Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Stanley Fischer intervened again today in the foreign currency market, buying $300 million,as the shekel continues to strengthen against the dollar and the euro. The last time Fischer intervened, in December, he bought $200 million.
The shekel-dollar exchange rate is down 0.65% to NIS 3.7405/$, and the shekel-euro exchange rate is down 0.18% to NIS 5.4116/€.
A trader from one of the foreign currency dealing rooms told "Globes" today, "Many foreigners have been selling dollars and buying shekels in recent days. Deutsche Bank and Barclays are very active and are buying shekels. The same foreign investors who closed positions at the end of last year have been reopening them in recent days, especially in long shekel positions."
Harel Insurance Investments and Financial Services Ltd. (TASE: HARL) economists estimate that in six months time, the shekel-dollar exchange rate will be NIS 3.70/$.
Since the representative shekel-dollar exchange rate hit NIS 3.808/$ on December 23, 2009, the rate has fallen for six consecutive days, and today continues to trade lower. Over the past ten days, the shekel has strengthened against the euro as well, with the representative shekel-euro exchange rate falling from NIS 5.4675/€ on December 24th to NIS 5.421/€ yesterday.
In 2009, the first few months of the year were marked by shekel weakness, as the exchange rate rose from around NIS 3.8/$ to over NIS 4.2/$ by March.
Yesterday, the Bank of Israel reported that foreign investors greatly increased their investment in Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE)-listed equities, with a total of $560 million invested in TASE stocks in November, compared with $167 million in October and $146 million in September.
Foreign direct investment in Israel was $580 million in November, mostly in the finance and high-tech sectors, compared with negative $96 million in October.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 5, 2010
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2010