US dollar remains in downward trend

The U.S. dollar on Monday weakened against the Vietnamese dong at commercial banks, but gained a little on the free market.

Tiny decreases were seen at commercial banks in the morning. Vietcombank, a "Big 4" bank, quoted the buying and selling dollar rate at VND24,577 - 24,857 respectively, down one dong compared to the end of last week.

The figures at private lender Sacombank were VND24,620 and VND24,855, respectively.

The State Bank of Vietnam quoted its central exchange rate one dong lower than the end of last week, at VND23,674. This means commercial banks’ maximum price is VND24,857 as they can trade the greenback at up to 5% higher or lower than the central rate.

On the free market, the buying and selling greenback rate was pegged at VND24,915 - 24,985 on Monday morning, representing slight increases of 57 dong and 47 dong, respectively.

Internationally, the US Dollar Index closed last week at 106.97, up 0.64%. Last week’s lowest for the index was 105.34.