The shekel has again been weakening, reaching its lowest level on Wednesday against the U.S. dollar since July.
In afternoon interbank trading, the shekel is up 0.85% versus the dollar, trading at NIS 3.445/$, and up 0.32% against the euro, trading at NIS 3.402/€.
According to a report in the Israeli business daily Globes, Bank Hapoalim chief financial-market strategist Modi Shafrir said: “If we look at the shekel against the dollar, it looks like the trend is downwards but against the basket of major currencies, the shekel is still very strong.”
Shafrir added that “when the markets fall, as is happening now, they buy dollars. The institutional investors are exposed to overseas markets through contracts and by buying dollars they increase their collateral.”
Shafrir noted that the dollar is considered secure and serves as a safe haven when markets drop.
