The State Bank of Vietnam Friday set the exchange rate for the U.S. dollar at VND20,828, unchanged from Thursday.

Currency dealers said rates at major commercial banks led by Vietcombank were little changed even after it was announced late Thursday that Vietnam recorded a small trade surplus in the first half of July, while gold shops kept their rates unchanged for a fourth straight day due to lackluster trading activities in the local market.

In the first half of July, the country's exports were valued at $4.22 billion and imports totaled $4.17 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $50 million, the Vietnam Customs Department said in a statement Thursday.

It helped narrow the trade imbalance to a deficit of $423 million for the period from the beginning of this year to mid-July, a sharp contrast compared with a deficit of $6.8 billion during the same period last year.

"As the demand for the greenback from importers continues to be weak this month, the exchange rate is expected to stay little changed in the near term," said a dealer with Hanoi-based Vietcombank.

Private currency dealers in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City said their rates were flat because of both thin supply and weak demand for the dollar this week, after the central bank said last week that it forecast the exchange rate to stay stable during the second half of this year.

They said they expect the rate in the free market to move in a range of VND20,870-VND20,900 over the weekend.

Source WSJ