The shekel is ending August at its strongest against the dollar in over six months. In afternoon inter-bank trading, the shekel is down 0.42% against the dollar at NIS 3.208/$ and down 0.03% against the euro at NIS 3.798/€. The shekel is trading at its strongest against the dollar since January 19, several days after the central bank announced that it would buy $30 billion in foreign currency in 2021.
Yesterday, the Bank of Israel set the representative shekel-dollar rate down 0.309% from Friday, at NIS 3.222/$, and the representative shekel-euro rate was set 0.047% lower, at NIS 3.799/€.
The shekel is strengthening as international stock markets continue to rise and Israeli institutional investors buy shekels on profit taking. In addition, relatively small numbers of Israelis traveled abroad during August due to Covid restrictions during a month when holidaymakers usually flock overseas, converting large amounts of shekels to foreign currency.
The Bank of Israel has been intervening in the foreign currency market to sell shekels and it will announce next week how much was purchased during August and whether the downward trend in purchases has continued.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 31, 2021
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