Dollar steadies against dong

Vietcombank sold the dollar at VND23,760, up 0.04% from Wednesday.

Eximbank maintained greenback at VND23,740.

The rate at Techcombank was unchanged at VND23,750.

The State Bank of Vietnam set its reference rate at VND23,622, down 0.83%.

The dollar was sold at VND23,720 on the black market, down 0.13%.

It has increased over the dong by 0.13% since the beginning of the year.

Globally safe haven currencies like the U.S. dollar and the yen were in bid on Thursday on renewed fears of a global banking crisis, after contagion from the implosion of U.S.-based Silicon Valley Bank had spread across the Atlantic to Swiss bank Credit Suisse, Reuters reported.

In the latest blow to investors’ confidence in the financial sector, Credit Suisse’s shares on Wednesday plunged as much as 30%, after its largest shareholder said it could not provide further support to the bank.

The rout in its shares prompted the Swiss National Bank to throw a financial lifeline to the embattled lender, in an unprecedented move by a central bank, and Credit Suisse announced in early Asia trade on Thursday it would borrow up to 50 billion Swiss francs ($54 billion) from the bank.

Traders flocked to traditional safe haven currencies, boosting the dollar and the Japanese yen, on mounting worries that the recent stress unfolding across banks in the U.S. and Europe could be a harbinger of a widespread systemic crisis.

The yen jumped about 0.5% in early Asia trade and last stood at 132.73 per dollar, extending Wednesday’s 0.6% gain.

Against the Swiss franc, the dollar pared some of its previous session’s 2.15% surge - the largest daily gain since 2015 - but kept the Swiss franc pinned near a one-week low.

"We’ve got some fresh turmoil in the European banking sector and things are still very fluid at the moment," said Carol Kong, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).