Dollar inches up at banks, dips on black market

Vietcombank sold the dollar at VND25,120, up 0.04% from Thursday.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) slashed its reference rate by 4.09% to VND23,038.

At unofficial exchange points, the dollar is sold at VND25,515, down 0.06%.

It has increased against the dong by 2.87% since the beginning of the year.

Globally, the U.S. dollar held steady against peer currencies on Friday after rebounding from a two-week low, as traders braced for a key jobs report due later in the day and grew cautious over tensions in the Middle East, Reuters reported.

The yen, while still close to the 152 range, hit a two-week high against the greenback as safe-haven bids and fresh warnings from Japanese authorities buoyed the currency.

The dollar has had a turbulent week, falling from a five-month high to a two-week low after an unexpected slowdown in U.S. services growth supported expectations of bringing interest rates down.

"Markets will likely be sensitive to any surprise in the jobs data today to assess the path of monetary policy from here," said Charu Chanana, head of currency strategy at Saxo.

"Given the lack of coherent Fed messaging means data-dependency remains the order of the day."

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, was last largely unchanged at 104.18.