On a day of turbulence, mainly coming from Asia, the dollar rose sharply and approached R$5.50. The stock market rose again, after a fall the day before, and approached 130 thousand points.
The commercial dollar closed this Wednesday (17) sold at R$5.483, up R$0.054 (+1%). The price operated on the rise throughout the day, but soared from the end of the morning, until closing close to the day’s highs.
With today’s performance, the US currency has accumulated a drop of 1.88% in July. In 2024, the currency will rise 12.98%.
The stock market had a volatile day. The Ibovespa index, from B3, closed at 129,465 points, up 0.27%. Oil company shares rose, but mining stocks fell due to the slowdown in the Chinese economy.
On Tuesday (16), the Brazilian stock market fell and interrupted a sequence of 11 consecutive gains. This was the longest sequence of daily gains since the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018. Despite the rise in recent days, the Ibovespa has accumulated a loss of 3.52% in 2024.
News from Asia has put pressure on financial markets in emerging countries. In Japan, suspicions of intervention by the local Central Bank in the yen have encouraged the migration of international investments to the country. This has put pressure on the dollar in developing countries.
Regarding China, the announcement that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP, the sum of the wealth produced by the country) grew 4.7% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year confirmed the slowdown of the second largest economy on the planet. In the first quarter, the Asian country had grown 5.3%.
China’s slowdown influences exporting countries commodities (primary goods with international quotations), such as Brazil. This is because the lower growth of the Chinese economy discourages exports to the Asian country. At the same time, the dollar is fluctuating due to electoral tensions in the United States, following the attack on former President Donald Trump.
*With information from Reuters
