RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Despite the high volatility that marked the week, the São Paulo stock exchange closed this Friday with an accumulated weekly gain of 2.22% and its Ibovespa index, the benchmark of the trading floor, stood at 120,677 points at the close of the day.
On Friday, the main indicator of the São Paulo market advanced by 1.65% and added 1,953 points, boosted by the oil sector and the increases in the price of international crude oil. Thus, the preferred shares of the state-owned oil company Petrobras were the most traded of the day and ended with an advance of 3.64%.
Also among the most sought-after shares today were the ordinary shares of mining company Vale, which climbed 2.50%, and the preferred shares of bank Itaú-Unibanco, which rose 1.72%.
The oil company PetroRio led the session’s biggest gains, with an appreciation of a remarkable 7.42% in its common shares. The unitary shares of investment bank Inter, which gained 7.06%, and the preferred shares of steel producer Usiminas, with an increase of 6.81%, were also among the best performers on Friday.
On the negative side, the ordinary shares of retail network Lojas Americanas lost the most value, with a fall of 2.71%, followed by the ordinary shares of the educational center’s group YDUQS (-1.97%) and the ordinary shares of the tourism company CVC Brasil (-1.31%).
The volume of business on the São Paulo stock exchange reached R$23.762 million (about 4.575 million dollars) on Friday, resulting from 3,232,849 financial operations.
The US dollar depreciated 1.20% against the Brazilian real in the exchange market and ended the day at 5.192 reais for purchase and 5.193 reais for sale at the commercial exchange rate.