The shekel continued to weaken against the dollar in morning inter-bank trading today and is also losing ground against the euro.
The shekel-dollar exchange rate is currently up 0.66%, compared with yesterday's representative rate, at NIS 3.855/$, and the shekel-euro exchange rate is up 0.5% to NIS 5.008/€.
In international markets, the dollar euro exchange rate is virtually unchanged at $1.299/€.
FXCM Israel head of research Moshe Shalom said, "All the factors that are positively influencing the dollar against the shekel are still in place. The dollar is strengthening on global markets while stock markets in Israel and around the world are falling and there is still no massive activity by the European Central Bank and the technical situation is positive, containing a positive direction for indicators and momentum of the dollar. The dollar has succeeded in crossing the lower threshold that has stopped it so far, and it appears that it is no longer valid to expect it to tread water in the vicinity of NIS 3.81/$ and NIS 3.82/$.
He added, "The hesitant rise of the dollar stems from the inability of investors to predict the result of the US elections. Reelection of President Obama will create a short term momentum of relief regarding the reappointment of Fed Reserve chief Ben Bernanke, and a rise in share and a fall in the dollar. On the other hand, a Romney victory, which may be good in the long term for the business community, could be very problematic in the short term and cause falls in the stock market and a rise in the dollar.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 24, 2012
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