Bank of Israel says no change to forex purchases

The Bank of Israel said on Thursday it had not changed its policy of buying foreign currency on a daily basis.

'The Bank of Israel continues as usual to buy dollars,' the central bank said in a once-sentence statement.

On Wednesday, the shekel soared to a nearly four-month high of 4.01 per dollar. Dealers cited a Citigroup report that the Bank of Israel was discussing a strategy to end daily forex purchases.

The shekel stood at 4.01 per dollar at 0925 GMT. The dollar had briefly dropped to 3.98 shekels earlier.

In March 2008, the Bank of Israel began purchasing $25 million a day of foreign currency and raised it to $100 million a day last July.

(Reporting by Steven Scheer and Tova Cohen; Editing by Victoria Main) Keywords: ISRAEL SHEKEL/CENBANK link...