Israeli shekel further strengths against US dollar

Israeli economists watched anxiously a further strengthening of the shekel against the U.S. dollar which was traded Wednesday morning at 3.56 shekels. A 0.60-percent fall of the dollar on Wednesday against the shekel brought its value close to a record low in May, when a dollar was traded at 3.54 shekels. The dollar's drastic drop prompted Israel's central bank to purchased 2.5 billion dollars in the past three months. But only hours ahead of U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony, the dollar dipped again on Wednesday morning. In Israel, the dollar' depreciation comes at a time of central bank governor change, as Stanley Fischer had stepped down in June and his appointed successor, Jacob Frenkel, got entangled in an alleged shoplifting case under review by the prosecution. Researchers with Forex Capital Markets (FXCM) Israel said Wednesday that in the absence of action by the central bank, the shekel to dollar exchange rate could fall to 3.50 shekels per dollar.