Dollar surges to 17-week high

Vietcombank sold the dollar at VND23,900, up 0.17% from Tuesday.

Other banks kept their rates stable. Eximbank sold the greenback at VND23,670, and Techcombank VND23,880.

The State Bank of Vietnam raised its reference rate up 0.04% to VND23,813.

The dollar was sold at VND23,700 on the black market, same as Tuesday.

The dollar has risen against the dong by 0.72% since the beginning of the year.

Globally the dollar drifted near the middle of its range of the past three weeks against major peers on Wednesday, as traders looked ahead to the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting for clues about the path for monetary policy, Reuters reported.

The dollar index, which measures the currency against a basket of six major peers, including the euro and yen, was little changed at 103.02, after tracking between 103.75 and 102.75 since early June.

Europe’s shared currency edged 0.1% higher to $1.0886, recouping some of its 0.34% overnight decline.

The dollar hovered about half a yen below the 145 level that spurred intervention by Japanese authorities last autumn, after last week briefly popping as high as 145.07 for the first time since November.