Beginning January 5, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) will shift its trading week from Sunday–Thursday to Monday–Friday, aligning with global financial markets after more than seven decades of operating on Israel’s traditional schedule. The change aims to make Israeli assets more accessible to international investors and strengthen the country’s integration into global capital flows.
Trading will now run Monday through Thursday until 5:35 p.m., with shorter sessions on Fridays ending at 2 p.m., ahead of the Jewish Sabbath. Sunday will no longer be a trading day. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who approved the reform in late December, said the adjustment would remove a longstanding friction that discouraged foreign participation in Israeli markets.
A core motivation for the shift lies in Israel’s pursuit of inclusion in MSCI’s Europe index. The global index provider declined to reclassify Israel in 2022, partly because its trading calendar did not align with those of European exchanges. Reclassification could channel billions of dollars from passive funds into Israeli equities, improving liquidity and valuations.
International investors have long voiced frustration at missing two trading days between Thursday’s TASE close and Sunday’s reopening while European and American markets remained active. “The new timetable closes that gap and brings Israel’s capital market a step closer to global standards,” said Seffy Zinger, chairman of the Israel Securities Authority.
The move comes during a bullish period for the exchange. The TA-125 index rose about 52% in 2025, despite persistent regional instability. Foreign inflows hit roughly NIS 4.3 billion (around US$1.2 billion), reversing earlier years of net outflows. Much of the buying has focused on Israel’s resilient banking and defense sectors.
Previous efforts to synchronize trading days failed amid opposition from banks and labor unions, which warned of higher costs and Sabbath complications. This time, TASE secured support from the Bank of Israel, the securities regulator, and major financial institutions. Chief Executive Ittai Ben-Zeev described the reform as “an important step toward deepening Israel’s international financial ties.”
Photo credit: דוד שי, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
