An employee counts U.S. banknotes at a bank in Hanoi. Photo by Read/Giang Huy
The U.S. dollar strengthened against the Vietnamese dong Monday morning while rising to a two-month high against several major currencies.
Vietcombank sold the greenback at VND26,407, a 0.01% increase over the weekend. The currency slipped 0.19% to around VND26,352 on the black market.
The State Bank of Vietnam hiked its reference rate by 0.01% to VND25,150.
Globally, the dollar was perched near a two-month high on Monday after a blowout U.S. jobs report sent traders ramping up bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike this year, Reuters reported.
The euro dropped to a two-month low of $1.1507 against the dollar. The Australian and New Zealand dollars also weakened to their lowest levels in two months, at $0.7016 and $0.5779, respectively.
The dollar’s strength further pressured the yen, which traded at 160.34 per dollar. Meanwhile, sterling traded near a three-week low of $1.33165.
“The U.S. payrolls report released … paints a picture of a U.S. labor market that is strengthening despite the ongoing energy price shock,” said Jonas Goltermann, chief markets economist at Capital Economics.
“That combination makes policy tightening by the Fed later this year increasingly probable … we now expect the FOMC to deliver two 25-basis-point rate hikes later this year.”
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