Wednesday December 27, 9:50 am Eastern Time

Four U.S. traded shares seen listing in Tel Aviv

By Tova Cohen

TEL AVIV, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Tel Aviv's stock exchange (TASE) has four likely listings in the pipeline for 2001 from U.S. traded Israeli companies, including Crystal Systems Solutions (NasdaqNM:CRYS - news), TASE Chairman Yair Orgler said on Wednesday.

He declined to name the other three. Crystal Systems said on Tuesday it planned to list on the TASE in January.

The stock exchange is also negotiating an alliance with several Electronic Communication Networks (ECNs), including Reuters' (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: RTR.L) Instinet, TASE officials said.

Instinet declined to comment.

The Tel Aviv stock exchange plans to link up at first with one such ECN, which would allow Israeli investors to trade in U.S. listed shares through the electronic brokerage system.

TASE is also planning to launch in 2001 an index of Israeli companies traded on Nasdaq but a timetable has not been set.

TASE introduced on Wednesday a new Internet service called Maya at its web site, which will provide real-time company announcements and quarterly financial reports in Hebrew. The announcements can be accessed at maya.tase.co.il.

Looking back over 2000, Tel Aviv outperformed most emerging markets although relative to its 1999 gains, increases this year were modest.

The benchmark Tel Aviv 100 index had risen 1.8 percent in 2000 as of December 26 while the blue chip TA-25 index gained 6.4 percent. This compares with gains of 60.3 percent and 55.2 percent respectively in 1999.

But these slight gains in 2000 compare favourably with declines on other emerging markets in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, from Hungary and Poland to Turkey and Greece.

"If we compare the Tel Aviv bourse to other bourses it performed outstandingly well. If we compare it to its performance in 1999 the picture is less rosy," TASE Managing Director Saul Bronfeld told a news conference.

Strong economic fundamentals with inflation seen near zero and gross domestic product growth over five percent helped the bourse withstand political turmoil while pressure from a sinking Nasdaq was limited because technology stocks still only account for roughly 10 percent of the market, Orgler said.

HEAVY WEIGHT

Israel's heaviest weighted blue chip -- Teva Pharmaceutical Industries -- appreciated by nearly 100 percent in 2000, which also helped to boost the indices.

Daily volumes jumped to an average 468 million shekels in 2000 from 360 million in 1999 and 41 new companies listed, up from 14 in 1999.

June saw the largest public offering ever in Tel Aviv, when the government sold its remaining 17 percent stake in Bank Hapoalim for 2.4 billion shekels.

While foreign investors purchased $240 million worth of shares on TASE in the early part of 2000, by the end of the first 10 months the trend had reversed, with foreigners selling $200 million worth of stock.

Some of that selling was triggered by the start of a Palestinian uprising against Israel that began in late September and with Prime Minister Ehud Barak's resignation, which triggered a snap prime ministerial election for February 6.

($1 equals 4.06 shekels)