Sao Paulo: Brazilian stocks and the national currency slid on Monday, led lower by financial companies and commodity producers in a day of choppy trading.
Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index shed 0.39 per cent to end at 68,575.47, after posting gains in the previous two sessions.
The Bovespa index seesawed during the day, reaching into positive territory as worries over Greece's debt eased after French President Nicolas Sarkozy promised on Sunday that euro zone countries would help Greece if its financial problems worsened.
New plan
"Given the words of political and financial support, and a new plan of austerity measures [in Greece], I think Greece is easing as a basic worry in the market," said Carlos Camacho, a fund manager with GAP Asset Management, in Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil's currency, the real, weakened slightly, dipping 0.11 per cent to 1.788 (Dh3.67) per dollar as the greenback traded flat against a basket of major currencies.
The Reuters-Jefferies commodities index also moved little, slipping 0.08 per cent.
Leading losers on the Bovespa were shares of BM&F Bovespa, the world's third-largest exchange operator by market value. The stock lost 2.24 per cent to 11.77 reais.
Banks fell as well with Bradesco shedding 0.94 per cent to 31.65 reais.
Banco do Brasil, Latin America's largest bank by assets, moved down 1.41 percent to 29.38 reais and Itau Unibanco, Brazil's largest private sector bank by assets, edged down 0.05 per cent to 37.28 reais.
