BRASILIA--Brazilian stocks were nearly flat at closing Tuesday,
when early optimism about the global economy was tempered with some
disappointing results by local companies and a bill to reform the
country's ports got stuck in Congress.
The Bovespa index closed at 54666 points, 0.4% higher than its
Monday close.
Trading opened under the positive influence of the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, which said
Tuesday that its composite leading indicators for March showed a
likely pickup in economic growth in the U.S., Japan and the
troubled euro zone.
Meanwhile, during the whole day the Brazilian House of
Representatives approached the deadline to vote on a bill sent by
the executive branch to overhaul the country's sea ports, which are
largely viewed as outdated and not fit to handle Brazil's foreign
trade. As the stock market closed, lawmakers were still unable to
bring the bill to a vote.
On the other hand, shares of Brazilian meatpacker Marfrig
Alimentos SA (MRRTY, MRFG3.BR) soared as it announced plans to cut
its debt by as much as BRL2 billion ($1 billion) in 2013 through
cost-cutting, smaller-units sales and restructuring. The company
announced earlier a loss of BRL401.1 million in the first quarter,
compared with a loss of BRL341.9 million in the same period a year
earlier.
Marfrig shares rose 12.9% and closed at 6.60 Brazilian reais
($3.69) and were the main gainer. The price still is 18.5% lower
than a year ago.
Also among the top gainers were two companies controlled by
Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista: miner MMX Mineracao e Metalicos
SA (MMXM3) and oil-and-gas company OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes
SA (OGXP3). MMX rose 8.7% to BRL1.84 and is now 73% lower than a
year ago, while OGX rose 5.4% to BRL1.67 and is down 86.5% in the
past 12 months.
Real-estate developer MRV Engenharia e Participacoes SA (MRVE3)
was the top loser, with a 6.7% drop to BRL8.01 a share that brought
its 12-month decline to 32.7%.
Brazil's largest traded airline, Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes
SA (GOLL4-B), rose 3.3% to BRL11.86 after reporting a first-quarter
loss. The company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation,
amortization and aircraft rental costs--or Ebitdar--rose to
BRL366.5 million from BRL267.9 million a year earlier.
Mining giant Vale SA (VALE, VALE3.BR, VALE5.BR) shares, on the
other hand, closed 2.4% lower at BRL31.07 as expectations for the
economy of China, Vale's biggest customer, continued to worsen
gradually after April industrial-production growth came in slower
than expected.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal now see the
world's No. 2 economy growing 7.8% this year, down from 8% at the
end of 2012, according to median forecasts.
--Paul Kiernan, in Rio de Janeiro, collaborated in this
article.
Write to Paulo Trevisani at paulo.trevisani@wsj.com
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