Brazilian stocks seesawed on Friday to end trade slightly up and near the previous session's record high. The Sao Paulo Stock Exchange's benchmark Bovespa index rose 0.16 percent to close at 42,977 points.
The index reached an intraday record of 43,506.17 on Thursday. On the stock market, shares of oil giant Petrobras, the heaviest stock in the Bovespa index, rose 0.88 percent to close at 47.17 reais. CVRD and steelmaker Usiminas were among the biggest decliners in the Bovespa after Merrill Lynch in a report cut its rating on the global metals, mining and minerals sector to neutral because of concern over slower global growth in 2007.
CVRD, the world's largest iron ore company, fell 1.27 percent to close at 52.08 reais. Usiminas, Brazil's biggest maker of steel slabs for the automobile industry, lost 1.2 percent to 74 reais. The currency gained on increased dollar flows into Latin America's largest economy. The Brazilian real strengthened 0.2 percent to close at 2.140 per US dollar.
Brazil's currency gained nearly 1.3 percent this week, as more dollars flowed to the stock market and from export sales. "There has been a positive dollar flow from exporters these days," said Jorge Knauer, manager of currency trading at Banco Prosper.