2018.06.2915:16:00UTC+00BRAZIL: Ibovespa Rises With Voting Intention Poll, External Scenario

Ibovespa, the benchmark stock index in Brazil, rose 1.63% to 71,766.52 points Thursday with a new voting intention poll for October's presidential election in Brazil and the improvement of the external scenario.

Domestic issues such as the lowest primary deficit for May since 2015 and the confirmation of the scenario of maintenance of the basic interest rate in the Central Bank's Quarterly Inflation Report (RTI) also helped the index accelerate gains throughout the day.

"Today, Ibope's research has brought a different scenario from Datafolha's research, showing that Jair Bolsonaro may have hit the ceiling and other contenders may begin to gain ground over the next few months," said Lerosa Investimentos analyst Vitor Suzaki.

The expectation of agents is that pro-market candidates could start to do better in polls. In the scenario without former president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, Jair Bolsonaro leads with 17% of the voting intentions, trailed by Marina Silva (13%), who appears ahead of Ciro Gomes (8%) and Geraldo Alckmin (6%).

The shares of Banco do Brasil (+5.75%) and Ita? Unibanco (+2.77%) recorded strong gains.

Meanwhile, lower-than-forecast Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data in the United States has dampened concerns about rising interest rates in the country, which is positive for emerging-country assets.

Among the Ibovespa's highest additions were Gol's (+4.52%) and Natura's shares (+4.26%), while JBS's (-2.30%) lead the day's losses, followed by Suzano's (-1.84%) and BRF's (-1.43%).

The locally traded U.S. dollar closed down 0.49%, quoted at R$ 3.8570, influenced by the foreign market, where the U.S. GDP data caused the foreign currency to lose value at a global level.

Emerging country currencies have benefited, with most trading higher after recent losses.