Today's trading in curency options indicates a further 0.25% appreciation of the shekel against the US dollar to NIS 4.356/$. On the other hand, the euro-shekel exchange rate is expected to rise a further 1.1% to a record NIS 5.8236/€. In interbank trading on Friday, shekel-euro exchange rate quotes reached a record of over NIS 5.87/€.
Meanwhile, an interest rate hike by the Bank of Israel, expected for early 2005 until two weeks ago, is fading into the future. An interest rate cut of 0.1-0.2%, to 3.7-3.8%, is now expected for the monetary plan for January.
12-month short-term loan yields are now 4.44%, the lowest level in a long time. Three-month dollar options presage a dollar-shekel exchange rate of only NIS 4.376/$. Buyers of dollars at the mid-February 2003 exchange rate of NIS 4.924/$ have lost NIS 0.557 per dollar. The dollar-shekel representative rate has fallen 5.8%, or NIS 0.274, in the past six months.
The pound sterling is beginning to rise faster against the shekel than the euro. Buyers of pound sterling at the September 2003 exchange rate of NIS 6.9772/£ have made a profit of over NIS 1.42 per pound, or 20.4%. The pound-shekel exchange rate has risen by 9.5%, or NIS 0.723, since the beginning of 2004.
Buyers of euros at the September 2003 exchange rate of NIS 4.8063 have made a profit of NIS 0.995, per euro, or 20.6%. The euro-shekel exchange rate has risen by 7.4%, or NIS 0.40 in the past six months.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on December 5, 2004