Brazil ETFs brushed off the broader market weakness and surged back above their trend lines after far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro took the lead in the first round of votes.
Among the best performing ETFs of Monday, the iShares MSCI Brazil Capped ETF (NYSEArca: EWZ) increased 6.1% and broke above its long-term resistance at the 200-day simple moving average. The iShares MSCI Brazil Small-Cap ETF (NasdaqGM: EWZS) advanced 6.3%.
Meanwhile, the leveraged long Direxion Daily MSCI Brazil Bull 3X ETF (NYSEArca: BRZU) jumped 18.2%. The Direxion Daily MSCI Brazil Bull 3X Shares seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, of 300% of the performance of the MSCI Brazil 25/50 Index.
Fueling the rally in Brazilian equities, Bolsonaro gained a better-than-expected 46.7% of the votes in Sunday’s first round vote, overtaking all other candidates, CNBC reports. In comparison, former Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad came in second with 28.5%.
A second round of voting will occur on October 28 since no candidate garnered more than 50% of the vote.
“This is very similar to the U.S. election in 2016,” Danilo Kawasaki, chief operating officer at Gerber Kawasaki, told CNBC. “You had a far-right candidate come out of nowhere and win.”
Kawasaki also said “the stock market doesn’t want Haddad’s Workers’ Party in power,” adding a victory for Haddad would trigger a sell-off in Brazilan equities.
