Shekel weakens

The shekel continued to weaken against the U.S. dollar in inter-bank trading on Wednesday. The exchange rate with the dollar was up by 0.27 percent at NIS3.64 to the $, and the shekel euro rate was up by 0.73 percent with NIS5.15 to the Euro. Banking officials said the shekel weakened 7 percent in the past six weeks. On the international market the dollar and Japanese yen strengthened against the Euro for the sixth consecutive business day. Officials said this was mainly due to concerns over the deep debtcrisis looming in Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel'sparty lost in local elections in her home state, showing the dissatisfaction the German public has over the country'sinvolvement in the Euro rescue program. Eitan Admoni the foreign currency dealing room manager at the Bank of Jerusalem told Globes the crisis withTurkey could have a negative impact on the shekel.