BRAZIL: Ibovespa Almost Zeroes Gains After North Korean Missile Test

Ibovespa, the benchmark stock index in Brazil, closed up 0.1% at 74,139.72 points Tuesday, giving up on an earlier gain of 1.2% following a new North Korean missile test.

The news undermined investors optimism with Jerome Powell, the nominee to lead the United States Federal Reserve, who earlier made favorable comments towards low interest rates in the country.

“At the end of the trading session, the issue of North Korea has picked up strong and forced a zeroing in positions. We never know what comes next, the market ends up feeling,” said H. Commcor’s chief operating officer Ari Santos.

For Homebroker ModalMais’ chief economist, ?lvaro Bandeira, Powell’s statements show that he should be “a new Janet Yellen.”

“The market expected a much tougher speech, which eventually reinforced the high,” he said.

On the domestic front, pension reform discussions continued in a standstill, and the central government posted in October a R$ 5.191 billion primary surplus, the first positive balance since April.

The locally traded U.S. dollar closed down 0.31%, at R$ 3.21, renewing the lowest closing level in more than a month (R$ 3.19 on October 20), after the softer tone in the speech of Jerome Powell, nominated by U.S. President Donald Trump to be the next Federal Reserve bank chairman.

For Wednesday, Santos says that depending on the reaction of Trump, the North Korean missile test may bring downward pressure on the Ibovespa at the beginning of the trading session. Bandeira expects that the index reaches 75,100 points amid “indicators that will not bring surprises.”

The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com