Brazil'stock markets rallied on Friday, as commodity stocks Petrobras and Vale rebounded and offset grim US jobs data. Sao Paulo's main stock index, the Bovespa jumped 3.05 percent to 37,470.64 points in very volatile trading, after falling for two straight sessions. But the index was still down more than 41 percent on the year.
Commodity stocks have suffered in recent weeks on the view that a global slowdown is hitting demand for oil and metals, and investors, looking for a bargain, were buying back into cheapened stocks. Banks also managed a rebound as hopes for consolidation in the sector persisted after the announcement earlier this week that Brazilian bank Itau would take over smaller rival Unibanco.
Itau was up 4.7 percent at 25.39 reais, Unibanco rose 3.5 percent to 13.74 reais and Banco do Brasil jumped 4.7 percent at 15.70 reais. The gains came despite a government report showing US employers cut payrolls by a higher-than-expected 240,000 in October.
The data reinforced worries that the world's largest economy could face a prolonged recession as a result of a global financial crisis. Interest rate futures on the BM&F commodities and futures exchange were mostly lower one day after minutes from the central bank's rate-setting meeting last week indicated policy-makers may keep borrowing costs unchanged for a while.
Interest rate futures fell despite data showing inflation in Brazil gathered steam for the first time in five months in October. The benchmark IPCA consumer price index - which the central bank uses as a guide when setting interest rates - rose by a higher-than-expected 0.45 percent in October.
The world's leading economies must increase fiscal spending, bolster credit markets, and avoid protectionism to prevent a global economic slowdown, Brazil's Finance Minister Guido Mantega said at the outset of a crisis summit in Sao Paulo.
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