The shekel is steady against the US dollar in early inter-bank trade on Thursday morning. At web-posting, the shekel stands at NIS 4.732/$, a 0.13% depreciation from Wednesday’s representative rate of NIS 4.726/$.
Meanwhile, the Israeli currency is firmer against the euro, which is seeing some backtracking after strengthening recently against the US dollar. The shekel is currently trading around NIS 4.6635/€, a 0.56% appreciation from yesterday’s representative rate of NIS 4.691/€.
During the last month, the public has withdrawn NIS 1.9 billion from forex-linked mutual funds, according to Meitav. Hebrew daily “Yediot Ahronot” reports today that the public has withdrawn NIS 900 million from forex-linked mutual funds since the start of this month, compared with net withdrawals of NIS 1 billion in June.
These heavy withdrawals are one of the factors behind the continued selling of dollars in the foreign exchange market, where the shekel has strengthened to levels last since in March. Banks forecast that the shekel will continue to strengthen to NIS 4.65 - 4.78 against the greenback in the coming days.
Traders at Israel Discount Bank estimate that yesterday’s trade in the foreign exchange market amounted to $700 million. Trade was calm, with many market players away for a summer break, the traders said.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on 11 July, 2002