Amid continued falls on global stock markets, the shekel was again strengthening in morning inter-bank trading today against the dollar and against the euro. The shekel-dollar exchange rate is down 0.7% at NIS 3.86/$ compared with yesterday's representative rate, and the shekel-euro rate is down 0.37% at NIS 4.348/€.
Yesterday, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar representative rate down 0.077% from Monday's rate at NIS 3.887/$, and the representative shekel-euro rate up 0.848% at NIS 4.317/€.
FXCM Israel said in its morning survey, "The dollar continues to fall on global foreign currency exchange markets as the dollar index plunges to its lowest point since October 2015. Even though in the most recent period, we have been witness to a split between the dollar's trend in the world and the dollar's movement against the shekel, this time the negative pressure on the dollar worldwide has determined the shekel-dollar exchange rate, which has been pushed downwards and over the past day even touched the key NIS 3.85/$ level, its lowest level since December 2015."
"The continued negative drift on world stock markets continues to mainly hit the dollar, which strengthened throughout 2015 on expectations that the gap in interest rates between the dollar and other major currencies would widen. However, in the current circumstances on financial markets, it is not clear if the US Federal Reserve can continue raising interest rates during 2016. With extremely volatile conditions and a slowdown in global growth, a rise in interest rates might cause damage to the US economy. There has been a recent change here and there in the rhetoric of senior Fed executives and today there will be another opportunity for those on the market to understand which way the wind is blowing among the Fed's top echelon in Chairwoman Janet Yellen's Congressional testimony before various committees."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 10, 2016
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