The shekel is strengthening today against the dollar and against the euro. In morning inter-bank trading, the shekel-dollar exchange rate is down 0.48% against the dollar at NIS 3.599/$ and up 0.55% against the euro at 4.325/€.
Yesterday, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar representative rate up 0.780% from Monday's exchange rate at NIS 3.616/$ and set the shekel-euro rate up 0.237% at 4.349/€.
The Israeli currency is strengthening today but fears of an Israel-Iran flare-up remain. Some market sources believe that in the coming weeks the shekel can be expected to weaken as geopolitical concerns persist with the shekel-dollar exchange rate, currently stabilizing around NIS 3.60/$, heading towards NIS 3.70/$.
Prico Risk Management and Investments CEO Yossi Fraiman said, "Against the backdrop of events in the geopolitical and security arena and with the tense wait for President Trump's decision on the future of the agreement between the western powers and Iran, the dollar is strengthening worldwide as well as on the domestic front. There is a tense wait for May 14, the date on which the US moves its embassy to Jerusalem, and which is contributing to uncertainty and demand for the dollar in Israel."
Fraiman adds, "Exporters are taking advantage of the relatively high exchange rate, converting foreign currency and thus contributing to a slowdown in surplus dollar demand. In our estimate, while the security picture remains unclear, we can expect digital activity on the foreign currency market to provide a major surplus in demand for the dollar and support movement towards NIS 3.63-3.65/$.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 2, 2018
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