The dollar fell almost 1% against the real amid a dispute over the end-of-quarter rate.
During the year, the currency accumulates a drop of 7,64% against the real
By Fabricio de Castro
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - In a session marked by the dispute over the formation of the month-end and quarter-end Ptax rate, the dollar closed Monday down almost 1% against the real, bucking the trend of the US currency's advance against most other currencies abroad amid expectations of the application of new import tariffs by the United States starting Wednesday.
The US dollar closed down 0,97% at R$5,7069. Year-to-date, the currency has fallen 7,64% against the Brazilian real.
At 17:03 PM on the B3 exchange, the dollar for May – which in this session became the most liquid in Brazil – was down 0,94%, at R$5,7355.
At the start of the day, the dollar fluctuated upwards against the real, following the advance of the US currency against other currencies abroad. Behind the movement were fears surrounding the tariff war between the countries.
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump stated that the reciprocal tariffs he is expected to announce this week will include all countries -- not just a smaller group of 10 to 15 countries. Trump promised to unveil a massive tariff plan on Wednesday, which he dubbed "Liberation Day".
In addition to external factors, exchange rates were also influenced by the dispute over the formation of the Ptax rate in Brazil.
Calculated by the Central Bank based on spot market quotations, the Ptax rate serves as a reference for the settlement of futures contracts. At the end of each month, financial agents try to direct it to levels more convenient to their positions, whether they are long (in the sense of rising quotations) or short in dollars (in the sense of falling quotations).
At the end of each quarter, the competition is even fiercer, since the Ptax serves as a benchmark for the balance sheets of companies with international operations.
"The start of trading was clearly marked by global caution. Emerging market currencies were depreciating across the board, somewhat due to the eve of the start of the tariff plan (in the US)," commented Fernando Bergallo, director of the advisory firm FB Capital, during the afternoon, also drawing attention to the formation of the Ptax rate.
"There's a technical influence at play here, unrelated to fundamental issues. So much so that the exchange rate movement isn't even linear in relation to the stock market," he added, drawing attention to the fact that the Ibovespa is falling.
With the Ptax rate set in the early afternoon (R$5,7422 for sale), the dollar – which was already weakening at that time – lost a little more strength against the real, amid technical movements.
Professionals interviewed by Reuters pointed out that agents who acted to support exchange rates during the morning began, after the Ptax (tax rate), to "return" dollars to the market.
In this scenario, after reaching the highest exchange rate of the trading session at R$5,7867 (+0,42%) at 9:38 AM, still within the first hour of trading, the spot dollar hit a low of R$5,7010 (-1,07%) at 15:33 PM.
The decline of the dollar against the real was contrary to what was being seen abroad, where the US currency was rising against most other currencies.
"Despite another day of risk aversion and the strengthening of the dollar against the currencies of developed countries, the real is one of the few currencies that is appreciating this Monday," commented Bruno Shahini, investment specialist at Nomad.
"Technical factors, such as the formation of the quarterly Ptax rate with greater selling pressure in the market, are among the elements that explain today's drop."
Abroad, at 17:14 PM, the dollar index -- which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of six currencies -- was up 0,16%, at 104,180.
In the morning, the Central Bank sold the entire offering of 20.000 traditional currency swap contracts for the purpose of rolling over the maturity of May 2, 2025.
The Central Bank's Focus bulletin showed that the median market projection for the dollar at the end of this year fell from R$5,95 to R$5,92.
