Hundred leading Israeli public companies participate in the Bulls’ parade project together with TASE members to celebrate 70 years of stock exchange activity in Israel. IDB, Elbit, Osem, Bezeq, Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Teva, Partner, and Strauss-Elite are only a few of the companies taking part.
Dozens of young artists from Art and Design schools in Israel were chosen to take part in the project to design life-sized bulls to be displayed in the “City” area, all along Rothschild Boulevard. Each participant employed an artist to design and decorate a bull within guidelines laid by the TASE and the company. The completed works are on display on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv until mid January 2006.
Bulls were a natural choice, as in stock exchange terminology bulls symbolize rising markets and capital growth.
“We have chosen to mark our seventieth anniversary with this unique project, which expresses the close connection between the TASE and the leading Israeli companies traded on the exchange,” said Ronit Harel Ben-Zeev, Senior Vice President at the TASE. “The project highlights the message that the TASE and the listed companies have a key role in contributing to the development of the Israeli economy, to growth, to employment and to the development of initiatives and infrastructures in Israel. We devote time and thought for continuous development of relations with the public, most of who invest in the stock market, whether directly or indirectly through provident funds, pensions and insurance. We have therefore decided to mark this event through an artistic outdoor display welcoming the public to enjoy it” added Ben-Zeev.
The celebration of 70 years of stock exchange activity commemorates the establishment of the Securities Exchange Bureau at the Anglo-Palestina Bank (today’s Bank Leumi) in 1935. The Exchange Bureau functioned as a small stock exchange, with some 25 securities traded for one hour each day, at a daily volume of several thousands Lira (the currency of the period). Today, some 1,300 securities issued by 600 companies and by the Israeli government trade on the TASE, and the daily turnover is over NIS 3 billion.