Bes Stocks To Buy 2014, Best Stocks For 2014: Brazilian stocks edge up ahead of holiday break

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Brazilian stocks edge up ahead of holiday break

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) � Brazilian stocks edged higher in seesaw trading Friday, with a report of slowing local inflation and reports that financial aid appears to be in reach for debt-strapped Greece arriving ahead of a holiday break for Latin America�s largest economy.

Brazil�s Ibovespa BR:BVSP �rose 0.1% to 66,203.50, fighting back from mild losses.

Declines in home building stocks in part held gains in check. MRV Engenharia BR:MRVE3 �logged the worst performance as its shares slumped 5.7%. Also tugging at the index were preferred shares of Vale BR:VALE5 �VALE , with the miner and market heavyweight down 0.9%.

/quotes/zigman/1467794 BVSP 65,812.95, -15.24, -0.02%

But shares of grocer Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao CBD �shined, rising 5.7% after the company late Thursday said fourth-quarter earnings climbed more than 40% to 361! million reals ($210.6 million) on a surge in sales to 15.1 billion reals from a year ago.

The Ibovespa recorded a weekly gain of 3.5%, erasing last week�s fall of 1.9%. The index has risen 16.7% so far this year following an 18.1% slide in 2011.

Brazilian stocks opened modestly higher Friday as Greece � whose debt woes have been an ongoing source of pressure on equities worldwide � appeared closer to closing a crucial gap in funding.

Reaching that goal through a deal with European officials could allow the Greek government to receive a new round of bailout money. Euro-zone ministers were set to meet on Monday, but investors in Brazilian stocks moved with caution as previous efforts to aid Greece have hit roadblocks. Read more on Greece.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 Index SPX �rose 0.2% to 1,361.23. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA �advanced 45 points, moving closer to the 13,000 level. Trading on Wall Street will be closed Monday for the Presidents Day holiday. Read about Friday's action in U.S. stocks.

Inflation slows

Ahead of Brazil�s trading break on Monday and Tuesday for the Carnival holiday, a mid-month reading of consumer prices met analyst expectations.

The IPCA-15 consumer price index through mid-February rose 0.53%, according to the IBGE statistics agency. The index through the same period in January grew 0.65%. The February reading was slower than the previous month�s in part as prices for food and beverages rose 0.29% compared with a previous increase of 1.25%! .

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U.S. week ahead: Greece, Jobs

In a short trading week, first-time jobless claims, the Nasdaq's drive toward 3,000 and the Greek debt deal will get attention. MarketWatch's Rex Crum reports.

Over a 12-month period, the inflation rate dropped to 5.98%, the lowest year-over-year rate since December 2010. The inflation rate on 12-month basis through January was 6.44%.

The latest decline puts the annual inflation rate below the 6.5% upper limit of the bank�s tolerance range. The target is 4.5%.

�Brazil policy-makers are intent on boosting growth in 2012, with more easing seemingly warranted by falling inflation,� Win Thin, global head of emerging markets strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman, wrote Friday.

The central bank is expected to cut the key rate to 10% from 10.5% when it releases its decision March 7, he noted, with the bank likely to follow up with a cut to 9.5% in April.

�After that, further cuts are likely to depend on how the data respond to the previous rate cuts,� Thin said.

Meanwhile, the rate of unemployment in Brazil fell to 5.5% in January, according to a separate report from IBGE, lower than the year-ago reading of 6.1%. The January rate was the lowest for the month since the series began in 2002.

Brazil�s currency USDBRL �traded at 1.714 reals per U.S. dollar, up from 1.727 reals in the previous session.

In Mexico, the IPC equity index! MX:IPC �reversed course, ending down 0.8% at 37,914.70. The move pushed the index lower by 0.6% for the week. Chile�s IPSA CL:IPSA �closed Friday�s session up 1.2% at 4,545.90 and logged a weekly advance of 3.1%.

Argentina�s Merval AR:MERV �gained 1.1% to 2,798.83 on Friday to lock in a gain of 2.8% for the week. Trading in Argentina will also be closed Monday and Tuesday for Carnival.

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