Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange Achieves New Trading Records

The Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) announced that a new daily record of 21,275 trades was achieved on Thursday, April 22. This was the highest number of trades processed in one day since the TACT (Tel Aviv Continuous Trading) system was launched in August 1997. Some 42,000 investor orders were matched to set a new TASE record in that category as well. Trading volume in shares, bonds and Treasury-Bills totalled USD250 million. Mr. Yoni Shemesh, TASE's Vice President for Computers and Operations, said that the Exchange's trading systems' performance was excellent: "The TACT system proved that it is a highly advanced system which can handle large volumes efficiently". Preparations for computerised trading in derivatives, scheduled to begin on October 17 1999, are well underway. The TACT system, currently used for trading shares, bonds and T-bills, will enable investors to trade options and futures as well. All derivatives are presently traded in the open outcry method.