RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Brazil’s stock exchange slipped and its currency fell against the dollar Monday as the market reacted negatively to the volatile presidential race that saw President Dilma Rousseff narrowly win re-election over her pro-business rival, Aecio Neves.
Early afternoon trading was volatile, with the Brazilian real falling 3 percent to 2.53 against the U.S. dollar and the Sao Paulo-based Bovespa stock exchange down 4 percent to 49,875, led lower by 12.9 percent drop in state-run oil company Petrobras.
Rousseff scraped to a narrow victory in Sunday’s race, taking 51.6 percent of the vote, compared with Neves’ 48.4 percent after a bruising campaign that polarized Brazil along class lines.
While the poor largely came out in support of Rousseff, whose Workers’ Party has presided over wealth distribution programs that have helped improve the fortunes of the poorest, the upper middle class and wealthy supported the center-right Neves.
For weeks, markets have risen when Rousseff fell in voter polls, and dropped when surveys showed her leading.