A bank employee counts U.S. dollar bills in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy
The U.S. dollar weakened against the Vietnamese dong Friday morning while heading for its third weekly gain against major currencies.
Vietcombank sold the greenback at VND26,387, a 0.02% drop from Thursday. On the black market, the currency slid 0.06% to around VND26,812.
The State Bank of Vietnam reduced its reference rate by 0.02% to VND25,131.
Globally, the dollar was poised for a third weekly gain on Friday after positive U.S. economic data lowered expectations for rate cuts by the Federal Reserve anytime soon, Reuters reported.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was little changed at 99.36 and poised for a 0.2% advance this week. The euro was steady at $1.1607.
The yen strengthened 0.05% against the greenback to 158.58 per dollar, but is set to fall about 0.5% this week.
The Australian dollar was little changed against the greenback, trading at $0.6699. New Zealand’s kiwi strengthened 0.05% to $0.5745.
“The U.S. dollar is looking firmer to start the year,” Kyle Rodda, an analyst at Capital.com, wrote in a note. “Weekly U.S. jobless claims data, along with some manufacturing surveys, were better than expected, lowering the implied probabilities of imminent Fed rate cuts.”
