© Reuters. Sao Paulo Stock Exchange fell almost 4% in the middle of the day due to fear of a new variant
Sao Paulo, Nov 26 (.) .- The index of the Sao Paulo stock market fell almost 4% at midday this Friday and the dollar registered a strong appreciation against the Brazilian real given the pessimism generated in all markets by the appearance of a new variant of covid, which threatens to prolong the pandemic.
The Ibovespa, the benchmark index for the São Paulo square, fell to 101,668 points at 1:30 p.m. local time (16:30 GMT), a drop of 3.92% compared to Thursday, driven by fears that international markets reacted to the appearance of a new variant of the coronavirus in South Africa.
The decline in the São Paulo stock market was mainly pressured by the fall in the shares of the airlines Gol (-13.39%) and Azul (-12.97) and of tour operators such as CVC (-12.61%) before the fear of a new stoppage of activities in tourism, the sector hardest hit by the pandemic and which had been recovering in recent weeks with the opening of airports.
Due to the same fears, the dollar appreciated strongly in Brazil and its price rose from 5.56 reais on Thursday to 5.66 reais this Friday morning, its highest value in several months.
The discovery of the new variant in African countries and the new wave of the COVID pandemic in Europe collapsed this Friday to international markets in general, as well as the price of.
The fears are due to the fact that scientists admit that the new variant is more virulent than those already discovered and they have not yet been able to establish whether it is resistant to the vaccines developed so far.
The National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa, regulator) recommended this Friday to the Brazilian Government that it impose restrictive measures, temporarily, on passengers from six African countries in which the circulation of the variant of the coronavirus identified as B was detected .1.1.529.
According to the health authority, the Government should restrict the entry into Brazil of passengers from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
“It is a variant that has more aggressive characteristics and that, obviously, requires immediate measures from the world health authorities,” said the director of Anvisa, Antonio Barra Torres.
Other countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Israel and India, have already announced more rigid border controls for travelers from those nations as scientists try to determine if the new variant is resistant to current vaccines.
Some nations outside of Africa, such as Israel, Belgium and Hong Kong, have already confirmed cases of the new variant.
