The Israeli shekel reached its strongest level in more than three years against the US dollar yesterday in a further sign of market confidence as the fragile Gaza peace deal continues to hold.
The shekel was trading at ₪ 3.212 to the dollar yesterday afternoon.
Yonie Fanning, chief strategist at Israel’s Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank attributed this strengthening of the shekel partly to the fact that talks are taking place between Israel, the US, and Qatar about rebuilding relations after Israel's attack on Doha in September, while Hebrew financial news site Globes reported that the currency’s strength reflected several factors, including anticipated US interest rate cuts that widen the gap between dollar and shekel rates, making Israeli currency more attractive to investors.
Bank analysts cited robust defence exports, increased foreign venture capital investments in Israeli startups and hedging activities by institutional investors as fundamental drivers of the “strong shekel” trend.
Against the euro, the shekel also strengthened to near three-year highs.
This renewed market confidence comes after Black Friday sales in Israel jumped 28 per cent compared to the same day in 2024 – a strong indicator of improved consumer confidence during the ceasefire.
Consumer spending exceeded ₪1.5bn shekels (about £345m), surpassing the total spending pre-war on Black Friday in 2022, which amounted to ₪1.2 billion shekels (about $280 million).
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