Dollar heads up on black market

Unofficial exchange points sold the greenback at VND25,550, up 0.05% from Friday.

Vietcombank kept its rate stable at VND24,950.

The State Bank of Vietnam kept its reference rate unchanged at VND24,003.

The dollar has increased against the dong by 2.17% since the beginning of the year.

Globally the headed toward a second week of gains on Friday, after a slight rate hike in Japan gave the yen a slight reprieve and a surprise cut in Switzerland highlighted the gap in interest rate policy between the Federal Reserve and other central banks, Reuters reported.

The dollar rose against all G-10 currencies except the yen, as the relatively strong U.S. economy and high interest rates kept the carry trade alive. But the Swiss rate cut, the first by a major central bank in Europe, marked a definitive shift.

"We had a somewhat surprising cut from the SNB this week," said Shaun Osborne, chief FX strategist at Scotiabank in Toronto. "People have been extrapolating, certainly from a signaling point of view, what that might mean for other central banks in Europe."