An employee counts U.S. banknotes at a bank in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by Read/Thanh Tung
The U.S. dollar strengthened against the Vietnamese dong Wednesday morning while trading near its lowest in over two months against major currencies.
Vietcombank sold the greenback at VND26,403, a 0.02% gain from Tuesday. On the black market, the currency slid 0.08% to VND27,248.
The State Bank of Vietnam hiked its reference rate by 0.02% to VND25,146.
Globally, the U.S. dollar was steady on Wednesday and near its lowest since the start of October after data showed the labor market remained soft, leaving investors on edge about when the next rate cut from the Federal Reserve is likely to come, Reuters reported.
The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six rivals, was at 98.193, hovering near the lowest level since Oct. 3 which it hit on Tuesday. The index is down 9.5% this year, on pace for its steepest annual decline since 2017.
“If CPI comes in as expected later this week then the Fed will definitely not be feeling pressure to ease at the next few meetings,” said Thomas Mathews, head of markets for Asia-Pacific at Capital Economics. “Even March may be a bit too soon to expect a cut.”
The euro was last at $1.1751 in Asian hours, just shy of the 12-week high it touched in the previous session. Sterling was steady at $1.3424, just below a two-month high. The yen firmed a bit to 154.56 per U.S. dollar, near a two-week high.
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