Brazil shares higher at close of trade; Bovespa up 0.48%

Investing.com – Brazil equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Industrials , Basic Materials and Public Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Sao Paulo, the Bovespa gained 0.48% to hit a new all time high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Bovespa were Marfrig Alimentos SA (SA: MRFG3 ), which rose 5.26% or 0.32 points to trade at 6.40 at the close. WEG SA (SA: WEGE3 ) added 4.19% or 0.79 points to end at 19.63 and Ambev SA (SA: ABEV3 ) was up 3.43% or 0.60 points to 18.11 in late trade.

Biggest losers included B2W Cia Digital (SA: BTOW3 ), which lost 3.84% or 1.92 points to trade at 48.08 in late trade. Estacio Participacoes SA (SA: ESTC3 ) declined 2.57% or 0.80 points to end at 30.30 and Lojas Americanas SA (SA: LAME4 ) shed 2.37% or 0.50 points to 20.57.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 237 to 194 and 50 ended unchanged on the BM&FBovespa Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Brazil Etf Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Bovespa options, was down 3.09% to 31.01.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.15% or 1.95 to $1323.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 2.86% or 1.54 to hit $55.33 a barrel, while the March US coffee C contract fell 1.84% or 1.95 to trade at $103.95 .

USD/BRL was up 0.41% to 3.6588, while EUR/BRL rose 0.54% to 4.1932.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 95.297.