Just days after US President George Bush signed into law a far-reaching $700-billion bill to bail out the tottering US financial industry, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange remained shaky, registering sharp losses on Sunday.
By noon, the TA-25 Index had already dropped 6.33 percent and the TA-100 Index fell by 7.08%.
The Tel-Tech Index dropped by 11.5% and the Real Estate Index dropped by 11.04 percent.
The passage of the bailout plan in the US capped two weeks of tumult in Congress and on Wall Street, punctuated by daily warnings that the United States confronted the gravest economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s if lawmakers failed to act.
Investors had been anxious for a resolution on the government's plan to buy up bad assets from banks and other institutions to shore up the financial industry and help resuscitate credit markets. This was reflected in trading throughout the world on Friday as many markets registered notable losses. The poor opening on Sunday in Tel Aviv also reflected this uncertainty.
AP contributed to this report
