Brazil shares lower at close of trade; Bovespa down 0.68%

Investing.com – Brazil equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Basic Materials , Industrials and Consumption sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Sao Paulo, the Bovespa lost 0.68%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Bovespa were Kroton Educacional SA (SA: KROT3 ), which rose 4.45% or 0.55 points to trade at 12.90 at the close. Estacio Participacoes SA (SA: ESTC3 ) added 3.93% or 0.56 points to end at 14.80 and EcoRodovias SA (SA: ECOR3 ) was up 3.22% or 0.24 points to 7.70 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Vale SA (SA: VALE5 ), which lost 5.18% or 1.19 points to trade at 21.78 in late trade. Gerdau SA (SA: GGBR4 ) declined 4.27% or 0.46 points to end at 10.32 and Bradespar SA (SA: BRAP4 ) shed 4.21% or 0.63 points to 14.32.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 205 to 162 and 35 ended unchanged on the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Brazil Etf Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of Bovespa options, was down 0.93% to 34.97 a new 1-month low.

In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.24% or 2.75 to $1130.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.67% or 0.35 to hit $52.84 a barrel, while the March US coffee C contract fell 3.71% or 5.35 to trade at $138.90 .

USD/BRL was down 1.19% to 3.2877, while EUR/BRL fell 1.09% to 3.4307.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.04% at 103.08.