The shekel has strengthened against the US dollar at the opening of trading this week on the foreign exchange market. The shekel-dollar rate is down 0.49% in comparison with Friday's representative rate, at NIS 3.9387/$. The shekel is also a little stronger against the euro. The shekel-euro rate is currently down 0.1%, at NIS 4.6682/€.
On world markets, the dollar is weaker against most major currencies. The dollar-euro rate is currently around $1.18/€.
"The Bank of Israel will not be in a hurry to raise interest rates, even after the Federal Reserve raises rates in the US," Leader Capital Markets says in a market review published yesterday.
FXCM Israel says this morning, "The shekel-dollar rate can be expected to continue moving in the NIS 3.9-4/$ range, with a rise above NIS 3.98/$ likely to encourage speculators to test the ceiling at the psychologically significant NIS 4/$ level once again. A fall below NIS 3.95 could again generate downward momentum towards NIS 3.90/$.
"The main fear on the markets at present," FXCM adds, "is of a further fall in the price of oil, which recorded a seventh successive week of declines, and is now deep below $50. At the moment, given the excess supply on the oil market, it's hard to estimate when a floor will be set. If we see oil falling further, this will drag the stock market down as well, and the dollar will rise. Only a hint of renewed quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve will change the strategic track of the US currency."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 12, 2015
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015