HÀ NỘI — After strengthening the US dollar against the đồng over the past few days, commercial banks on Thursday weakened the value of the greenback.

Vietcombank listed the dollar at VNĐ23,140 for buying and VNĐ23,220 for selling, down VNĐ80 against Tuesday.

The buying and selling rates at BIDV on Thursday also slid by VNĐ20 against Wednesday to VNĐ23,130 and VNĐ23,210, respectively.

VietinBank also weakened the dollar by VNĐ18 against Wednesday to VNĐ23,140 for buying and VNĐ23,220 for selling.

DongABank quoted the rates of VNĐ23,130 and VNĐ23,220, down VNĐ80 against Wednesday.

Eximbank’s and ACB’s selling rates both declined by VNĐ20 to VNĐ23, 210.

The same move was also seen on the unofficial market with the dollar traded at VNĐ23,330 and VNĐ23,360 for buying and selling, down VNĐ90 against Tuesday.

On Thursday, the State Bank of Việt Nam (SBV) set the daily reference exchange rate at VNĐ22,649 per dollar, down VNĐ5 from the previous day.
With the current trading band of +/- 3 per cent, the ceiling rate applied to commercial banks during the day was VNĐ23,328 per dollar and the floor rate VNĐ21,970.
Early this week, commercial banks appreciated the dollar sharply against the đồng after SBV stopped selling the dollar cheaply to commercial banks to stabilise the exchange rate in the domestic market.

Analysts from Bảo Việt Securities Company said that commercial banks’ increases in the dollar price in tandem with that of the SBV were more of an instant psychological response than an impact from the actual supply/demand balance on the market. 

Experts also said that it was not an advantage for dollar holders.

Banking expert Nguyễn Trí Hiếu explained that the gap between interest rates of the đồng and the dollar remained high. The rate for dollar deposits was zero per cent while the rate for the đồng was 7-8 per cent per year.

If the dollar appreciated by 1-2 per cent this year, dollar holders would still make less profit than depositing đồng in local banks, Hiếu added. — VNS