Brazilian stocks rose for a third straight day on Friday, led by gains in commodity giants Petrobras and Vale, while the national currency rose more than 1 percent. Sao Paulo's main stock index, the Bovespa gained 1.28 percent to 46,389 points as Wall Street rose.
US stocks gained on Friday amid better-than-expected results from companies including American Express and Ford. Brazil's national currency, the real, strengthened about 1.1 percent to 2.195 reais per dollar as the greenback fell against a basket of currencies as risk aversion eased. State-run Petrobras rose 1 percent to 29.56 reais as oil prices jumped more than 3 percent, while miner Vale gained 1.4 percent to 30.49 percent as copper prices gained 2.37 percent.
Steelmakers were also boosted by higher metal prices rose 1.7 percent to 40.78 reais, Gerdau up 1.05 percent to 15.46 reais and Usiminas added 0.53 percent to 34.13 reais. Real estate and retail companies also benefited a day after data showed credit conditions were normalising somewhat.
Central bank data on Thursday showed bank lending in Brazil surged 26.1 percent in March, the first month-on-month rise since January. Real estate developer Gafisa jumped 5.6 percent to 16.25 reais, while Rossi Residential surged 3.1 percent to 5.66 reais. Among retailers, Lojas Americanas gained 1.4 percent to 8.47 reais and Lojas Renner rose 4.3 percent to 18.35 reais.
The gains came despite data showing unemployment in Brazil jumped to its highest level since September 2007 as companies laid off workers and a sharp slowdown in Latin America's largest economy made it harder for people to find jobs.
Interest rate futures were broadly higher as separate data showed inflation in Brazil quickened in the month to mid-April as prices of cooking gas, cigarettes and housekeeping services surged. Brazil's central bank is widely expected to cut interest rates next week by at least 100 basis points to a new record low of 10.25 percent.
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