Israel stocks up at midday; real estate strong

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Israeli stocks were higher at midday on Monday, aiming for a fourth day of gains, with the real estate stocks a particularly strong sector. The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange's benchmark TA-25 index recently was 0.72% higher at 1166.20. The TA-100 Index rose 0.98% to 1090.76. The Tel-Tech 15 Index of top technology issues advanced 1.35% to 242.49. And the Real Estate 15 Index jumped 2.98% to 316.23. The most active issue on the bourse was Israel Chemicals, the fertilizer producer, trading unchanged. Sharply higher among the blue chips were the oil stocks, with Delek Drilling up 4.1%, Avner up 2.9%, Oil Refineries Ltd. up 2.1%, and Paz Oil up 1.2%. Within real estate, Africa-Israel Investments /quotes/comstock/11i!afivy (AFIV.Y 6.45, +0.60, +10.26%) was up 1.9%, Housing & Construction was up 4.1%, and Jerusalem Economic rose 3%. The lone decliner in the property index: Industrial Buildings, down 0.2%