ADRs in Focus: Israel index rallies

The Bank of New York Israel ADR Index rose 14.24 points, or 4.8 percent, to 312.91. ADR stands for American Depositary Receipt, which is a security designed to allow U.S. investors to trade shares of companies based overseas.

Teva, based in the industrial city of Petach Tikva, posted data that showed its Parkinson's drug Azilect can slow progression of the disease.

That led Merrill Lynch analyst Gregg Gilbert to upgrade the company to "Buy" from "Neutral" and lift his price target to $54 from $50.

Teva's ADRs rose $2.29, or 5.45 percent, to $44.79 during the session.

Elsewhere, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was to meet with Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU external relations commissioner. Both sides said they plan an agreement on broadening economic and other relations, officials said.

Shares of information technology services company Formula Systems (1985) Ltd. added 56 cents, or 5.6 percent, to $10.56, while shares of Israeli cell phone service company Partner Communications Co. gained 16 cents to $23.73.

Data recording company Nice Systems Ltd. posted the biggest drop, losing 48 cents to $32.96.

While today's large jump was not the norm for the index, so far this year it is still down about 3.5 percent.

The Bank of New York Emerging Markets ADR Index--which includes shares of companies based in China, Mexico, Brazil and more--added 1.86 points to 359.16. The Bank of New York Composite ADR Index gained 1.23 points to 173.64 as the U.S. markets were mixed in afternoon trading.