In a day of tensions in the domestic market, the real differed from the international scenario and lost value against the dollar, which approached R$ 5.40. The Stock Exchange (B3) retreated for the third day in a row and canceled out last week’s gains.
The commercial dollar closed this fourthon Friday (26) sold at R$ 5.382, up by R$ 0.065 (+1.22%). The price even opened down, falling to R$ 5.29 in the first hour of trading, but reversed the movement and started to rise, until closing at the highest of the day.
The US currency is at its highest level since September 30, the last business day before the first round of presidential elections. With the performance of today, the dollar accumulates a fall of only 0.22% in October. Just this week, the currency rose 4.52%.
Instability
In the stock market, the day was also marked by instability. The B3 Ibovespa index closed at 112,764 points, down 1.62%. The indicator operated lower throughout the session, pulled by shares of state-owned companies, retailers and banks. The stock market accumulates a loss of almost 6% in the week.
The tensions associated with the electoral campaign once again dominated the market, which took off from abroad. The dollar fell against the major currencies on expectations that the US economy has finally started to slow down. This reduces pressure on the Federal Reserve (Fed), the US Central Bank, to raise interest rates higher than expected.
Higher rates in advanced economies encourage capital flight from emerging countries such as Brazil. Lower-than-expected increases help to maintain foreign resources, reducing pressure on the stock market and exchange rates. However, the Brazilian financial market has traditionally faced volatility in the days leading up to elections.
Brazilian investors were also expecting the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom), which maintained the Selic rate (basic interest rates in the economy) at 13.75% per year. At the highest level since 2017, the Selic has helped to stem the flight of foreign capital.
* With information from Reuters
