Investing.com - Israel's equity market closed modestly higher on Friday, with sector strength in Financials, Insurance and Banking supporting a fractional gain for the benchmark. At the Tel Aviv close, the TA-35 rose 0.04%.
Top and bottom movers
The session's strongest performers on the TA-35 included NICE Ltd, which advanced 3.00% to finish at 29,890.00. Migdal Insurance closed up 2.77% at 1,746.00, while Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd rose 2.58% to 23,500.00.
On the downside, Mega Or was the heaviest decliner, falling 3.01% to 54,540.00. Navitas Petroleum LP Unit declined 2.68% to 12,360.00, and Next Vision Stabilized Systems ended the day down 1.88% at 24,040.00.
Market breadth and participation
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, with 247 stocks lower versus 203 that rose. Another 107 listings finished unchanged, indicating a session in which gains were concentrated among a subset of names even as the broader tally skewed negative.
Commodities and currencies
Energy and precious-metal contracts showed modest moves in global commodity trading. Crude oil for August delivery slipped 0.33% (down 0.24) to $71.84 a barrel. Brent crude for September delivery ticked up 0.03% (up 0.02) to $76.32 a barrel. The August gold futures contract fell 0.74% (down 30.46) to trade at $4,110.34 a troy ounce.
Currency pairs involving the shekel were largely unchanged at the close. USD/ILS moved 0.06% to 3.01, while EUR/ILS was unchanged at 3.44. The U.S. Dollar Index Futures was trading up 0.03% at 100.71 at the time cited.
Context for investors
The session closed with a narrow net gain for the headline index despite a greater number of stocks declining than rising. Gains were concentrated in financial and insurance names, while select energy and other listings recorded some of the larger percentage drops.
Overall, market participants saw small shifts in commodities and currencies alongside mixed stock-level performance, leaving the TA-35 with a fractional advance at the close of trade.