Brazil’s main stock index rose, led by mining company Vale SA, as data showing foreign investors pulling money out of shares for the first time in 2015 fostered doubts that the Ibovespa is on the cusp of a rally.
“I don’t think the rally has any legs,” Jason Vieira, the chief economist at Infinity Asset Management, said by phone from Sao Paulo. “There’s only bad news on the economic front, and Brazil is at risk of losing its investment-grade status.”
Brazilian stocks have been trending lower since early May as President Dilma Rousseff grapples with an anemic economy amid impeachment talks and a widening graft probe at the state-controlled oil producer. Brazil’s equity market suffered net international outflows of 567.9 million reais ($162.6 million) last month, the most since December, according to data compiled by BM&FBovespa.
The Ibovespa rose 0.5 percent to 50,287.27 at the close of trading in Sao Paulo, as Vale climbed 3.9 percent. The gauge fell 1.6 percent the first two days of the week, and is down 13 percent from it’s closing high this year of 58,051.61 on May 5. The real dropped to the lowest level in 12 years.
Foreign investors, which make up for more than half of trading in Brazil’s exchange, have poured almost 21 billion reais in the nation’s equities in 2015. While the benchmark gauge’s valuation has dropped from a five-year high in May, it’s trading 14 percent above its average for the past decade.
Asset Sales
Vale jumped to a month high after the world’s largest iron-ore producer said it plans to raise as much as $7 billion in 2015 with asset sales and partnerships.
Petrochemicals maker Braskem SA extended a two-day rally as its shareholders named a new chairman after Marcelo Odebrecht, the chief executive officer of the company’s largest investor, was arrested amid Brazil’s biggest corruption scandal.
Clothing retailer Guararapes Confeccoes SA, which operates under the brand Riachuelo, slumped the most since 2008 after reporting second-quarter profit that trailed analysts’ forecasts by 25 percent as the Brazilian economy decelerates.
Trading volume of equities in Sao Paulo was 5.41 billion reais, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with a daily average of 6.69 billion reais this year, exchange data show.