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Brazil real ends weaker, eyes on Wall Street, oil

SAO PAULO: Brazil's real currency ended a nervous session a bit weaker on Tuesday as investors focused on a volatile Wall Street and a rise in international oil prices, traders said.

The real finished at 1.777 per dollar, down 0.2 percent from its previous close and ending weaker for the third straight session.

"The market is worried about higher oil prices and Wall Street's reaction to that," one local trader said.

An afternoon rally on Wall Street actually helped the real creep up from its floor, traders said. The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose more than 100 points before the Brazilian currency market closed, pushed by buying in oil and technology stocks in response to higher oil prices.

Brazil's foreign exchange market was also nervous as investors awaited the outcome of a meeting of Central Bank policymakers. The two-day session on local interest rates began on Tuesday.

Economists widely expect the policymakers to keep the market's benchmark overnight Selic rate unchanged -- taking a conservative stance due to an unstable international setting. -Reuters