Shekel loses more ground against dollar

Shekels Photo: Shutterstock
Shekels Photo: Shutterstock

The dollar has been boosted by US Fed minutes, which revealed that a June rate hike is an option.

The shekel is again weakening in early afternoon inter-bank trading against the dollar and is stable against the euro. The shekel has now lost more than 2% against the dollar this week in part following the publication of disappointing first quarter growth figures by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The shekel-dollar exchange rate is up 0.47% at NIS 3.853/$ compared with yesterday's representative rate, and the shekel-euro rate is down 0.07% at NIS 4.32/€.

Yesterday, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar representative rate up 0.445% from Tuesday's rate at NIS 3.835/$, and the representative shekel-euro rate up 0.035% at 4.323/€.

The dollar is stronger following publication of the minutes of the last US Federal Reserve discussions on interest rates which have boosted speculation the rates could be set to rise soon. In discussions it became clear that the Fed now sees an interest rate hike in June as a possible option. Traders who had not seen this coming now feel the dollar is underpriced while rate hike speculation has also depressed stock markets including the TASE.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 19, 2016

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2016

Shekels Photo: Shutterstock
Shekels Photo: Shutterstock
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