The shekel weakened sharply today against the dollar and the euro. In the morning dealings between banks, the shekel price increased against the dollar by 1.68%, at 3.624 shekels / dollar, and the shekel price rose against the euro by 1.77%, at 3.957 shekels / euro.
On the Tuesday before Passover, the Bank of Israel set the shekel rate in representative dollars down 0.807% from Monday, at 3.564 shekels/dollar, and the shekel rate against the euro was set 0.405% lower, at 3.888 shekels/euro.
The dollar’s strength against the shekel comes despite the dollar’s significant weakness against the world’s major currencies, as the dollar index fell three points to 101.8.
Yossi Freiman, CEO of Risk Management, Finance and Investments at PRICO, told Globes “In Israel the shekel is weakening though in two different directions. We see the dollar strengthening against the shekel while everywhere else in the world the dollar is actually weakening, and on top of that, the markets In the US it is going up and we expect the shekel to go up.”
Fryman explains that the shekel is weakening, while it is natural for it to strengthen, due to the delicate situation in which Israel currently finds itself. “You have to understand that since the judicial reform there has been a lack of confidence in the Israeli market and we are witnessing during Passover, when most of the traders are foreigners, buying foreign currency and a significant decrease in dealings with the Israeli market.”
When the security problem is added to this negative feeling in which the Israeli market finds itself, it is not surprising that we see the drop in the price of the shekel in the foreign exchange market. Fryman tells Globes that the next few days will be important and will require close attention as Israeli traders return to the market after the holiday when we will see how the market reacts when foreign investors join the local ones.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on April 7, 2023.
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