Dollar declines on black market

By Dat Nguyen September 5, 2023 | 07:53 pm PT

An employee counts U.S. banknotes at a bank in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy

The U.S. dollar dropped slightly against the Vietnamese dong on the black market Wednesday morning.

Unofficial exchange points sold the greenback at VND24,180, down 0.08% from Tuesday.

Vietcombank maintained it at VND24,260.

The State Bank of Vietnam's reference rate was down 0.08% to VND23,959.

The dollar has increased by 2.23% since the beginning of the year.

Globally the dollar perched near a six-month peak on Wednesday as jitters over China and global growth dragged on risk sentiment, while the yen was close to a 10-month low, drawing the strongest warning since mid-August from Japan's top currency diplomat, Reuters reported.

The yen was at 147.66 per dollar in early Asian hours, just shy of 147.8 per dollar, the lowest since Nov. 4 it touched overnight. The Asian currency has hovered around the key 145 per dollar level for the past few weeks, leading traders to keep a wary eye on signs of an intervention.

"We won't rule out any options if speculative moves persist," Japan's top currency diplomat Masato Kanda told reporters on Wednesday.