Market analysts said the shekel declined in trading on Monday due to a decision by international ratings agency Fitch over the weekend to downgrade Israel's rating outlook to Stable from Positive.
The Fitch announcement was seen as a warning signal to investors and foreign currency traders about the state of the Israeli economy.
Indeed, some investors see the shekel falling further to 3.90 to the dollar by the end of this year.
The shekel has retained its strength again the American currency for the past several years and attempts by the Bank of Israel to weaken the shekel by buying dollars largely failed to achieve their ends.
Israeli exporters have been cheered by the shekel's decline since it makes Israeli exports cheaper.
The shekel-dollar rate on Monday was down 0.65% on the Bank of Israel's representative rate from Friday, at 3.8578 shekels to the dollar.
The shekel has been declining against the dollar for a number of weeks as the US currency gains on global markets on the back of an improving US economy.
Market analysts said the shekel declined in trading on Monday due to a decision by international ratings agency Fitch over the weekend to downgrade Israel's rating outlook to Stable from Positive.
The Fitch announcement was seen as a warning signal to investors and foreign currency traders about the state of the Israeli economy.
Indeed, some investors see the shekel falling further to 3.90 to the dollar by the end of this year.
The shekel has retained its strength again the American currency for the past several years and attempts by the Bank of Israel to weaken the shekel by buying dollars largely failed to achieve their ends.
Israeli exporters have been cheered by the shekel's decline since it makes Israeli exports cheaper.
