JERUSALEM, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing appreciation of the Israeli shekel against the U.S. dollar stood at 3.728 shekels per dollar on Friday, according to official rates issued by the state's central bank.

This is the highest value of the Israeli currency against the greenback since the beginning of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Shekel had been on a downward path since the conflict broke out on Oct. 7, when the rate was about 3.863 shekels per dollar, declining to 4.079 on Oct. 26, an 11-year low. Since then, however, the trend reversed.

Yossi Frank, CEO of Energy Finance, a leading Israeli financial risk management company, explained to Xinhua that the market became convinced that the fighting would not spread to other fronts except Gaza after the high concerns in the first weeks of the conflict.

He added that the recent surge in the U.S. stock markets, due to the new encouraging inflation data, led the institutional entities in Israel to sell dollars and thus strengthened the shekel.

"At the same time, October's high inflation rate in Israel reduced the chance for the central bank to raise the basic interest rate, which also contributed to the shekel's strength," he noted.

"All in all, most of the factors that played a role in the shekel's depreciation this year no longer exist," Frank said. Enditem

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