The dollar closed at 3.523 shekels Monday, rising more than three percent, one of the sharpest one-day increases in recent years.
The sudden strength in the dollar resulted from Bank of Israel Governor Prof. Stanley Fischer's statement last week that the Bank would invest billions of shekels to buy dollars. Another factor is the expectation that Fischer will slash the lending rate for April by half a percent Monday evening, making the shekel less attractive to investors.