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.
