Last Friday, the dollar dropped 0.79%, accumulating a drop of 0.47% in the week and being sold at R$ 4.2997.
Dollar closes down this Friday (the 14th), continuing the truce on Thursday (the 13th), in another day of intervention by the Central Bank in the foreign exchange market. The coin had broken four consecutive records, until fourth.
It was the first weekly drop of the year, according to Reuters. There was a pullback of 0.79%, closing R$ 4.2997. And in the week, the dollar accumulated a drop of 0.47%.
In this record period, the highest closing level was recorded on Wednesday, February 12th (R$ 4.3505). On the following day, the currency reached the highest intraday price (R$ 4.3830), despite having closed down.
In the partial of the month, the US currency is up 0.34%. And it has already risen 7,23% year to date.
Meanwhile, the main index of the Brazilian stock exchange, the B3, closed down this Friday (the 14th). The Ibovespa retreated 1.11%, to 114,380 points.
BC and swap auction
The Central Bank held yet another auction of up to 20,000 traditional foreign exchange swap contracts last Friday (the 14th). In the equivalent of US$ 1 billion, in net supply of these assets – the same process carried out on Thursday, after the soaring dollar.
Through the “exchange swap” contracts, the BC executed an operation equivalent to a currency sale in the futures market (derivatives), which reduces the pressure on the currency's rise. The offer of currency swaps on the 13th was the first of its kind since August 2018.
These contracts are basically for risk exchange: the Central Bank offers a contract for the sale of dollars, with a pre-established closing date, but does not deliver the US currency. Upon expiry of these contracts, the investor commits to pay an interest rate on their value and receives the variation of the dollar from the BC in the same period.
Swaps also serve to provide a certain “protection” to agents that have debt in foreign currency – in this case, when the dollar rises, they get their variation from BC.
