Central bank support leads shekel to recover most war losses

Israeli shekel recovers almost all losses since October 7 attack 

The Israeli shekel has rebounded from its losses since the beginning of the conflict between Israel and Hamas. The currency strengthened by as much as 1.1% to 3.8467 against the dollar, effectively reversing the depreciation observed since the start of the war on October 7.  

The shekel fell for 14 straight days after the conflict began, reaching an 11-year low of 4.0855 against the dollar at the end of last month. 

The Bank of Israel disclosed that it sold $8.2 billion in foreign currency reserves in October as part of its efforts to support the shekel. At the start of the conflict, the Israeli central bank had committed to selling up to $30 billion from its forex holdings and offering an additional $15 billion through swaps to bolster the currency. 

Calculate your Forex margin

Calculate your hypothetical required margin for a Forex position, if you had opened it now..

Category

Majors

Majors

Minors

Exotics

Currencies

Instrument

Bid

Ask

Account Type

Retail Professional

Direction

Sell Buy

Quantity

Amount must be equal or higher than

Amount should be less than

Amount should be a multiple of the minimum lots increment

Calculate

USD

USD

EUR

GBP

CAD

AUD

CHF

ZAR

MXN

JPY

Leverage

-

Required Margin

$-

Required margin is displayed in instrument currency

Required Margin

$-

Required margin is displayed in selected account currency

Current conversion price:

-

Start Trading

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

Bank of Israel: Central bank still has “plenty of reserves” for future intervention to prop up shekel 

“The fact BOI did intervene and deployed FX reserves to stabilize the currency gives the central bank a bit more credibility,” said Brendan McKenna, a New-York based emerging-markets strategist at Wells Fargo Securities cited by Bloomberg reporter Netty Ismail. “BOI still has plenty of reserves for future intervention if needed”, they added. 

According to a report by strategists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the central bank has sufficient reserves to effectively counter sharp depreciation in the shekel. They also anticipate that financial inflows from abroad, including aid, will continue to support the shekel in the coming months, leading it to trade around its current levels unless there is further geopolitical escalation. 

The currency interventions resulted in a $7.3 billion decrease in Israel's foreign reserves last month, bringing them down to $191.2 billion, the lowest level in a year. These reserves represent nearly 40% of the nation's gross domestic product, according to a report by Bloomberg News on Tuesday. 

At the time of writing on Wednesday, the USD to ILS rate stood at 3.8568, with the shekel having gained  0.50% against the dollar on the day, as per MarketWatch data. 

When considering foreign currency (forex) for trading and price predictions, remember that trading CFDs involves a significant degree of risk and could result in capital loss. 

Past performance is not indicative of any future results. This information is provided for informative purposes only and should not be construed to be investment advice