The Sao Paulo stock exchange halted trading twice in less than an hour Thursday as Brazil struggled to deal with a market rout caused by the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
The real currency also plummeted to below five to the dollar for the first time ever, underlining the heavy toll the pandemic is taking on Latin America's largest economy, as traders reeled at US President Donald Trump's shock ban on travel from mainland Europe.
The Sao Paulo stock exchange's Ibovespa index plunged 11.65 percent shortly after opening, triggering automatic circuit breakers that suspend trading for 30 minutes in case of a drop of more than 10 percent.
But the pause failed to calm traders' nerves, and the sell-off resumed a half-hour later, again triggering the circuit-breakers - this time for an hour-long pause, after the losses surpassed 15 percent.
The index was 15.43 percent in the red when trading was stopped for the fourth time this week.
The Brazilian real hit 5.028 to the dollar in early trading, the first time it has crossed the threshold of five to the dollar since it was launched in 1994.
It later recovered some ground as the central bank intervened to prop it up with currency auctions, and was trading at 4.9 to the dollar.
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