Israel Shares Lead Mideast Losses on U.S. Spillover: Inside EM - Bloomberg

Israel Shares Lead Mideast Losses on U.S. Spillover: Inside EM - Bloomberg:

The main equities index in Israel dropped the most in the Middle East as investors catch up with a decline in Wall Street last week amid a resurgence in coronavirus infections in different parts of the U.S.

The TA-35 declined 2% as of 11:45 a.m. in Tel Aviv, with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries pressuring the index the most. Israel’s stock market is highly correlated to the U.S., where many Israeli shares are cross-listed. The S&P 500 dropped 2.4% on Friday as Texas and Florida halted drinking at bars and Arizona reported a surge in infections.

Elsewhere in the region, Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index rose as much as 0.9% boosted by Samba Financial Group and National Commercial Bank. The banks are in talks for a merger that could create the third biggest lender in the Middle East. Shares in the United Arab Emirates rose while those in Kuwait and Qatar fell.