The rising U.S. dollar was sold at VND25,370 on Tuesday afternoon in the open market in Hanoi, a new record high.
The exchange rate was VND100 higher than Monday.
Major lenders Vietcombank, BIDV, Techcombank, Eximbank, and Sacombank quoted their selling prices at VND24,888 on Tuesday for the second day. The rate shows the local currency has depreciated by 8.6% against the U.S. dollar from the beginning of the year.
The State Bank of Vietnam kept its reference rate unchanged at VND24,870. It lifted its policy rates by one percentage point to 6%, effective from Tuesday, in a move to cope with the U.S. dollar’s heavy pressure on the local currency.
For the world, CNBC’s finance host Jim Cramer said on Monday that the spiking U.S. dollar could peak soon. “The strong dollar has become an albatross around the neck of an already beaten-down market, but now the charts, at last, as interpreted by Carley Garner, suggest the dollar could be peaking,” he said.
Cramer was referring to American commodity market strategist Carley Garner. He said, “As Garner sees it, the greenback is the last holdout, and she doesn’t think it will last.”