The Bank of Israel today set the shekel-dollar representative exchange rate at NIS 4.163/$, 2.19% less than on Monday, before the Remembrance Day and Independence Day break. The shekel-euro representative exchange rate was set at NIS 5.525/€, down 0.40%.
The dollar weakened against leading currencies in international markets today. The euro strengthened 0.3% against the dollar to $1.331/€, and the pound sterling strengthened 0.6% to $1.486/₤.
Clal Forex VP investments Tal Uvda told "Globes" today that the shekel's appreciation against the dollar was in line with the dollar's weakness on international markets. "In the past days, when there was no inter-bank foreign currency trading in Israel, the dollar weakened in international markets, especially against the euro. This was mainly due to comments by Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben S. Bernanke about the Fed's optimism about the US economy. We're seeing the local reaction today."
Uvda believes that comments by officials, such as Bernanke, to affect foreign currency trading sentiment over time is quite limited. The effect usually lasts for no more than a day or two. He believes that this will happen in the local market as well.
Reports attribute the drop in the dollar against other currencies to stop loss orders. Uvda said, "Foreign currency traders prefer facts on the ground, not assessments or comments of this kind. In the end, market sentiment will be determined by factual data, such as US macroeconomic figures, rather than by this or that assessment."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 30, 2009
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2009