The greenback rates go up significantly in the local market on March 24.— Photo thefinancialist.com

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Rates for the greenback soared at all domestic commercial banks on March 24, approaching closer to the ceiling price set by the State Bank of Viet Nam.

Vietcombank had raised Monday's rate by VND25 on both the buying and selling sides. Thus, the bank set the buying and selling rates for each dollar at VND21,515 and VND21,575, respectively.

Also compared with Monday's rate, Techcombank added VND10 on both sides, listing each dollar at VND21,490 and VND21,580 respectively.

BIDV added VND25 on the buying side, listing it at VND21,515. It also increased the selling side by VND30, listing each dollar at VND21,580 respectively.

Other commercial banks, such as ACB, EximBank, and Agribank also boost their USD exchange rate by between VND10 and VND50 for each dollar. Buying rates at those banks were listed between VND21,480 and VND21,490 and selling rates were listed between VND21,570 and VND21,580, respectively.

The highest rates for the U.S. dollar were seen at VietinBank, with each dollar (buy-sell) listed at VND21,515 to VND21,585 respectively; and DongABank, which sold each dollar for VND21,590.

At the same time, the rates in the flea market remained as high as in commercial banks. Quoc Trinh Gold and the Jewellery Company on Ha Trung Street, which is popular for money exchange in Ha Noi, bought each dollar for VND21,610 and sold it at VND21,640.

In comparison to last week's rates in the market, the prices were about VND100 lower.

Since January 7, SBV had boost the inter-bank exchange rate from VND21,246 to VND21,458 for each U.S. dollar. The effective exchange rate had a 1 per cent margin and the ceiling rate was VND21,673 per dollar.

Thus, the rates for both commercial banks and the flea market are still lower than SBV's ceiling rate.

Earlier, SBV had confirmed that demand and supply for foreign currency was stable in the market. However, the greenback rates have kept soaring in the local market.

There are at least two reasons for the surge in USD rates. The first one is that U.S. dollar prices went up in the international market. The second one is the speculation psychology of domestic investors, who also thought that SBV would step up U.S. dollar rates again.

Meanwhile, the site gafin.vn considered the high trade deficit of $1.2 billion during the first two months as an important factor for the surge. Data from the Viet Nam Customs Office showed that during the first two months, the country's export turnover touched $22.97 billion and its import turnover reached $24.18 billion.

According to Reuters.com, on March 24, the U.S. dollar edged higher versus a basket of currencies after a top U.S. Federal Reserve official said it would wait no more than a few months before considering an interest rate hike.

In the meantime, the State Bank of Viet Nam still plans to increase the VND/USD exchange rate by not more than 2 per cent in 2015. — VNS