Brazilian stocks fell on Friday from a record high set in the previous session. The Bovespa index of the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange fell 0.74 percent to close at 41,757 points, after closing at 42,069 on Thursday.
On the stock market, phone giant Telemar fell 3.39 percent to 32.46 reais. The company failed to gather enough people on Friday at the general shareholders meeting to vote on a plan to simplify its holding structure under one company. It was the second time Telemar had to postpone the vote for a lack of shareholders. The company set another meeting for November 27.
The Brazilian real weakened 0.05 percent to 2.170 per US dollar. The currency has weakened for seven straight sessions, one of the real's longest periods of decline since December 2005. It has been driven down by daily dollar purchases by the central bank and because investors stepped up dollar remittances overseas. The real also fell on expectations a decline in Brazil's benchmark interest rate will reduce the appeal of domestic fixed-income securities.
Brazil's central bank has cut rates by 6 percentage points the past year and is set to reduce it once more next week to 13.25 percent, according to 21 of 27 economists in a Reuters survey. "With the outlook of rates falling here, foreigners buying and the central bank buying, even with exporters selling dollars, the exchange rate won't gain," said the manager of foreign exchange trading at a domestic bank who did not want to be named.