Tel Aviv stocks had mixed fortunes on Thursday, while the price of the dollar against the shekel continued to rise. At the close of trading, the Tel Aviv 25 was up 0.45 percent to 766 points, while the Tel Aviv 100 was down 0.16%, to 685. The Real Estate Index fell 0.65%, to 240, and the Tech Tech sunk 2.8%, to 157.5. The dollar rose 0.183%, to NIS 3.841, while the euro was up 0.368% and was trading at NIS 4.9244. European and US stock markets traded mostly higher as some investors looked for bargains following recent heavy losses. Asian shares finished lower despite a late recovery. Britain's FTSE 100 index of leading shares closed 46.94 points, or 1.2 percent, higher at 4,087.83, helped by gains in heavyweight oil stocks BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell after oil prices recovered $2.25 to $69 a barrel. France's CAC-40 ended 12.69 points, or 0.4 percent, higher at 3,310.87, but Germany's DAX was down 51.37 points, or 1.1 percent, at 4,519.70, dragged down by automaker Daimler AG, which issued another profit warning. Europe's indexes had been deep in the red earlier but Wall Street's bounce-back after two days of losses, which sliced some 750 points off the Dow Jones index of leading US shares, prompted some buying. The Dow recovered from a 100 point deficit after the open to trade 159.30 points, or 1.9 percent, higher at 8,678.51 by early afternoon New York time. Even though the deteriorating economic and corporate news and the financial turmoil indicate a global recession is on the way, some investors, including financier Warren Buffett, are beginning to dip their toes back into stock markets. "Given extreme oversold conditions and very attractive valuations, we are now tactically overweight in equities," said Adrian Jarvis, head of strategy at Aviva Investors. Nevertheless, fears about the global economy are keeping most potential investors on the sidelines. The economic outlook is now the primary concern in the markets as worries over credit markets and the banking system have been assuaged, for now at least, by government efforts to shore up banks, as well as massive liquidity boosts from the world's leading central banks. Thomas J. Lee, US equities strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York, cautioned that the market will need to rein in its sharp swings before some investors will feel confident enough to return. "I don't think anyone can buy and sell stocks right now with conviction," he said. This week's latest stock market jitters around the world have been stoked by a stream of disappointing earnings updates, particularly in the US, over the last few days. Disappointing corporate news continued on Thursday with Xerox Corp. announcing plans to cut 3,000 jobs, or 5 percent of its work force, because a slowdown in orders from large US companies has dragged down the printer and copier maker's profit margins. Meanwhile, drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co. said it booked a loss for the third quarter after taking a charge of almost $1.5 billion for an expected settlement of an investigation into the marketing of its top-selling drug, Zyprexa. Economic readings didn't help to lift underlying sentiment. The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications for unemployment benefits rose 15,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 478,000. That was slightly above analysts' estimates of 470,000. Jobless claims above 400,000 are considered a sign of recession. A year ago, claims stood at 333,000. Markets continue to keep a close watch on interbank lending rates, which continue to fall, albeit relatively slowly. Figures released Thursday suggested that a return to more normal market conditions will take time. The rate on three-month loans in dollars - known as the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor - was unchanged at 3.54 percent. The rate fell to that level on Wednesday and is the lowest since Sept. 24. The so-called European Interbank Offered Rate for three-month euro-denominated loans has dropped to 4.92 percent from 4.94 percent the day before. The rates have fallen steadily for over a week, but spreads remain high, suggesting that banks remain wary of lending to each other. Abnormally high interbank lending rates and spreads have been the catalyst for the crisis in the financial markets over recent weeks, raising fears they would choke off credit to businesses and individuals. Latin American shares were steady as ongoing concerns about Argentina's plan to nationalize its pension industry offset the impetus provided by Wall Street. Brazil's Ibovespa index slipped 0.2 percent to 35,000 in midday trading, while Argentina's benchmark Merval index rebounded 4.5 percent to 982.7 after losing 20 percent of its value in the past two days. Russia's MICEX and RTS indexes finished down 4.7 percent and 4.4 percent. Earlier, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average tumbled 7 percent at the open to a five-year low but recovered to close down 2.5 percent at 8,460.98. Japanese exporters, such as Mazda Motor Corp. and Isuzu Motors Ltd, were also battered by the surging yen against the dollar and euro. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 4.7 percent at 13,603, but had fallen more than 6 percent earlier while South Korea's benchmark Kospi fell 7.5 percent at 1,049.71, having been down 9.4 percent at one stage. Australia's key index pulled back more than 4 percent as slumping world commodity prices sent resource companies lower. Rio Tinto fell more than 14 percent while rival BHP Billiton sank more than 9 percent. On the currency front, the dollar was down 0.1 percent at 97.65 yen. In two months, the yen has gained more than 10 percent against the dollar. The euro was 0.2 percent higher at $1.2877 while the British pound fell another 0.6 percent to $1.6175.
