An employee counts U.S. banknotes at a bank in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Tung
The U.S. dollar strengthened against the Vietnamese dong Friday morning while it was set for a weekly loss against major currencies.
Vietcombank sold the greenback at VND26,360, up 0.01% from Thusrday. On the black market, the currency rose 0.08% to around VND26,876 on the black market.
The State Bank of Vietnam raised its reference rate by 0.01% to VND25,105.
Globally, the dollar on Friday was heading for its largest weekly drop since January as other currencies gained on optimism that a ceasefire in the Gulf will hold and oil shipping will resume, Reuters reported.
The U.S. dollar index has lost 1.3% so far this week. The euro has rallied through its 200-day moving average this week to trade at $1.1690.
Sterling has shot up 1.8% this week and above its 200-day moving average to $1.3424.
The risk-sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars are looking at weekly rises of nearly 3% on the dollar, with the Aussie trading just above 70 cents and the kiwi at $0.5847.
Even the yen, under intense pressure from Japan’s low interest rates, government spending plans and the country’s dependence on imported oil, is just above recent lows at 159.2 to the dollar.
Iranian officials arrived in Islamabad on Thursday and a U.S. delegation, led by Vice President JD Vance, arrives on Friday to discuss what investors hope can be a lasting peace.
“If there’s positive talks, that would be dollar negative. And if we get to Monday and talks went badly and there’s still a lack of ships…things could turn around quickly,” said Jason Wong, senior strategist at BNZ in Wellington.
