Dollar weakens against dong on black market

The greenback is sold at VND25,870 on the black market, down 0.04% from Monday.

Vietcombank kept the dollar steady at VND25,454.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s reference rate was stable at VND24,242.

The dollar has increased against the dong by 4.23% since the beginning of the year.

Globally, the dollar was on the front foot on Wednesday, having rebounded from a three-week low, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell struck a cautious tone on how soon U.S. interest rate cuts would come, Reuters reported.

The dollar index , which measures the U.S. currency against six major peers including the euro and yen, was flat at 105.14, after rising about 0.1% on Tuesday. It had dipped on Monday to the lowest level since June 13 following unexpectedly soft U.S. payrolls data.

The dollar rose 0.13% to 161.525 yen. The euro was flat at $1.0815.

“Powell was careful not to pre-commit to a path they could still readily be knocked away from by the data flow,” said Taylor Nugent, senior markets economist at National Australia Bank.

“Even as markets look to September as the likely kick-off date, it is difficult for pricing to firm much further with three CPI prints and two payrolls to get through, which could readily delay things.”