Foreigners flocked to Friday: Stock exchange trading volumes jumped by 173%

The dramatic step by the stock exchange to change trading days yielded results earlier than expected. According to data obtained by Calcalist, trading on Fridays jumped by 173% compared to Sundays, with foreigners accounting for an average of 40.2% of the turnover, compared to only 12.5% on Sundays in 2025. The increase in the share of foreigners also translates into a jump in the volume of their activity: the average daily turnover of foreigners on Fridays stands at 1.59 billion shekels, compared to only 181 million shekels on Sundays, almost 8.8 times higher.

Starting Monday, January 5, 2026, the trading week on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange was changed to Monday through Friday, instead of Sunday through Thursday. The change stemmed from the desire to align operating days with most global stock exchanges. Sunday is a day when most markets are closed, and investors are almost inactive. According to the stock exchange's review, foreign investors previously held 18%-19% of the Israeli stock market, a rate considered "under-holding" compared to their participation in parallel exchanges in economies of Israel's size, where the holding rate reaches 25%.

The total average daily turnover on Fridays stands at 3.94 billion shekels compared to about 1.44 billion shekels on Sundays in 2025, a jump of 173% — which is also about 28% higher than the average daily turnover on all trading days in 2025, which stood at 3.08 billion shekels. Foreigners are the group that increased its activity most sharply. Their turnover on Friday is 84% higher than their average daily turnover for all of 2025. For institutional investors, the turnover on Friday is 9% higher than their daily average in 2025, and for Israeli corporations, it is 12% higher.

Yaniv Pagot, Senior VP and Head of Trading, Derivatives and Indices at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, says that the intensity of the response to the change in trading days surprised even those who supported the move from the start. According to him, one of the central reasons for the success is the economic value of Friday, primarily the higher overlap with trading hours in Europe and the possibility for investors to react already on Friday to developments on Thursday in global markets.

The increase in trading volumes is also reflected in the financial results of the stock exchange. In the second quarter of 2026, the stock exchange's revenues amounted to 185.4 million shekels compared to 136.1 million shekels in the corresponding quarter, a jump of 36%. Operating profit jumped to 97 million shekels compared to 55.4 million shekels, and net profit amounted to 78.9 million shekels compared to 43.6 million shekels in the second quarter of 2025, an increase of 81%.