Tel Aviv stock exchange real estate index closed down 6.7%

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) opened today following Friday’s sell-off and uncertainty on international markets, especially Wall Street. In addition, the TASE will have to cope with the crisis in the local real estate market caused by the collapse of Heftsiba Building Development & Investments Ltd., which, although not a public company, controls several public companies and is heavily in debt to the banks and other companies. In late trading, the major indices were near their worst points of the day, with the Tel Aviv 25 index closing down 3.69%, the Tel Aviv 100 index down 4.15%, and the Real Estate 15 index down 6.74%.