See the dollar quote and the Stock Exchange today – 03/01/2023 – Market

The dollar fell against the real shortly after opening this Wednesday (1st), amid a climate of strong appetite for risk abroad after a positive surprise in manufacturing data from China, while investors continued to digest the return of fuel taxation and speeches by the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad.

With this Wednesday’s agenda emptied of indicators, investors should start looking more closely at GDP (Gross Domestic Product) data for Brazil for the fourth quarter and for the year 2022. The data will be released this Thursday (2) .

At 9:04 am (Brasília time), the spot dollar retreated 0.42%, to R$ 5.2039 in the sale.

On B3, at 9:04 am (Brasília time), the first contract dollar futures contract fell 0.68%, to R$ 5.2365.

The stock exchange ended February with an accumulated drop of 7.5%, in a month that began with clashes between the government and the Central Bank, and ended with the signaling of changes in Petrobras’ dividend policy. The dollar closed on a high this Tuesday (28), and ended the month with an advance of almost 3% against the real.

This Tuesday, the Ibovespa closed the trading session down 0.74%, to 104,931 points. It is the second worst closing level of the year, behind only January 3rd, when it closed at 104,165 points.

The dollar closed at a high of 0.36% this Tuesday, at R$ 5.224, the highest quotation since January 10th. In February, the American currency appreciated 2.9% against the real.

Future interest rates rose. Contracts maturing in January 2024 rose from 13.34% at the close of this Monday (27) to 13.37% per annum this Tuesday. For January 2025, the rate increased from 12.59% to 12.68%. For January 2027, interest increased from 12.81% to 12.97%.

Petrobras shares consolidated a downward trend after the announcement of a 3.9% cut in the price of gasoline at its refineries. The measure helps to offset the return of federal taxes on fuel.

According to the state-owned company, gasoline in its refineries will cost R$ 3.18 per liter from this Wednesday (1st), when federal taxes are charged again. The value is R$ 0.13 per liter less than the current one.

Another piece of news further worsened the performance of the state-owned company’s shares. According to the G1 portal, the government will no longer follow the Petrobras dividend policy established during the Bolsonaro government.

In the previous management, Petrobras even distributed almost all of its profits to shareholders, including the Union. Now, according to the G1, the idea is to follow market rules, and direct part of the earnings to investments, mainly in energy transition, and to fulfill the company’s social function.

Petrobras’ common shares closed down 4.38%, and preferred shares fell 3.47%.

At the end of the afternoon, the government defined how taxes on fuels will be. The PIS/Cofins rate will rise to R$0.47 per liter of gasoline and R$0.02 per liter of ethanol — lower levels than those charged before the exemption (up to R$0.69 and R$0.24, respectively). The differential between the two fuels was maintained.

Taxes on diesel, biodiesel and cooking gas remain zero until the end of this year, as had already been foreseen in the MP (provisional measure) signed by Lula on January 1st.

Still among stocks, the negative highlight was the common stock of GPA, with a decrease of 7.16%. The company released its numbers for the fourth quarter of 2022 on Monday night, with a net loss of BRL 1.1 billion.

This Tuesday morning, important data on the Brazilian public accounts came out. The country’s gross debt as a proportion of GDP closed January at 73.1%, the lowest level since June 2017, when it reached 72.7%. In December, the debt stood at 73.4% of GDP.

The consolidated public sector registered a primary surplus of BRL 99.013 billion in the first month of the year, in line with the expectations of economists consulted in a Reuters poll.

However, the value was lower than the surplus of R$ 101.8 billion in the same month last year.

In a scenario of reopening the economy, the unemployment rate in Brazil fell to 9.3% in the annual average of 2022, reported this Tuesday (28) the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).

It is the lowest level since 2015 (8.6%), when the Brazilian economy plunged into recession. Data are from PNAD Contínua (Continuous National Household Sample Survey).

For the dollar, the global trend weighed this Friday, something that explains the appreciation of the American currency throughout the month of February.

This Friday, the caution was provoked mainly by inflation data in Europe. France and Spain announced price hikes in February above what the market expected.

At 6:30 pm, the DXY, an index that measures the performance of the dollar against other relevant global currencies, rose 0.27%.

In the United States, stock indices closed lower. The Dow Jones fell 0.71%. The S&P 500 fell 0.30%. The Nasdaq ended the day down 0.10%.

With Reuters