Shekel firm as foreign currency reserves top $100b

Shekels Photo: Shutterstock
Shekels Photo: Shutterstock

The shekel-dollar exchange rate is trading at last summer's low-levels despite major foreign currency purchases by the Bank of Israel.

The shekel is strengthening against the dollar and against the euro. In late morning inter-bank trading, the shekel-dollar exchange rate was down 0.08% from yesterday's representative rate at NIS 3.75/$, and down 0.16% against the euro at NIS 4.001/€.

Yesterday, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar representative rate up 0.160% compared with Monday's rate at NIS 3.753/$, and the representative shekel-euro rate was set down 0.380% at NIS 4.007/€.

The shekel-dollar exchange rate is trading at last summer's low-levels despite major foreign currency purchases by the Bank of Israel.

The shekel has been strengthening in recent weeks despite foreign currency exchange purchases by the Bank of Israel. Yesterday the Bank of Israel reported that Israel’s foreign exchange reserves at the end of January 2017 stood at $101.608 billion, up $3.16 billion from their level at the end of the previous month.

This is a record amount and the first time that the reserves have topped the $100 billion threshold. The increase was the result of: foreign currency purchases by the Bank of Israel in January totaling $50 million; a revaluation that increased the reserves by about $868 million; government transfers from abroad totaling about $2.214 billion; and private sector transfers of about $28 million. To this must be added at least $400 million in foreign currency purchases on February 1.

Israel's foreign currency reserves have risen from $90.5 billion at the end of 2015 to $101.6 billion today as the Bank of Israel seeks to help exporters by purchasing foreign currency and weakening the shekel.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 8, 2017

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017

Shekels Photo: Shutterstock
Shekels Photo: Shutterstock
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