An employee counts U.S. banknotes at a bank in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy
The U.S. dollar weakened against the Vietnamese dong Friday morning as it rose against major peers.
Vietcombank sold the greenback at VND26,355, down 0.008% from Thursday. The currency slid 0.52% to around VND27,191 on the black market.
The State Bank of Vietnam reduced its reference rate by 0.008% to VND25,100.
Globally, the dollar pushed higher toward multi-month peaks on Friday as investors sought safety in the shadow of an intensifying Middle East war and mounting doubts over any path to de-escalation, Reuters reported.
Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was marginally higher at 99.93. It was on track for a 2.3% rise this month, which would mark its biggest gain since July last year.
The darkening market mood sent the risk-sensitive Australian dollar down to a two-month trough of $0.68722, while the New Zealand dollar similarly languished near its lowest level since January and traded down 0.15% at $0.5754.
The yen was left on the cusp of 160 per dollar and stood at 159.61, while the euro was off a touch 0.03% at $1.1525. Sterling eased 0.05% to $1.3325.
“It doesn’t look like the conflict will end anytime soon,” said Carol Kong, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. “The dollar is king while this conflict lasts.”
“If we’re right about this conflict being protracted, I think oil prices will just keep rising and it will push the dollar higher, at the expense of net energy importers like the Japanese yen and the euro,” she added.
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