U.S. one hundred dollar notes are seen in this picture illustration taken in Seoul Feb. 7, 2011. Photo by Reuters
The U.S. dollar surged against the Vietnamese dong and major peers Monday morning.
Vietcombank sold the greenback at VND25,530, a 0.9% increase from the weekend. On the black market, the greenback was steady at VND25,550.
The State Bank of Vietnam’s reference rate was stable at VND24,325.
Globally, the dollar surged on Monday, pushing its Canadian counterpart and Mexican peso to multi-year lows while China’s yuan slumped to a record low in offshore trading after U.S. President Donald Trump kicked off a trade war by imposing sweeping tariffs, Reuters reported.
The U.S. dollar’s gains were broad, with the euro also dropping to a more than two-year low and the Swiss franc – despite typically acting as a safe haven – sliding to the weakest since May.
“The surprise for markets … is that Canada and Mexico retaliated immediately and that others, i.e. China and the EU, may follow their lead, resulting in a sharp contraction in global trade,” said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG.
“The starting date of U.S. tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China of Feb. 4 was also much sooner than many had anticipated.”
The U.S. currency climbed 2.7% to 21.40 Mexican pesos, hitting its highest since March 2022, and rose 1.4% to C$1.4755 , a level not seen since 2003.
The euro plunged as much as 2.3% to $1.0125 – the lowest since November 2022 – before recovering some composure to change hands at $1.025725 as investors braced for tariffs on Europe from the Trump administration.
The greenback added as much as 1.1% to 0.9210 Swiss franc, the highest since last May, before trading at 0.9142 franc. Sterling fell 0.74% to $1.2304. Japan’s yen was more resilient, down slightly at 155.50 per dollar.
That left the dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six other units, 0.11% firmer at 109.65. It had touched a three-week high in early trading.
