USD exchange rate today, April 17, 2025: Continues to weaken.
USD exchange rate today, April 17, 2025: The USD continues to fall, becoming a victim of shaken confidence as trade tensions between the US and China escalate.
The Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the strength of the USD against six other major currencies such as the euro, Japanese yen, and British pound, edged lower to 99.48 points on April 16, 2025, down 0.68 points from the previous day.
The US dollar continued to weaken on Wednesday, reflecting investor concerns about the US economic outlook as trade tensions between the US and China escalated. Meanwhile, the British pound strengthened, despite UK inflation data showing a weaker-than-expected increase.
The decline in the USD occurred after President Donald Trump ordered an investigation into the possibility of imposing new tariffs on all essential mineral imports – much of which comes from China. This is the latest move in the escalating trade war between the world's two largest economies. The US has raised total tariffs on China to 145%, while China has retaliated with tariffs of up to 125% on goods from the US.
The market is waiting to see whether China will cut its holdings of US Treasury bonds – currently at around $760 billion – in response to tariff moves. According to analysts at ING, if China unexpectedly sells, this could trigger a major sell-off in the bond market and the US dollar.
Also today, the market will be watching US retail sales data, along with a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Earlier, Fed Governor Christopher Waller made dovish remarks, and if Powell expresses a similar view, the dollar could continue to face downward pressure.
In Asia, the USD/JPY exchange rate fell 0.5% to 142.49, while the USD/CNY edged up 0.1% to 7.3236. Newly released data showed China's first-quarter GDP grew 5.4% year-on-year, exceeding forecasts of 5.2%. Industrial production in March surged 7.7%, and retail sales also rose 5.9% thanks to government stimulus measures. These positive figures indicate that the Chinese economy is recovering rapidly despite external pressures, particularly trade tensions with the US.
According to the State Bank of Vietnam, the central exchange rate is set at 24,899 VND/USD. The reference exchange rate is listed at 23,705 VND for buying and 26,093 VND/USD for selling.
At commercial banks, there is a significant difference between the buying and selling rates. HSBC has the highest buying rate, reaching 25,729 VND/USD, and a selling rate of 25,961 VND.
Agribank also recorded a relatively high buying rate of 25,670 VND, while the selling rate was 26,030 VND, an increase of 10 VND compared to yesterday.
SHB attracted attention with the strongest increase in the buying price, rising by 40 dong to 25,500 VND.
On the selling side, banks such as Agribank, SHB, and HSBC are leading with prices ranging from 26,030 to 25,961 VND.
Conversely, DongABank and SCB recorded the lowest buying rates in the market, at 24,130 VND and 24,350 VND/USD respectively.
On the free market (black market), the USD price recorded a sharp decline in both buying and selling rates. Specifically, the buying price is currently 26,010 VND and the selling price is 26,120 VND, a decrease of 110 VND compared to yesterday.
