Brazilian equities and currencies slumped on Tuesday after an opinion poll on the presidential election showed leftist candidates gaining ground while market-friendly centrists did not.
In Brazil, the Real currency and benchmark Bovespa stock index strengthened slightly on Wednesday. Political uncertainty in Brazil took a toll after judicial authorities canceled the release of a closely-watched opinion poll on technical grounds.
Brazil’s business-friendly presidential candidate Geraldo Alckmin unveiled a campaign ad against gun violence on Thursday that targeted his far-right pro-gun adversary Jair Bolsonaro.
The popularity of imprisoned former Brazilian president Lula da Silva has grown strongly despite his corruption conviction, an election poll on Wednesday showed, a result that rattled markets and raised the possibility that Lula’s running mate could ultimately become the next occupant of the country’s presidential palace.
The Brazilian real led losses among Latin American currencies on Monday after an opinion poll showed the market's preferred candidate in October's presidential elections lagging far behind his rivals. The Real was down 0.76% and 15.98% in the eight months of the year.
Brazilian President Michel Temer is endorsing another party’s candidate as well as his own in October’s presidential election. On the day the campaign took off, Temer said in an interview published on Thursday by the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper that he sees former Sao Paulo Gov. Geraldo Alckmin of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party as a candidate who would carry on with his work.
Brazil is staging its first presidential election debate with eight of the crowded field locking horns but also one notable absentee – jailed frontrunner ex president Lula da Silva. Thirteen candidates have officially entered the election, which starts with a first round October 7 and is almost sure to go to a run-off two weeks later.
Brazil's ex president and currently jailed for corruption, Lula da Silva is expected to secure his Workers Party's nomination this Saturday and continue to overshadow more likely candidates in the country's most unpredictable presidential election for decades.
Five allied political parties endorsed the presidential nominee of the bigger business friendly Brazilian Social Democracy Party on Thursday, giving a boost to the man seen as the establishment candidate in Brazil's fractured political landscape.
Brazil's far-right presidential hopeful, Jair Bolsonaro, officially kicked off his campaign on Sunday, blasting the political center but softening his incendiary stance on gays and blacks three months before wide-open October elections.