SãO PAULO (Reuters) – The Ibovespa index rose on Friday afternoon, supported by Vale shares and following the widely anticipated announcement of Fernando Haddad as Finance Minister in the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Portugal), who will take office in January.

Haddad’s name was already circulating, causing the stock market to crash in recent weeks along with the Transitional PEC. However, the announcement removes uncertainty from the markets, which financial agents say has helped Ibovespa.

At 15:59 (Brazil time), Ibovespa rose 0.80% to 108,103.91 points. The financial volume was 12.4 billion reais on the day of the World Cup match in Brazil, which reduces liquidity. The country was knocked out by Croatia earlier.

In the morning, Lula announced Haddad’s name, and the market’s initial reaction was lukewarm. Closer to the afternoon, Ibovespa gained momentum, especially after the opening of the stock exchanges in New York.

“The announcement at least eliminates speculation on the matter, which is positive for some investors, mostly international, who don’t like the unpredictability,” said Luis Eduardo Novaez, an analyst at Terra Investimentos, reflecting that Haddad wasn’t the perfect name. in the eyes of the market.

“It was already valued, there was no fear,” said Pedro Paulo Silveira, manager of Nova Futura.

In coming up with Haddad’s name for the Treasury, the Citi team said in a report ahead of the announcement that if confirmed, the market’s attention would immediately turn to the planning minister and the Haddad team.

The planning minister was not announced and Lula said the name should be someone who “sounds” with the Treasury Department.

As for the economic team, Haddad said he would start forming one but would not announce names this Friday.

In addition to Haddad in the Treasury, Lula announced former President of the Federal Audit Office (TCU) José Musio Monteiro as head of defense, former Maranhao governor Flavio Dino as minister of justice, and current Bahian governor Rui. Costa as head of the Civic Chamber, and ex-chancellor Mauro Vieira will return to manage the foreign affairs portfolio.

Market agents also monitor the processing of the Transitional PEC approved by the Senate and submitted for analysis to the Chamber of Deputies. Also this Friday, IBGE released local inflation data for November, which came in below expectations.

Among stocks, Vale supported the rise in iron ore prices in Asia in a positive trading session for mining and steel companies. Medical companies such as Hapvida and Rede D’Or were among the bearish leaders.

On Wall Street, the major indexes performed almost stably after falling earlier, when producer price data raised concerns about a longer tightening of monetary policy in the US.

(André Romani)