In the last trading session before the second round of the presidential elections, the dollar and the stock market closed practically stable. Even so, in the week, the dollar accumulated a high of almost 3% and the stock market, a fall of around 4.5%.
The commercial dollar ended this Friday (28) sold at R$ 5.30, with a drop of only 0.12%. The price fluctuated a lot, reaching R$ 5.36 around 1 pm. However, the relief in the external scenario rebalanced the exchange rate, causing the currency to decelerate throughout the afternoon.
Despite today’s fall, the dollar closed the week up 2.97%. The currency, however, accumulates a decline of 1.76% in October and falls 4.95% in 2022.
In the stock market, the day was also marked by volatility. The B3 Ibovespa index closed at 114,539 points, with a slight drop of 0.09%. Shortly after 11 am, the indicator fell by 1.11%, but reacted throughout the day until it closed stable. The Brazilian stock market fell 4.45% in the week, after advancing 7.01% last week.
Two factors contributed to the instability in the financial market this Friday. The first was the proximity of the second round of elections. Traditionally, election week is marked by asset volatility. The second was the closing of the Ptax rate, the average exchange rate that corrects the external debt. The definition of Ptax at the end of each month usually causes a swing in the dollar exchange rate.
The market situation was softened by the international scenario. The announcement that the price of real estate in the United States has fallen sharply this week has raised expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed, US Central Bank) will ease the pace of interest rate hikes starting in December.
Investors expect a 0.75 point rise at next week’s Fed meeting and a 0.5 point rise in December. The improvement in estimates caused the recovery of US stock markets, relieving pressure on the Brazilian stock market. The Dow Jones, of industrial companies, rose 2.59%. The Nasdaq, of technology companies, advanced 2.87%. The S&P 500, one of the biggest companies, gained 2.46%.
* With information from Reuters
