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| 14.02.2010 |
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| Changes in the Public’s Portfolio of Financial Assets during the Fourth Quarter and during 2009 |
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In the fourth quarter of 2009, as financial markets continued to recover, the value of the public’s portfolio of financial assets grew by a real rate of 4.1 percent. For 2009 as a whole, the real value of the portfolio grew by about 17.4 percent to NIS 2.3 trillion. |
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The increase in the value of the portfolio reflected the growth in the tradable portfolio and primarily the significant price increases in the markets, though it also reflected the renewal of investment by the public in foreign shares and corporate bonds in Israel, as the recovery from the financial crisis continued. |
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The effect of the increase in the value of securities in the portfolio was reflected in the significant increase in the proportion of tradable assets in the portfolio, at the expense of the proportion of deposits and cash, which had grown during the crisis. |
| The Information and Statistics Department reported that in the fourth quarter of 2009, the value of the public’s portfolio of assets grew by 4.1 percent in real terms. For 2009 as a whole, the value of the portfolio grew by about 17.4 percent in real terms to a level of NIS 2.3 trillion in December. The increase in the value of the portfolio was primarily due to the portfolio of securities whose value grew by about 85 percent during the course of the year. The increase in value primarily reflects the significant rise in the prices of securities – shares and corporate bonds (about 76 percent) – but also the renewal of investment by the public in foreign shares and corporate bonds in Israel, as the recovery from the financial crisis continued. As a result, the share of tradable assets rose by about 8.4 percentage points since the beginning of 2009 to a level of 50.7 percent, at the expense of the proportion of cash and deposits, which had grown during the crisis. |
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| Shares in Israel |
| The main increase in the value of the portfolio during the reporting period occurred in the component of shares in Israel. |
| In 2009, the value of the portfolio of shares held by local residents grew by about NIS 214 billion (98 percent) and reached a level of about NIS 432 billion at the end of December. This reflects an increase in share prices while investment flows were negligible. As a result, the proportion of shares (in Israel) in the portfolio grew by about 7.2 percentage points to about 18.7 percent in December. |
| Corporate Bonds |
| Corporate bonds in Israel constitute another investment channel that had an effect on the growth in the value of the asset portfolio. |
| The value of tradable corporate bonds in the asset portfolio rose by about 3.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 to about NIS 200 billion in December. In 2009, the value of tradable bonds rose by about 56 percent, primarily as a result of the increase in prices (48 percent) but also due to the net issue of tradable bonds in the amount of about NIS 10 billion (8 percent). |
| The asset portfolio abroad |
| The value of the public’s investment portfolio aboard rose during the fourth quarter of 2009 by about NIS 19 billion (8 percent) to a total of about NIS 257 billion. Of that, NIS 13 billion was due to the flow of investment in foreign shares. |
| In 2009, the value of the asset portfolio abroad rose by about NIS 58 billion (29 percent), with the main part of the increase in investment in foreign shares abroad (NIS 54 billion). Half of this was due to net investment, primarily through institutional investors, while the other half was due to the increase in share prices in markets abroad. These developments led to an increase of about 2 percentage points in the proportion of shares in the portfolio at the expense of deposits and cash. |
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