The shekel is strengthening today against the dollar and weakening against the euro. In afternoon inter-bank trading, the shekel was down 0.15% against the dollar at NIS 3.250/$ and up 0.15% against the euro at NIS 3.964/€.
Yesterday, the Bank of Israel set the representative shekel-dollar rate 0.061% lower from Monday, at NIS 3.255/$, and the representative shekel-euro rate was set 0.048% lower, at NIS 3.958/€.
The shekel-dollar exchange rate again fell below the NIS 3.25/$ level and only weakened slightly after an aggressive intervention by the Bank of Israel to purchase foreign currency and moderate the appreciation of the Israeli currency.
Prico Risk Management and Investments CEO Yossi Fraiman said, "The local currency market is again awash with foreign currency with foreign customers investing in the Israeli capital market and government bonds as well as the activities of institutional bodies looking to protect their currency exposure created in global investments, pushing the dollar to weaken and back beneath NIS 3.25/$. Every time the shekel strengthens, you can detect the intervention of the Bank of Israel, seeking to prevent the collapse of the shekel-dollar exchange rate to new lows."
He added, "At the current stage, every time the exchange rate fails to rise up to NIS 3.27/$, foreign currency supply is likely to drag the dollar to new low levels. In a period when Covid-19 infections are rising and there is concern of going into social isolation or even a lockdown, Israeli exports continue to act as the enfgine leading economic activities and the government must support this and prevent any harm to trade conditions and the profitability of exports."
Harel Insurance Investments and Financial Services Ltd. (TASE: HARL) head of economics and research department Ofer Klein said, "The swift recovery of Israeli exports in the third quarter have brought the current account surplus to a record amount and that explains among other things the strength of the shekel."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 16, 2020
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2020