The State Bank of Viet Nam’s Operation Centre on Tuesday increased the sale price of the US dollar for commercial banks by VND11 to VND23,284.
It was the second consecutive session the centre had lifted the price after keeping it steady for the past three weeks. On Monday, the centre raised the price from VND23,050 to VND23,273 per dollar, ceasing its intervention to stabilise the local exchange rate by selling the greenback to commercial banks at a cheap price of VND23,050 per dollar.
Pham Thanh Ha, director of the SBV’s Monetary Policy Department, said that the SBV’s revision to raise the selling price this week was suitable for domestic and foreign markets.
According to Ha, after the SBV slashed the dollar selling price to VND23,050 on July 3, the exchange rate became relatively stable, mainly around VND23,040 – 23,050 per dollar.
The revision was aimed at better aligning the exchange rate with movements in the domestic and global markets. It was also meant to show that the SBV was ready to support the market with a reasonable exchange rate, Ha noted.
The SBV would continue to adjust the exchange rate in a flexible manner and in accordance with domestic and foreign markets, Ha said, adding that it would also make use of other tools and be ready to sell the dollar when necessary to stabilise the forex market.
On Tuesday, the central bank’s daily reference exchange rate – which regulates the ceiling and floor trading prices for commercial banks during the day – were also adjusted up by VND10 against Monday to VND22,654 per dollar.
With the current trading band of +/- 3 per cent, the ceiling rate applied to commercial banks during the day is VND23,333 per dollar and the floor rate VND21,975.
On Tuesday, the opening hour rates at commercial banks saw mixed changes from the previous day.
While Vietcombank kept its rates unchanged, BIDV raised both rates by VND10 and Techcombank adjusted both rates down VND10.
The greenback is being bought at VND23,180 per dollar and sold at VND23,250 at both Vietcombank and BIDV.
The rates listed at Techcombank stood at VND23,160 for buying and VND23,270 for selling. — VNS