Dollar-Shekel Rate Breaks 4.0 Barrier

The dollar-shekel rate has broken through the 4.0 barrier and was holding on Monday afternoon at NIS 4.0047/$, up 0.99% in comparison with Friday’s representative rate, Globes reported.

The shekel-euro rate was down 1.48%, at NIS 4.3654/€.

This puts the U.S. dollar rate at its highest since September 2012. One reason is the better employment figures released in the U.S. at the end of last week, boosting expectations of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve in the next few months.

FXCM Israel said on Monday morning that the dollar’s gain is impressive but uncertainties remain.

“After several days of hesitation, the shekel-dollar rate has broken through the NIS 4/$ barrier, and very strongly. The test for the shekel-dollar pair this week will be to consolidate above NIS 4/$ and to make this a reference point for the next move upwards. A fall below NIS 4/$ could again alarm those holding long positions and accelerate the decline, but it appears that this time there is a high probability that the breakthrough is a genuine one that will last.

“The next target for the shekel-dollar pair will be at the NIS 4.07/$ level. There is no doubt that current conditions favor the dollar, given the gap in growth between Israel and the U.S. and the interest rate expectations deriving from this.”

This article appeared in print on page 7 of the March 10th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.