Tel Aviv Stock Exchange

Before the formation of the State of Israel in 1948, the primary stock market in the region was the Exchange Bureau for Securities, which had been founded in 1935 by the Anglo-Palestine Bank. This drove a need for regulated securities trading in the country, and eventually culminated in the official formation of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in 1953. In 1968 the Knesset (Israel’s legislative branch) passed the Securities Law, and with this act the Israel Securities Authority was formed. This body regulates the TASE to this day.

The exchange performed well throughout the 20th century, and by 1993 had the third-highest number of IPOs listed of all the stock exchanges in the world. As the 21st century dawned, the exchange saw an increase in foreign investment, and various agreements with other exchanges were signed. The TASE signed memoranda of understanding with the London Stock Exchange (2007), the Nasdaq (2007), NYSE Euronext (2008), the Shanghai Stock Exchange (2008), and the Toronto Stock Exchange (2010).

These agreements helped make the trading of international securities smoother, and today the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange has an equity market capitalisation of over $200 billion, and a bond capitalisation of just under that amount.

Three main indices track the performance of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange:

• TA-125 Index
• TA-35 Index
• TA BlueTech Index

The TA-35 is the most commonly used index, and is also known as the Ma’of. It is a blue-chip index of the 35 most traded stocks listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.