Israeli stocks on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange deepened their losses on March 24, hitting a new intraday low at approximately 16:53 local time. The TA-35 index fell approximately 2%, whilst the TA-90 index declined 1.8%.

The downturn marks a reversal from the brief recovery following US President Donald Trump's announcement of a five-day suspension on planned strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure.

After the announcement, the TA-35 managed to erase its previous 2% loss. However, sustained concerns over regional instability and economic pressures have driven renewed selling across Israeli markets.

The security index led declines with a 4.7% drop, reflecting heightened uncertainty over defence sector prospects amid ongoing Iran-Israel-US tensions. Technology and cleantech indices followed with losses of 2.8% and 2.4% respectively, whilst the insurance index turned negative, falling 2.4%.

Elbit Systems, which had grown to become Israel's largest company by market capitalisation, declined 2.46%. Insurance and investment firm Migdal fell 4.41%, whilst Meshek Energy slumped 7.51%, leading the session’s losses.

With economic pressures and oil sector concerns continuing to mount due to the Iran-Israel-US war, the US has temporarily lifted sanctions to permit the sale and delivery of Iranian oil, allowing for up to 140mn barrels of crude to enter global markets over the coming weeks. Still, it remains to be seen whether Israeli stocks will respond in a positive manner should economic conditions improve in the coming days.