Bethel Finance news:
The shekel held at the highest levels in more than two years on bets foreign-currency purchases by the Bank of Israel may not offset the effects of a faster pace of rate increases. Government bonds rose.
The central bank, which has more than doubled reserves to $73.8 billion since March 2008, has been buying dollars the last few days, according to Doron Levi, head of the dealing room at Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Ltd. The shekel increased as much as 0.4 percent to 3.4527 per dollar and was 0.1 percent lower at 3.4695 as of 4:32 in Tel Aviv. It reached 3.4406 per dollar April 1, the strongest level since September 2008.
“Investors are feeling more comfortable to return to the shekel as recent dollar purchases and other tools by the central bank to weaken the currency are not having much of an effect,” Amir Kahanovich, an economist at Clal Finance Investment Management Ltd. in Tel Aviv said by telephone. “The shekel is expected to strengthen further supported by sound economic data and bets the central bank will raise the base lending rate faster.”
Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer on March 28 lifted the interest rate by a half-percentage point to 3 percent, the first increase of its size since 2005, putting the main rate at the highest level since November 2008. Public sector debt-to- gross domestic product ratio declined about three percentage points to 76.6 percent at the end of last year as the economy expanded, the Finance Ministry’s debt management unit said in its annual report yesterday.
The benchmark Mimshal Shiklit bond due January 2020 advanced, pushing the yield down 2 basis points to 5.25 percent at the 4:30 p.m. close.
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