Measuring the impact of terror: an event study of Tel Aviv Stock Exchange

Key Points: Events observed in Israel include terror attacks, controversial elections and unexpected wars, the impact of which can be observed and analysed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in terms of abnormal returns. Results show that defence and high-tech industries react positively to these events while other industries have a negative reaction. Recent data demonstrate that these events create positive abnormal market reactions when Israel is at war with Lebannon because of the high number of defence and high-tech companies listed on Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and included in its TASE index. A phenomenon of the "normalisation" of terror" can be observed in the stock exchange, as the market reacted negatively to events in 2002 but has become more resilient to recent event