Israel foreign direct investment $1 bln in Sept

Nov 9 - Foreigners injected nearly $1 billion of direct investment into Israel through local banks in September, after pumping in $362 million in August, the Bank of Israel said on Sunday.

Sept 08 Aug 08 Jan-June 2007 Foreign portfolio investments -518 -523 970 2,160 Direct investment via banks 996 362 3,008 5,821

NOTE: Total direct investment was $3.66 billion in the first half of 2008, including $3.008 billion reported by the local banking system. The central bank did not provide comparison data for the third quarter.

Total direct investment was $9.67 billion in 2007.

-- "In September there was a marked increase in nonresidents' direct investment in Israel, which totalled about $1 billion. The main investments were an investment of about $200 million in a chemical company, and one of $175 million in an electronics company," the Bank of Israel said in a report.

-- It noted that foreign investments on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange included net realisations of $520 million, made up of sales of shares in the amount of $600 million and net investments in bonds of about $80 million. Most of the sales were of shares of chemical companies (more than $300 million) and bank shares ($240 million).