Vietnam’s dong trades near two-week low on weaker reference rate

Vietnam’s dong traded near a two-week low on Thursday as the central bank lowered its daily reference rate for the fifth time this month. Government bonds rose.

The State Bank of Vietnam fixed the reference rate at 20,678 per dollar, compared with 20,668 on Wednesday, according to its website. The dong is allowed to trade up to 1 percent on either side of the rate and can move outside the band in the so- called black market.

“Lots of maturing foreign-currency loans in the fourth quarter would also put pressure on the foreign-exchange market,” Luu Hai Yen, a Hanoi-based fixed-income analyst at Thang Long Securities, wrote in a research note obtained Thursday. Yen didn’t specify the amount that falls due.

The dong traded at 20,880 per dollar as of 2:50 p.m. in Hanoi, compared with 20,873 Wednesday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The currency dropped to as low as 20,884, the weakest level since Sept. 29.

The yield on the government’s five-year bonds fell one basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 12.40 percent, according to a daily fixing price from banks compiled by Bloomberg.
Bloomberg  

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