The shekel is stronger against the dollar and slightly weaker against the euro at the start of the trading week on the foreign exchange market. The shekel-dollar exchange rate is down 0.49% in comparison with Friday's representative rate, at NIS 3.7803/$. The shekel-euro rate is up 0.08%, at NIS 4.9739/€.
On world markets, the US dollar is mixed against the other major currencies. The euro is slightly weaker, at $1.3154/€; the pound sterling is slightly stronger, at $1.6181/£, while the dollar is stronger against the yen, at ¥84.08/$.
Israel's Consumer Prices Index surprised on Friday, with a 0.5% fall for November. There is speculation that the Bank of Israel will cut its interest rate further after a series of low CPI readings.
In its market review, Bank of Jerusalem says, "If it were possible to ignore the appetite for risk on world markets that is weakening the dollar against most main currencies and spurring on the capital markets, we estimate that given the current data (economic/political/geo-political) in Israel, the dollar should strengthen significantly against the shekel in over the next week to two weeks. That however is not the case, and further strengthening of the shekel is still possible."
