Omen? Saudi and Israeli financial markets plunge

August 7, 2011 – Tel Aviv – On most weekends nobody even bothers talking about them, but given the confusion and consternation following the S&P downgrade of the US, people are paying attention to weekend trading in Israel and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Market was down 5% yesterday. Tel Aviv is down nearly 7% today. Here’s the thing though: Neither of these markets traded on Friday, so they’re basically playing catch up. What’s more, Saudi Arabia is up today, and Israel is in the midst of gigantic economic protests. So relax. Besides, the real big markets open in just a few hours. The need to speculate on what markets will do is almost over. –Business Insider

ISRAEL: Tel Aviv shares closed 7 percent lower on Sunday in the first response of a developed market to Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the United States’ credit rating that has sparked fears of another global recession. The Israeli market along with a few emerging markets in the Middle East were the first to trade after S&P on Friday cut the U.S. long-term credit rating by a notch to AA-plus from AAA due to concerns about the nation’s budget and climbing debt burden. The TA-25 blue chip index closed down 6.99 percent to 1,074.27 points and is down 18 percent since the start of the year. The broader TA-100 slid 7.2 percent. Israel’s market is closed on Fridays and Saturdays. The Tel Aviv market’s opening was delayed by nearly an hour as circuit breakers kicked in when shares fell more than 5 percent in pre-market trade. The last time circuit breakers were used was on Sept. 21, 2008 after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, a spokeswoman for the stock exchange said. The market fears the U.S. debt situation could spiral out of control and possibly lead to a double-dip recession, said Zach Herzog, head of international sales at the Psagot brokerage. “If the U.S. sinks into a recession the Israeli economy can’t come out of that unscathed. We are dependent on sending goods and services out,” Herzog told Reuters, noting exports account for 45 percent of Israel’s gross domestic product with two-thirds of exports going to the United States and Europe. The market is also concerned about the exposure of Israeli banks to U.S. debt. Herzog said Bank Leumi and Israel Discount Bank , the country’s largest and third-largest banks, respectively, were most heavily exposed among Israeli banks in terms of their proprietary portfolios.  –Reuters

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