Israel's main stock index dived 7.68 percent on Sunday when the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange opened after a four-day holiday weekend and a 45-minute delay enforced after a sharp drop in preliminary trading.
The TA-25 index, which includes the 25 largest Israeli companies by market capitalisation, dropped to 736.66 points while the Tel-Tech index, tied to the booming hi-tech industry, plunged 15.98 percent to 142.81 points.
In the first 20 minutes of trading the main index briefly dropped by another percentage point to 729.40 points, for a total loss of 8.59 percent.
The bourse, which has been closed for the past four days for the Yom Kippur holiday, is required to delay its opening if stocks drop more than five percent in early trading and to close if the TA-25 drops more than 12 percent.