The Bovespa index of the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange fell 1.75 percent to 27,593 points on Friday. The stocks fell on a weak performance by Wall Street stocks and options expiring on Monday on shares of bellwether Tele Norte Leste Participacoes and other stocks. Tele Norte dropped 1.95 percent to 42.17 reais. Among the few gainers was Brasil Telecom Participacoes, which rose 1.34 percent to 18.85 reais, after Citigroup won a court ruling to dismiss a controversial manager of its private equity fund that controls the phone carrier.
Analysts say they hope the decision could help end a long-standing dispute among key shareholders of the company.
After a series of heavy interventions that totalled some $2.0 billion so far this month, the central bank refrained from buying dollars on the spot market on Thursday, and again on Friday, under a plan introduced in December to rebuild foreign reserves.