Dollar continues uptrend on unofficial market

The U.S. dollar on the black market continued to edge higher on Monday, this time not driven by gold smuggling as often seen in recent fluctuations but by stronger demands, an expert said. In the previous upward movements of the greenback, analysts were quick to point the accusing finger at gold smugglers who they said collected the dollar to import the yellow metal for a differential gain when the global gold price was lower than on the domestic market. These days, however, global gold has been on a par with the local price. The dollar selling price on the unofficial market on Monday afternoon hit a high of VND20,450 in HCMC and VND20,470 in Hanoi, an increase of VND50 from last Friday and VND430 compared to 10 days ago. Meanwhile, gold traded at US$1,364 an ounce in Asian markets on Monday, and given the unofficial rate of VND20,450 to the dollar, the global gold price was VND33.47 million per tael, not much different from the local price of VND33.55 million quoted by SJC. A tael equals to 1.2 troy ounces. Commenting on the firmer dollar, an executive at a big bank in Vietnam said that “there must be big demand to push the dollar higher.” He remarked that enterprises were seeking to buy the dollar on the unofficial market to make payments after failing to buy it at banks. The banking expert, who asked not to be named, said traders or manufacturers of essential goods had registered to buy dollars from his bank and those demands had been forwarded to the State Bank of Vietnam for consideration. However, the central bank is considering such registrations on a case-by-case basis, with little dollar volume having been disbursed so far. “Some enterprises have seen their dollar demand met, but the volume (supplied by the central bank) is inconsiderable,” the source said. Furthermore, the State Bank of Vietnam has not issued any written pledge to meet dollar needs for the import of essential goods, he added. The dollar at banks on Monday was unchanged at VND19,500 but no enterprise can buy at that price. The non-delivery forward rate between the Vietnam dong and the U.S. dollar in Asian markets on Monday was VND20,120 for one-month term and VND21,700 for one-year term, up VND170 from ten days ago.