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Dollar hits VND18,000/US$1 on wider trading band
Customers jostled to buy dollars late yesterday afternoon, while exchange centres continuously quoted new prices. The dollar price skyrocketed to VND18,000/US$1 at 6.30 pm March 23. A lot of exchange shops stopped transactions late yesterday afternoon because they ran out of dollars.
Ha Trung street, the main currency exchange area of Hanoi, was very crowded and bustling on March 23 afternoon. Customers still flocked there to make transactions late yesterday afternoon, just several minutes before the exchange shops closed their doors. The dollar price was changed continuously by exchange shops, depending on the numbers of buyers.
The dollar fever attack began at 4 pm on March 23. At that time, the dollar sale price was VND17,700/US$1. One hour later, as the dollar became short, prices were raised to VND17,750/US$1. At 6.30 pm, many exchange shops said they ran out of dollars to sell, though the price was raised to VND18,000/US$1, up by VND300/US$1 over the morning.
Several days ago, clients only made small transactions, while yesterday many clients made transactions worth several tens of thousands of dollars. A lot of clients left exchange shops yesterday disappointed as they could not purchase dollars when transaction points ran out.
The HCM City foreign currency market was also very bustling yesterday. The exchange shops on Pham Van Hai and Ben Thanh market areas at 5.30 pm of March 23 quoted the prices at VND17,700-17,760/US$1 (purchase and sale). At the same time, the gold shop in An Dong Market sold dollars at VND17,780-17,800/US$1.
“The price is applied only to clients who purchase dollars in big quantities, more than $20,000, while those who purchase in small quantities have to pay higher prices,” the owner of a gold shop in An Dong market said.
The margin between the purchase and sale prices yesterday afternoon was raised to VND80/US$1, nearly double the margin in the morning.
Gold shops and foreign currency exchange shops all said that the number of clients increased sharply late yesterday afternoon after the State Bank of Vietnam announced the widening of the trading band from 3% to 5%.
However, a lot of people said that they were cautious about purchasing dollars.
At a gold shop in district 5, HCM City, a client named Tin, said that he was trying to purchase $7,000.
“The greenback price may move up in the coming days. However, I don’t think that the commercial banks’ exchange rates will increase significantly. The State Bank of Vietnam, while having widened the trading band, has also reduced the interbank exchange rate. If investors still rush to purchase dollars, they are likely to suffer,” Tin said.
The exchange shops on Ha Trung Street in Hanoi, after trying to collect dollars to sell yesterday afternoon, also tried to collect VND as well for fear that clients would come the next day to sell dollars.
The domestic gold price has surged to VND20mil/tael, though the world’s price has not seen big changes. SJC bar gold sold by gold shops in HCM City late yesterday afternoon soared to VND20-20.25mil/tael, up by VND220,000/tael over the morning. The world’s gold price at 8.20 pm on March 23, Hanoi time, decreased by $2/oz, to $947.6/oz.
VietNamNet, VNE
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