Dollar sell rate peaks in Viet Nam   A bank employee checks US dollars at a Maritime Bank branch in Ha Noi. The State Bank of Viet Nam has been selling the US dollar with a cap of VND21,036 for the past two days after maintaining the price at VND21,005 for over a fortnight. - VNA/VNS Photo Tran Viet HA NOI (VNS)- The State Bank of Viet Nam has been selling the US dollar with a cap of VND21,036 for the past two days after maintaining the price at VND21,005 for over a fortnight. The new rate is the same selling price as commercial banks. The buying price stayed at VND20,850 while the interbank rate is still VND20,828 against the dollar. On the free market, the price also rose to VND21,280, up by VND40 compared to the previous day. This was the second time in a month the central bank has pushed prices higher. On May 20, the dollar value also rose 0.26 per cent to VND21,005. Some said that the increase on Thursday was due to increasing demand from commercial banks as interest rates on the domestic currency declined. The central bank had halted the sale of foreign currencies to commercial banks for several days. However, Vietcombank General Director Nguyen Phuoc Thanh said the demand for the US dollar to import goods had not risen significantly. "The central bank will surely reduce the selling price to stablise the market," he affirmed. Although demand climbed, the supply of foreign currencies was plentiful, Thanh added. In the first five months of this year, the central bank bought around $5 billion, bringing foreign exchange reserves to over $30 billion. The May trade deficit of $1.2 billion might also have an impact on the exchange rate. The online newspaper vnexpress.net quoted sources saying that the State Bank had spent over a billion dollars on importing gold for its 27 auctions. - VNS