Despite geopolitical challenges, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (Tase) closes 2025 with record trading volumes and unprecedented international participation (+70%). We talked about it with Ittai Ben-Zeev, CEO of the “business square” Israeli.
2025 ends with a clear sign for your markets. What factors are driving this investment trend?
«This year Tase achieved record trading volumes. It is driven by a significant increase in global investor participation and a sharp increase in retail activity, with new account openings and trading volumes doubling recently. Today, 86% of companies in the Tel-Aviv 125 index show an average daily trading volume above one million dollars. However, these numbers only tell part of the story. The exceptional strength of the Israeli economy has its roots in more consolidated reasons.”
For example?
«The Israeli market is characterized by a solid sectoral composition, with a strong representation in the technological, financial, defense, biomedical, energy, real estate and consumer sectors. This diversity reflects the resilience and adaptive capacity of the national economy. Israeli companies continue to show impressive profitability, a testament to the operational excellence and innovative capacity of local businesses. Over the past two years, Israel has faced unprecedented challenges. As is known. However, the market remained open. This resilience has strengthened investor confidence. Tase has thus recorded some of the best performances among global stock markets in each of the last two years, attracting both national and international investors.”
It is often said that a war economy is doped by military spending. Is this the case for your country too?
«Periods of war tend to increase public spending. This is true. A phenomenon that can create short-term stimulus effects in sectors such as defense, technology, logistics and manufacturing. In the case of Israel, military-related spending effectively supported activity in some industries and helped maintain employment rates and business revenues during the conflict, despite economic costs and high uncertainty. That said, we have seen an improvement in investor sentiment following the conflict with Iran. While the main economic indicators – relating to the labor market, private consumption and financial markets – indicate a high degree of resilience of the Israeli economy”.
October 7, the war in Lebanon, in Gaza and then the conflict with Iran: how was the market influenced by these events?
«We often talk about October 7, the largest terrorist attack our country has ever suffered, but sometimes we forget to mention October 8, 9, 10 and so on. Days on which the stock exchange remained open. Investors remained in the market and companies raised capital. It was a sign of resilience of our financial structure, which did not want to bow to the ongoing drama.”
What do investors look for when entering the Israeli market?
«What matters are the quality of the market and institutional reliability. Tase is characterized by seamless trading, robust clearing and settlement systems, clear regulation and predictable enforcement. The fact that the Israeli market has remained open and fully operational during the recent crises is a crucial signal to global investors, who are looking for international accessibility, i.e. global reporting standards, governance in line with major financial markets, English-language disclosures, index inclusion and trading hours that overlap with major global markets. In addition to this, it must be said that Israel enjoys growing human capital, enriched by deep technological expertise, which supports long-term economic expansion.”
How is the shekel positioned at the moment? What are the reasons behind its strength?
«The strength of the shekel has been an established fact for about 25 years. We believe the shekel will continue to be a strong currency relative to its trading partners in the coming years. Its strength is supported above all by the energy independence of Israel, which has now become a full-fledged natural gas exporter. Furthermore, the identification as a “start-up nation” generates a constant inflow of foreign currency into the country. The combination of these elements creates a solid foundation that supports a strong shekel.”
Throughout the Western world there has been a rise in anti-Semitism. Have you also observed this phenomenon in the financial sector?
«Fortunately, we have not detected any cases of anti-Semitism in the financial sector. On the contrary, there is a growing interest in participating in the economic growth of our country.”
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Antonio Picasso
