Since the beginning of the year, the dollar has weakened by more than 6% against the shekel. • The Bank of Israel's increased purchases have not saved it from a 24-year low either.
Decline in demand for dollars
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The dollar exchange rate this week completed a decline of 0.3% and a decline of 6.1% since the beginning of the year, when it stood at NIS 3,235 per dollar on Friday.
The euro exchange rate rose by 0.7% last week, completing a 2.4% increase since the beginning of the year, and stood at NIS 3.9615 per euro.
The dollar also weakened relative to the currency basket, but against the shekel it weakened even further, despite the Bank of Israel's efforts to intervene in purchases, amounting to more than $ 165 billion.
The Bank of Israel has increased the rate of dollar purchases since last month, in order to moderate the downward trend in demand for dollars.
In fact, it is close to the 1996 low, when the dollar traded against the shekel at a similar rate.
In the world the US dollar has weakened due to the large-scale US assistance programs for the economy, which are financed mainly through money printing, which weakens the world currency.
The inflated debt of the world's largest power also reached $ 27.5 trillion, while US GDP stood at $ 21.3 trillion - a debt-to-GDP ratio of 144.5%.
The last few months have been characterized by both a decline in demand for dollars from Israelis and an increase in demand for shekels from American dollar holders.
Just this week, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange reported an issue of Nofar Energy, which raised about NIS 613 million - about NIS 608 million raised in a non-uniform offer to institutional investors (Book Building) and about NIS 5 million raised in a uniform offer to the public, by value A company of about NIS 2.6 billion after the IPO.
Rise in demand for the shekel
Approximately NIS 35 million of the issue was raised through a sale offer by the controlling shareholder in the company.
The company is engaged in the initiation, construction and operation of systems for the production of electricity from solar energy.
Many of the institutions in such purchases are entities from abroad, which make their purchases after converting dollars to shekels.
Delek also issued NIS 40 million this week on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, for the third time this year, and a cumulative amount of NIS 315 million.
Manif raised NIS 200 million this week.
Many Israeli technology companies - both public and private - are raising money in global markets, thus increasing the demand for shekels from dollar holders.
This trend reinforces the decline in demand for dollars from Israelis, who for the first time remain in the country and do not convert the shekels into foreign currency.
The Bitcoin exchange rate continued to rise this week, breaking the $ 22,000 per unit limit, and the market value of cryptocurrencies crossed the $ 650 billion mark.
On the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, the Tel Aviv 35 Index fell by 0.1% this week and completed a decline of 12.6% since the beginning of the year.
In contrast, the Tel Aviv 90 and Tel Aviv 125 indices continued the upward trend this week as well, recording increases of 2.5% and 0.8%, respectively.