
Brazilian far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro held a solid lead ahead of the October 7 election following a near-fatal stabbing, but Workers Party (PT) candidate Fernando Haddad emerged in second place, signaling a potential polarized right-left runoff, a poll showed on Monday.

Brazilian far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro attacked the rival Workers Party (PT) and raised the prospect of voter fraud in an address on Sunday from his hospital bed in Sao Paulo, where he is recovering from an assassination attempt.

Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro, in intensive care after being stabbed at a campaign rally, kept his first-round lead in an election opinion poll on Friday, but a leftist rival from the Workers Party (PT) made solid gains.

Brazilian markets ticked higher on Friday, bolstered by a new presidential election poll, sending the benchmark Bovespa index up more than 1% as the country's currency, the real, gained about 0.78%.

Brazil's currency closed at a record low of 4.197 to the US dollar on Thursday amid uncertainty and unpredictability surrounding next month's presidential elections. The previous record of 4.166 dated back to January 2016, during a two-and-a-half-year recession.

Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian far-right frontrunner for president, on Thursday was recovering from emergency surgery with no complications, but his running mate said his return to campaigning would be further delayed.

Tempers flared at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on Thursday as it voted to back a Brazilian proposal which would safeguard whales in perpetuity, after a bitter debate. The biennial meeting of the 89-nation body passed the host country's “Florianopolis Declaration” which sees whaling as no longer being a necessary economic activity.

Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro underwent emergency surgery on Wednesday evening, according to a medical report released by the hospital caring for him.

Center-left populist presidential candidate Ciro Gomes vowed on Wednesday to reduce concentration in Brazil's banking sector if elected in October, warning that he would open the sector up to more foreign competition if necessary.

Center-left populist presidential candidate Ciro Gomes vowed on Wednesday to reduce concentration in Brazil's banking sector if elected in October, warning that he would open the sector up to more foreign competition if necessary.