VINACHEM

The U.S. dollar strengthened against the Vietnam dong currency at banks and on the informal market on November 14 as it rose versus most other hard currencies.

Local banks in the afternoon quoted the dollar at VND22,300 and VND22,375 for buying and selling respectively.

Vietcombank bought and sold the greenback at VND22,305 and VND22,375 per dollar, increasing by VND10 from last weekend. Meanwhile, ACB raised dollar prices by VND20 to VND22,300 for buying and VND22,380 for selling.

The State Bank of Vietnam announced the dong-dollar reference exchange rate at VND22,067 per dollar, up VND11 compared to late last week. With the current trading band of 3% on either side, the ceiling rate for commercial banks was VND22,729 and the floor rate was VND21,405.

On the informal market, a currency changer in HCMC’s District 1 sold the dollar at VND22,550 per dollar, VND170-175 higher than at banks, and bought it at VND22,480. According to the changer, the dollar has firmed up against the dong, having stayed almost the same as those at banks for a month.

In late October, banks raised dollar prices to VND22,290-22,300 for buying and VND22,370-22,380 for selling before revising them down.

A deputy general director of a HCMC-based commercial bank said his bank has seen dollar demand remaining stable. As of last Friday, most lenders had reported positive foreign exchanging holdings while inter-bank interest rates have stayed low, at less than 2% a year.

But the central dong-dollar exchange rate of the central bank has inched up just 0.7% since the beginning of this year while banks have quoted lower dollar prices than those at the end of 2015. The exchange rate has faced no pressure given the current export-import and foreign investment situation, the banker said. - SGT