21.02.201819:10:00UTC+00BRAZIL: Stocks Rise For The Fifth Straight Session As Ibovespa Hits New Record

The return of foreign investors to the Brazilian stock market and bets that the government will turn its attention to the privatization of state-owned companies led the Ibovespa higher for the fifth consecutive trading session on Tuesday.

The benchmark stock market index in Brazil rose 1.19%, to 85,803.96 points, setting a fresh record closing level. Trading volume totaled R$ 12.346 billion. The index also reached a new intraday record of 86,290.32 points during the day.

"The flow was very strong and we grew apart from the foreign market. Nobody cared about the pension reform freezing," said Terra Investimentos analyst Christian Lupinacci, about the government's decision to give up on voting the pension system reform for now.

Petrobras' shares (+1.95%) rose as oil prices went up. The shares of banks such as Ita? Unibanco (+4.46%) and Bradesco (+4.04%) also performed well. However, Ibovespa's highest valuations in the day were of Eletrobras shares (ELET3 +6.82% privatization.

For Wednesday, investors are expecting mostly the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank (Fed), which may renew fears about new increases in the country's interest rate and eventually impact the Brazilian stock market.

The locally traded U.S. dollar rose 0.61%, quoted at R$ 3.256, near to the highest level intraday. The greenback regained strength against other currencies worldwide while investors remain cautious waiting for the reading of the minutes of the Federal Reserve (Fed), that should bring clues on the next steps of the monetary policy of the United States.