Dollar strengthens against dong as Malaysian ringgit continues to rise from 18-month high

Vietcombank sold the dollar at VND25,100, up 0.08% from Tuesday.

The State Bank of Vietnam lowered its reference rate by 0.02% to VND24,246.

The dollar was stable at VND25,420 on the black market. It has risen by 2.78% against the dong since the beginning of the year.

Globally, the Malaysian ringgit strengthened to 4.3755 per U.S. dollar from 4.3780 at Tuesday’s close, according to Bernama news agency.

It previously reached 18-month high levels of 4.3805 per dollar against the greenback on Monday.

The Malaysian ringgit has risen 5.3% for the year through Tuesday, making it the best-performing Asian currency this year, according to Nikkei Asia.

The dollar slipped to its lowest this year versus the euro on Wednesday as traders braced for potentially crucial revisions to U.S. payrolls data later in the day, ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the end of the week, Reuters reported.

The U.S. dollar index – which measures the currency against the euro, sterling, yen and three other major rivals – edged to a fresh low since Jan. 2 at 101.34, after dropping 0.5% or more in each of the previous three sessions.

The euro pushed to $1.1131, the highest since Dec. 28.

Sterling stood at $1.3033 after touching a high of $1.3054 on Tuesday, a level last seen in July of last year.

Against Japan’s currency, the dollar sagged 0.2% to 144.98 yen, after earlier dipping to 144.945, dropping below the psychological 145 barrier for the first time since Aug. 6.