Israel Stocks: Market higher; VeriFone gets postal pact; Kardan and Strauss up

Broad-based gains as Israel stocks trade higher NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Israeli stocks rose on Wednesday, led by bank shares as well as Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, while a number of major names in technology rose sharply and real-estate companies leaped. The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange's benchmark TA-25 Index closed up 1.5% at 1037.76, with the broader TA-100 Index adding 1.7% to 949.68. The Tel-Tech 15 Index of top technology issues did better still, rising 2.4% to 229.91. Outpacing them all, the Real Estate 15 Index jumped 5.1% to 409.25. On Tuesday, the TA-25 fell nearly 0.6%. The issue traded most actively Wednesday was Israel Chemicals. Shares of the producer of fertilizer and chemicals derived from the Dead Sea sank 3.5%. Parent holding company Israel Corp. was little changed, however. Meanwhile, Makhteshim-Agan,... [read full story]