The shekel is weakening against the dollar and the euro in afternoon inter-bank trading today. The shekel-dollar exchange rate rose 0.38%, compared with yesterday's representative rate, to NIS 3.965/$, and the shekel-euro exchange rate rose 0.55% to NIS 5.122/€.
In international markets, the dollar strengthened slightly to $1.29/$ after hitting a fourth-month low against the euro yesterday.
FXCM Israel's research department said this morning that the dollar will continue to fall this week against the world's other major currencies following expected expansionist steps by the US Federal Reserve.
FXCM said, "After a certain period in which the correlation between the dollar in global trading and between the shekel-dollar exchange rate was broken, over the past week we have again seen a realignment between the local foreign exchange market and global trends. This correlation will continue for the rest of the week. In other words the shekel-dollar exchange rate will move according to global trends. This will be influenced by key events in the global arena including first and foremost the interest rate decision by the Federal Reserve. If the Federal Reserve decision disappoints and there is no announcement about monetary expansion, the dollar will recover and strengthen against the shekel.
"On the other hand, if the Federal Reserve does announce expansionist measures today (printing more dollars and putting them on the market) then the dollar will continue to weaken in the short to medium term and could fall to NIS 3.90/$. Although, in line with rallies on oversseas markets, that are nearly realized, The shekel-dollar exchange rate could also rise to NIS 3.97/$ or NIS 3.98/$."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 13, 2012
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