Israel has voted. The results are in. And the financiers reacted by causing a 2.6% drop in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE). They don’t like change, especially when political uncertainty remains in the air.

Now look again.

Despite the fall, the TASE has still risen 5.36% since the beginning of the year. And there was a war going on as well for much of the time.

Some of the Israeli companies listed overseas are also being sought after. In the healthcare sector, Teva’s continuing success is well documented. Card Guard is located in Rehovot and has a strong reputation for devising remote patient monitoring systems. 

On the internet front, Michael Eisenberg recently identified 3 Israeli companies that may be well positioned to take off financially; Incredimail (MAIL), Answers.com (ANSW) and Babylon (traded on TASE: BBYL).

On more fundamental issues, the local papers remain full of pessimistic news about high tech companies going on to a 4-day working week. Yet on a rainy election day itself, most of the shopping malls were packed. Many reported a 200 – 400% increase in normal trading volumes. That spending power came from somewhere.

I don’t hold positions in the companies mentioned. I was not shopping on election day. Yet, while I recognise that 2009 will not be a pretty year for everyone commercially, there is still a lot of business out there in Israel.