247 – The dollar closed higher this Tuesday (30) and ended the month of April with gains of 3.54%. At the end of the session, the US currency rose 1.52%, quoted at R$5.1927. At its maximum, it was R$5.1937. Analysts are waiting for the next decision from the Federal Reserve (Fed, the North American central bank), scheduled for Wednesday (1st).
In the morning, the US currency was influenced, among other factors, by the dispute surrounding the formation of the end-of-month Ptax — exchange rate calculated by the Central Bank based on spot market quotations and which serves as a reference for the settlement of futures contracts.
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At the end of each month, financial agents usually try to direct it to levels that are more convenient for their positions, whether they are purchased (in the sense of rising prices) or sold in dollars.
Abroad, the dollar rose in the morning against most other currencies, amid the new rise in Treasury yields, which justified the advance of the US currency in Brazil.
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“The dollar is gaining well abroad, with investors apprehensive ahead of the Fed’s monetary policy decision tomorrow (Wednesday). Everyone wants to hear what (Fed Chair Jerome) Powell will say, whether he will be more or less aggressive about inflation”, commented Jefferson Rugik, director of Correparti Corretora, during the afternoon.
“The dollar rose here and abroad, but here there is more of a defensive position due to the holidays,” he added.
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In practice, as markets will remain closed in Brazil on Wednesday due to Labor Day, many investors preferred to wait for the Fed’s decision by buying in dollars.
After registering a minimum price of 5.1159 reais (+0.01%) at 9 am, at the opening of the session, the spot dollar reached a maximum of 5.1940 reais (+1.54%) at 2:17 pm.
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On Wednesday, more than the Fed’s decision itself, which should keep the reference rate in the range of 5.25% to 5.50%, investors around the world will be paying attention to Powell’s speech, looking for of clues about when the US interest rate cut will begin.
In this scenario, the dollar remained steadily rising against most other currencies abroad, including the Chilean peso and the Mexican peso.
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At 5:18 pm, the dollar index — which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of six currencies — rose 0.57%, to 106.290.
* With information from Reuters
