Brazil's Ibovespa climbs above 174,000 as dollar falls on Selic cut expectations
On Friday, July 3 2024, Brazil’s main stock index, the Ibovespa, closed at 174,070.27 points, up 0.74% and marking its highest level in a month. The Brazilian real strengthened as the dollar slipped to R$ 5.168, a 0.76% decline that erased most of the week’s gains. The rally was sparked by a weaker‑than‑expected industrial‑production report from the IBGE, which showed a 0.2% drop in May, reinforcing market expectations that the Central Bank’s Copom will cut the Selic rate by 0.25 percentage points at its August meeting. Trading volume was low – R$ 12.6 billion – because the U.S. Independence Day holiday kept Wall Street closed, reducing liquidity. Treasury secretary Rogério Ceron indicated the government might intervene in the public‑debt market, helping to push futures rates lower. In addition, softer U.S. labor‑market data and a stable DXY index supported the dollar’s weakness against emerging‑market currencies.