BRAZIL: Ibovespa Falls With Profit-taking, But Climbs 7.46% In August

(RTTNews) - Ibovespa, the benchmark stock index in Brazil, fell slightly (-0.07%) Thursday, closing at 70,835.05 points, amid profit-taking after a recent climb in the index. In August, the Ibovespa accumulated gains of 7.46%. The losses, however, were limited by the appreciation of oil and iron ore abroad.

Eletrobras (ELET6 -5.09%, ELET -3.67%) and banks, such as Itaú Unibanco's preferred shares (ITUB4 -1.44%), were among the most affected by the profit-taking trend. Meanwhile, the shares of miners, steelmakers, and Petrobras gained strength. Iron ore showed a strong rally today, prompting Vale's shares (VALE3 +1.69%, VALE5 +1.78%) to rise.

The shares of Usiminas (USIM5 +4.42%), in turn, posted the biggest gains in the Ibovespa. And as oil prices rose more than 2 percent, Petrobras shares also posted gains (PETR3 +1.58%, PETR4 +2.23%).

The locally traded U.S. Dollar, meanwhile, ended the last trading session of the month falling 0.41%, at R$ 3.1490, once again influenced by the bid-ask struggle to form a more favorable Ptax and in line with the behavior of the greenback abroad. In August, however, the currency accumulated a 0.96% appreciation against the Brazilian real.

Friday, the focus will be on the U.S. labor market data, known as payroll, that may give indications of what the next steps will be for the Federal Reserve.

In the domestic market, investors will observe the Brazilian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter, in addition to tracking local the political scene. For Lerosa Investimentos analysts, the prospects for September is that the politics may continue to bring uncertainties, although the interest rate drop has brought an optimistic outlook for the economy.