The shekel is weakening today against the dollar and strengthening against the euro. In afternoon inter-bank trading, the shekel exchange rate is up 0.66% against the dollar at NIS 3.197/$ and down 0.16% against the euro at NIS 3.577/euro.
Yesterday, the Bank of Israel set the representative shekel-dollar rate down 0.220% from Tuesday, at NIS 3.176/$, and the representative shekel-euro rate was set 0.150% lower at NIS 3.583/euro.
With the dollar strengthening worldwide after US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell's comments reiterating the need for interest rate hikes to help tame rising inflation, the shekel is trading at levels against the US currency not seen since October 2021.
Bank Hapoalim chief economic advisor Pro. Leo Leiderman said, "The Fed did not surprise and stressed the start of the process of raising interest rates, in order to slow inflationary pressures. The estimates on Wall Street are that the first rise in rates of 0.25% will be at the monetary meeting scheduled for this March. However, the Fed in keeping with tradition did not specify a date for the first rate hike."