The shekel is strengthening today against the dollar and against the euro. In late morning inter-bank trading the shekel-dollar exchange rate is down 0.40% at NIS 3.393/$ and down 0.36% against the euro at NIS 3.991/€.
Yesterday, the Bank of Israel set the shekel 0.117% lower from Tuesday at NIS 3.407/$, and the representative shekel-euro rate was set 0.247% down at NIS 4.005/€.
After losing ground throughout September, the Israeli currency has been appreciating since the beginning of October and this morning strengthened below the significant NIS 3.40/$ and NIS 4.00/€ thresholds. .
The shekel's recent situation was reflected in the latest foreign exchange reserves published by the Bank of Israel yesterday. Between May and August the Bank of Israel bought $7.5 billion in foreign currency in attempts to weaken the shekel and help exporters. Despite this the shekel began September at NIS 3.353/$, its strongest since July 2008.
But during September, the shekel weakened to NIS 3.46/$, without the Bank of Israel making significant foreign currency purchases, mainly due to the strengthening of the dollar on world markets.
With the holiday lockdown now reducing the level of Covid-19 infection in Israel and the holiday season coming to an end, there is increased hope that the economy may be able to open up and this is boosting the shekel.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 8, 2020
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