Dollar steadies against dong

Vietcombank sold the dollar at VND24,400, down 0.08% from Sunday.

The State Bank of Vietnam kept its reference rate stable at VND23,947.

The dollar went up 0.65% to VND24,720 on the black market.

It has increased against the dong by 2.82% since the beginning of the year.

Globally the dollar kicked off the last week of November on the back foot while sterling held near an over two-month high on an easing economic gloom in the UK, as traders eyed fresh economic cues in the week ahead to determine the future path of policy rates, Reuters reported.

Sterling was last 0.06% lower at $1.2598, but hovered near Friday's over two-month peak of $1.2615, on data last week showing that British companies unexpectedly reported a marginal return to growth in November after three months of contraction.

"That indicates the resilience of the UK economy despite the very aggressive monetary policy tightening from the Bank of England," said Carol Kong, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). "But we still expect the UK economy to weaken and experience a short-lived recession."