Brazil-related exchange traded funds jumped Friday after the Brazilian central bank reassured markets that it will utilize everything but the kitchen sink to prop up the real, one of the worst performing foreign currencies.
“In this process, all instruments are available for the central bank,” central bank president Alexandre Tombini said Thursday, according to Reuters. “Foreign reserves are an insurance that could and should be used.”
Tombini hinted that the central bank is willing to tap into its $371 billion foreign currency reserves to support the real currency.
The Brazilian real rallied as much as 7% against the U.S. dollar during trading Thursday and ended up 4.7% higher, its largest gain since November 2008, the Financial Times reports.
The WisdomTree Brazilian Real ETF (NYSEArca: BZF), which follows real currency movements against the dollar, was up 6.6% since the Thursday open. However, BZF was still down 27.8 year-to-date.
Meanwhile, the iShares MSCI Brazil Capped ETF (NYSEArca: EWZ) jumped 9.1% since the Thursday low, but the fund declined 27.8% year-to-date.
The appreciating real currency also bolstered the coffee markets, with the iPath Dow Jones-UBS Coffee Total Return Sub-Index ETN (NYSEArca: JO) jumping 4.6% Friday after rising 2.2% Thursday. Brazil is the largest producer of arabica coffee, and the real currency’s plunge against the USD has been pressuring prices on speculation that coffee producers in the country have been selling US-denominated goods to take advantage of the favorable exchange rates, according to Dow Jones Business News.
Brazil’s economy has been stumbling and a widespread corruption scandal has tainted state-owned oil group Petrobras. The uncertainty has also led to a Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the country’s investment-grade rating this month.