Foreign investors have recently been boosting the performance of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE). This is part of the reason why TASE was far less than overseas markets last week. Foreign investors are not keen on Israel’s domestic political turmoil (moving to dismiss Sinbet’s chief and attorney general). Nevertheless, foreign investors are gathering here because of US President Donald Trump’s tariff plans and the strong results recently published by Israeli companies, which have been traded primarily in banks.
Foreign investors have been storming Tase since the beginning of April, buying more than 900 million shares, including NIS 800 million between Tuesday and Thursday, according to data from the Tase research division, which was obtained only by “Globe.” These massive purchases came after foreign investors bought almost NIS 4 billion worth of shares in March. Since the beginning of 2025, foreign investors have purchased NIS 5.2 billion worth of shares, with Tase noting that foreign investment is currently at its highest level in five years.
To understand how rare these numbers are, it is enough to see that foreign investors purchased a net of about 5 billion shekels in January-February 2025. From a broader perspective, numbers have become very rare. Throughout 2024, foreign investors in Tase sold NIS 1.3 billion worth of shares and sold NIS 1.7 billion in 2023.
Tase Research has found that investors are primarily concentrated on large stocks in the Tel Aviv 35 index. According to the data, foreign investors have purchased NIS 2.6 billion worth of bank shares, and another NIS 1.8 billion has been purchased in stakes in NICE Systems, a huge ELBIT system and software company in the defense industry.
Foreign investors have returned to a purely positive balance for the first time since the outbreak of war
Following recent purchases at Tase, foreign investors are balancing the NIS NIS 50 million net purchases for the first time since the war broke out in October 2023. Foreign investors who held shares during the political unrest over judicial reform in 2023 sold NIS 3.9 billion in the first three months of the war, selling another NIS 5.3 billion in shares in the first half of 2024.
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Hadar Romano, manager of Tase Data and Information Services, told Globes that the entry of foreign investors began with the publication of strong financial reports from the bank. She said, “Unlike during the war, institutional investors (Israel) were the only players in the market, foreign investors have also become important players in recent months, even more so than institutional investors.
“We see that foreign investors are not affected by domestic events taking place in Israel. They are not affected by the layoffs of Thinbet’s Ronenber, as they were not sold during judicial reforms in 2023. Meanwhile, they are affected by the war. They are affected by the war.
Furthermore, strong bank reports have made them a huge investment of NIS 5 billion since the beginning of March to date. Despite the war and political crisis, foreigners view Israel as a strong and growing economy, opportunities.
The lack of activity by foreign investors can only be seen in the bond market. “We can count on the days they have purchased government bonds since the start of the war, where we see that they are not buying them every day, but rather they are escaped.”
Israeli masses are more troubled by the firing of Chief Sin Bett than Trump
Israeli citizens have sold NIS worth 300 million shares since the beginning of April through mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). In total, since its inception in 2025, the public has purchased NIS 4.6 billion worth of shares (the majority of January-February) after purchasing NIS 3 billion worth of NIS in 2024.
Romano points out that for Israelis it is Israel’s domestic instability, a more important factor, not Trump. “Sales by Israeli citizens do not necessarily come from Trump’s tariff policies, but rather from the fears of Sin Bett’s chief and judicial reform. At the beginning of March, we had been buying shares since March 23, but there is a flow of funds from the masses.
According to Romano, “Current sales for Trump are no different from previous crisis.” When there was actually panic, there is no panic among Israeli citizens compared to overseas or with Covid. The Israeli people are now showing maturity. ”
Institutional investors are making profits, but are being purchased during waterfalls caused by Trump’s tariffs
Institutional investors, managers of public savings (preservation funds, pensions), were the factors that absorbed the holdings of foreign investors that sold after the outbreak of the war. Between October 2023 and March 2024, they purchased NIS 9.5 billion worth of shares. For the next six months they made no significant purchases. It has since paralleled in October 2024, following the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Chief Hezbollah Hassan Nasrara, following the sudden 30% jump in Israeli stock markets. Since then, they have sold 60% worth of shares they previously purchased. Therefore, the balance of their purchases since the start of the war is above NIS 3.6 billion to date.
How have investors in Israel responded to Trump’s tariffs, resuming judicial reforms and firing of Sin Bett’s chief? Since the beginning of 2025, the facility has sold ETFs worth NIS 2.6 billion, selling NIS 2.2 billion in January, NIS sold 1.5 billion in February, ETFs worth NIS 12 billion, and 500 million in early April. The trend again reversed last week, following a sharp decline in the market that purchased ETFs worth NIS 370 million.
Published by Globes, Israel Business News – En.globes.co.il – April 10, 2025.
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