Israeli shekel weakens amid political uncertainty

TEL AVIV Feb 11 (Reuters) - Israel's shekel weakened against the dollar on Wednesday as the country faces weeks of uncertainty following an election that ended with clashing claims of victory.

At 0622 GMT the shekel ILS2= was trading at 4.0590 per dollar, compared with Monday's official rate of 4.0370. The market was closed on Tuesday for the election.

Nearly final results gave centrist Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's Kadima party 28 seats to 27 for hawkish rival Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud in the 120-member parliament.

Livni said she would become prime minister and invited him to join a "unity government".

Netanyahu, pointing to what he called a large "nationalist camp" in parliament, said he would head a coalition government, comprised of rightist parties. (Reporting by Tova Cohen; Editing by Jan Dahinten)