The shekel weakened sharply against the dollar in afternoon inter-bank trading today, and was also down against the euro. The shekel-dollar exchange rate rose 2.22% to NIS 3.494/$, and the shekel-euro exchange rate rose 0.76% to NIS 4.93/€.
Yesterday, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar representative exchange rate at NIS 3.418/$, up 0.68% on the day before, and set the shekel-euro representative exchange rate at NIS 4.892/€, down 0.17%.
Today's foreign currency trading comes in response to the 0.5% rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for May, announced by the Central Bureau of Statistics last night. The increase was in line with analysts' expectations. Inflation for the preceding 12 months was 4.1%, well above the government's 1-3% inflation target.
In international markets, the dollar is stable against leading currencies, trading at $1.413/€ against the euro, $1.616/₤ against the pound, and ¥80.824/$ against the yen.
Investment bank Goldman-Sachs believes that the shekel will trade against the dollar at NIS 3.5/$ over the next three months, at NIS 3.37/$ in six months time, and NIS 3.3/$ in 12 months time. Goldman Sachs believes the shekel will remain strong due to the higher interest rate in Israel.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com -
