The shekel is strengthening today against the dollar and against the euro. In afternoon inter-bank trading, the shekel-dollar exchange rate is down 0.29% against the dollar at NIS 3.672/$ and down 0.93% against the euro at 4.137/€. On Friday, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar representative rate up 0.272% at NIS 3.683/$ and set the shekel-euro rate down 0.460% at 4.176/€. RELATED ARTICLES Bank of Israel ends gas offset program forex purchases The shekel is gaining against the dollar and against the euro today despite the military flare up along Israel's border with Gaza. The shekel is strengthening against the dollar even though the US currency is close to a 16-month high against a basket of major currencies on world markets. Traders attribute the strength of the shekel to the decision by the Bank of Israel to stop buying foreign currency to offset the impact of natural gas sales on the exchange rate. The strength of the dollar comes after the US Federal Reserve reiterated its plan to raise interest rates by 25 basis points in December, followed by two more rate hikes by mid-2019 despite harsh criticism by President Donald Trump who described the repeated rate hikes as "crazy." The dollar is also stronger against sterling and the euro due to the lack of progress in the Brexit talks. Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 12, 2018 © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2018
