The shekel is weakening today against the dollar and stable against the euro. In late morning inter-bank trading, the shekel-dollar exchange rate was up 0.52% at NIS 3.443/$ and down 0.09% against the euro at NIS 3.869/€.
Yesterday, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar rate 0.262% lower from Tuesday at NIS 3.425/$ and the representative shekel-euro rate was set down 0.119%, at NIS 3.872/€.
The shekel has ended seven straight sessions of gains against the dollar as market tumble worldwide amid the growing realization that Covid-19 is not going to disappear any time soon. On the contrary it seems to be spreading more rapidly than ever worldwide. The US is reporting more cases than ever and Israel is experiencing a new surge, while the virus is resurfacing in locations from Germany to China. With stock markets falling, Israeli institutional investors need to convert shekels into foreign currency to support their overseas positions.
Nevertheless, the shekel is at its strongest against the dollar since February before the pandemic. The strength of the shekel reflects the rebound of the Israeli economy after lockdown and despite shrinking GDP and high unemployment, sentiment is clearly that Israel is faring better than most other western economies. But it remains to be seen whether this can be sustained with the alarming rise in new Covid-19 cases in Israel.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on June 25, 2020
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2020