© Reuters. The Sao Paulo stock market falls 2.29% hit by high interest rates
Sao Paulo, Mar 23 (.).- The Sao Paulo stock market fell 2.29% this Thursday and the index, a reference for the parquet, closed with 97,926 points, affected by the rise in interest rates in the United States and the decision of the Central Bank of Brazil to maintain them at 13.75% per year.
The Brazilian parquet, the largest in Latin America by business volume, chained two consecutive sessions in the red, after losing 0.77% on Wednesday, and thus renewed its lowest score of the year.
Financial operators received the forecasts of the US Federal Reserve with some pessimism, which increased rates by 0.25 points to place them in a range between 4.75% and 5%.
They also did not like the harsh tone of the Central Bank of Brazil to justify that it maintains the reference interest rate at 13.75% for the fifth time in a row, amid pressure from the Government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to loosen the cost of money.
The president returned this Thursday to charge against the president of the issuing body, Roberto Campos Neto, accusing him of not fulfilling the mission for which he was appointed and harming economic growth and job creation.
These turbulences were also felt in the foreign exchange market, where the US dollar appreciated by 1.0% and closed at 5,287 reais for purchase and 5,288 reais for sale at the Brazilian commercial exchange rate.
On the Sao Paulo stock market, the largest falls were recorded by the Magazine Luiza department stores (-13.4%), the airlines Gol (-10.0%) and Azul (-8.9%), and the meat company BRF (-9.6%).
On the contrary, the papers of the aircraft manufacturer Embraer (BVMF:) (+1.8%) and the food company Minerva (+1.3%), among others, resisted in the green.
The volume traded on the São Paulo stock market today reached 25.5 billion reais (4.8 billion dollars), in 3.9 million operations, according to preliminary results at the end of the session.