An employee counts U.S. banknotes at a bank in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy
The U.S. dollar weakened slightly against the Vietnamese dong Wednesday morning while trading near a two-month high against some major peers.
Vietcombank sold the greenback at VND26,180, a 0.11% drop from Tuesday. The currency slipped 0.27% to around VND25,850 on the black market.
The State Bank of Vietnam lowered its reference rate by 0.02% to VND25,635.
Globally the dollar steadied near its strongest level in two months on Wednesday on prospects of interest rate hikes in the near term, while easing oil prices on hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough to end the Middle East war kept investors on edge, Reuters reported.
The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six rivals, was at 100.56.
The euro was at $1.1446 in early trading, loitering near its weakest level since late July. Sterling bought $1.3337.
The Japanese yen was at 157.55 per U.S. dollar as traders remain wary of the threat of intervention as markets judged the Bank of Japan’s rate hike to a 31-year high last week as insufficiently hawkish.
A recent string of rate hikes and hawkish signals from major central banks has taken center stage in currency markets as the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran pushes oil prices higher and fuels concerns over inflation.