($22.72). The company remains Lehman's top pick in Israel, even as the stock has run up more than 60% since early March.
Agrichemicals producer Makhteshim-Agan was 0.8% lower. Its major holder, Koor, (KOORF) was up 0.3%. Koor's parent, IDB Group, said on Tuesday that it would meet again with a foreign investor that had once expressed interest in acquiring control of Koor. Leader Capital Markets had cited speculation that the Indian company United Phosphorous was the investor, and Leader noted that the Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported that point on Wednesday as well.
Active and higher among the blue chips were telecoms provider Bezeq, up 2.5%, and Israel Oil Refineries, up 5.1%.
Bank Hapoalim's researchers cut the price target on Oil Refineries to 2.89 shekels from 3.37 while reiterating the stock market perform. Shares were trading around 2.75 shekels.
The banks were higher, Hapoalim (BKHYY) by 1.3%, Mizrachi Tefahot by 1.5%, Discount by 1.2%, and Leumi by 0.1%.
Top technology risers include Partner Communications, (PTNR) the Israeli affiliate of the Orange cellular network, up 1.2%, and VeriFone, (PAY) the payment-processing-systems specialist, up 3.3%.
In addition, defense contractor Elbit Systems, (ESLT) rose 1.5% and Nice Systems, (NICE) the producer of digital recording and archiving systems, jumped 3.2%.
Among the major property managers, Africa-Israel Investments (AFIVY) eased 0.2%, Kardan NV (NL:11365: news, chart, profile) advanced 3.6% and Gazit Globe added 0.4%.