JERUSALEM, May 16 Reuters The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange TASE is planning to alter its schedule and add Friday to the trading week in a bid to strengthen the Israeli bourse39;s global profile, it said on Thursday.

The exchange hopes a decision to shift away from Israel39;s Sunday to Thursday work week to one that overlaps more with Wall Street and European bourses will win inclusion in global index provider MSCI39;s Europe category.

The announcement comes as shares have recovered from the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that pushed the broad Tel Aviv 125 index down 12 in October. The index is now up 8 since Oct. 5, although MSCI39;s index of world shares has risen more than 20 over the same period.

Reassigning Israel to a new region like Europe could open the door to more passive inflows for the Israeli capital markets, but MSCI in 2022 rejected shifting the country to a new region, citing differing market trading days as a key reason.

MSCI, which provides equity, fixed income and hedge fund indexes, upgraded Israel to a developed market from an emerging one in 2010.

Under the TASE39;s proposal, in collaboration with the Israel Securities Authority and Bank of Israel, trading would move to either Monday through Friday or Sunday through Friday in which trading on Sundays would begin at 12.00 local time 0900 GMT.

Trading volume on Sundays is usually far lower than the rest of the week and trading ends 90 minutes earlier on that day.

It was yet to be decided how extended…