The shekel has lost 12% against the dollar since July and was last above NIS 3.80/$ in August 2010.
The shekel is weakening against the dollar but strengthening against the euro in morning inter-bank trading today, after the US Federal Reserve Board kept its interest rate unchanged at 0-0.25%, and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said that it would stay there through mid-2013. The shekel-dollar exchange rate opened up 0.73%, compared with yesterday's representative rate, to NIS 3.801/$ but soon slipped back to NIS 3.792/$, a rise of 0.47%. This was the first time that the shekel had crossed NIS 3.80/$ since August 31 2010. The shekel has lost 12% against the dollar since July 2011.
The shekel-euro exchange rate fell 0.42% to NIS 4.957/€.
Bernanke did not announce a third qualitative easement (QE3) plan, as many analysts had expected, in an effort to boost market liquidity and drive interest rates down.
In Israel, the Central Bureau of Statistics will announce the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November at 6:30 pm tomorrow, after the markets close.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 14, 2011
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