Investing.com – Brazil equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Financials and Public Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sao Paulo, the Bovespa rose 0.90%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Bovespa were Magazine Luiza SA (SA:MGLU3), which rose 6.04% or 4.51 points to trade at 79.21 at the close. CEMIG - Companhia Energetica Minas Gerais Pref (SA:CMIG4) added 5.32% or 0.40 points to end at 7.92 and Bradespar SA (SA:BRAP4) was up 4.35% or 1.45 points to 34.77 in late trade.
Biggest losers included BRF SA (SA:BRFS3), which lost 1.99% or 0.62 points to trade at 30.50 in late trade. JBS SA (SA:JBSS3) declined 1.93% or 0.19 points to end at 9.66 and Tim Participacoes SA (SA:TIMP3) shed 1.81% or 0.26 points to 14.09.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 209 to 192 and 35 ended unchanged on the BM&FBovespa Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Brazil Etf Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Bovespa options, was up 0.94% to 30.07.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.09% or 1.20 to $1356.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 1.53% or 0.93 to hit $61.53 a barrel, while the March US coffee C contract fell 0.92% or 1.13 to trade at $121.72 .
USD/BRL was up 0.33% to 3.2278, while EUR/BRL rose 0.76% to 4.0361.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.47% at 88.49.