Fears about the effects of the lockdown on China’s financial heart sank markets in Asia and the prices of the main commodities exported by Brazil at the opening of business this week, indicating difficulties for the Brazilian stock exchange this Monday (11).
The Ibovespa future retreated before the opening of negotiations, following a mostly negative day abroad. At the opening of the exchange market, at 9:22 am, the commercial dollar rose 0.40%, quoted at R$ 4.7320. Last week, the exchange rate advanced 0.87%.
In China, the index that tracks the shares of major companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen tumbled 3.03%. The second was equally bad on the Hong Hong Stock Exchange, which plunged 3.09%.
Faced with the advance of Covid-19 cases, Chinese authorities subject Shanghai’s 26 million inhabitants to strict mobility restriction rules.
Beijing’s health policy is aimed at zero infections. Investors fear that the side effect will be a new disorganization of supply chains and paralyze economies that are still trying to recover from the worst phases of the pandemic.
The price of Brent oil fell 3.35% to US$ 99.34 (R$ 471.93). At this price, the barrel is approaching US$ 99.08 at the close of February 24, the day Russian troops invaded Ukraine. Concerns about the restriction the war could impose on the commodity’s supply pushed the crude oil benchmark price up to $127.98 on March 8.
At the moment, in addition to the lockdown in China, oil prices are also being pushed down by the decision of the United States and other countries to release millions of barrels of their strategic reserves. The measure seeks to curb inflation.
The bad mood was also felt in the iron ore market, whose most-traded contracts were down earlier this morning.
In the United States, futures indexes fell before the market opened, while yields on benchmark Treasury bonds climbed to the highest level since 2019.
Investors begin to seek protection in fixed income in the face of signals from the Fed (Federal Reserve, the US central bank) will raise interest rates more aggressively and reduce their positions in bonds.
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