Dollar ticks up against dong

Vietcombank sold the dollar at VND24,730 Tuesday, up 0.10% from Monday.

The State Bank of Vietnam’s reference rate was steady at VND24,030.

The greenback was unchanged on the black market at VND25,080.

The dollar has gained over the dong by 1.27% since the beginning of the year.

Globally the U.S. dollar was little changed to modestly higher against a basket of currencies on Monday ahead of central bank policy decisions in Japan and the euro zone that may determine the currency’s direction this year, Reuters reported.

Japan’s yen moved away from Friday’s 148.80 per U.S. dollar, its weakest in a month, and rose to as high as 147.61, as the Bank of Japan started its two-day policy meeting. The dollar was last down 0.1% against the Japanese currency at 148.06 yen.

The yen, which is sensitive to the difference in interest rates between the U.S and Japan, has been the worst hit against the dollar this year, tumbling about 5% in a swift reversal of December’s bounce to five-month peaks near 140.

“It’s incredibly unlikely they’ll actually touch their benchmark policy rate, but comments from currency officials are proving to once again have a bit of weight on the (dollar/yen) pair,” said Helen Given, FX trader, at Monex USA in Washington.