The shekel-dollar exchange rate was down over 3%.
The shekel-dollar exchange rate is down 3.2% in morning trading today and falling fast the wake of Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben S. Bernanke's 75-basis point cut in the Fed interest rate yesterday to 3.5%. The rate fell to NIS 3.6755/$ at the opening. The Bank of Israel interest rate is 4.25%.
The interest rate gap between the shekel and the dollar is now 75 basis points. Last year, the gap opened in the US's favor for the first time in history, reaching 175 basis points, before closing completely following rate hikes in Israel and rate cuts in the US.
Yesterday's shekel-dollar representative exchange rate was set at NIS 3.795/$, after falling 0.16% to fall back below the NIS 3.80/$ threshold. It has now fallen below the NIS 3.70/$ threshold.
The shekel-euro exchange rate fell 2.4% to NIS 5.5374/€ in morning trading today. Yesterday's shekel-dollar representative exchange rate was set at NIS 5.55081/€, after remaining almost unchanged.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 23, 2008
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