Around 11:53 am, the index advanced 0.21%, at 106,437.38 points; dollar retreated 1.53%, quoted at R$ 4.931 on sale

The Ibovespa was operating at a high this Wednesday (12), with the market digesting US inflation data — one of the main thermometers on the interest rate set by the Federal Reserve (Fed, the US central bank).

Around 11:53 am (Brasília time), the main index of the Brazilian stock market advanced 0.21%, to 106,437.38 points. The dollar, in turn, retreated 1.53%, to R$ 4.931 in the sale – the lowest quotation in 10 months.

The day before, the Ibovespa closed the day up 4.29%, at 106,213.76 points, while the US currency was quoted at R$5.008 on sale, down 1.14%.

The US consumer price index (CPI) slowed for the ninth straight month in March, up 0.1% from February and up 5% over the past 12 months.

dolarEconomists had expected a 5.2% annual increase and a 0.2% monthly gain, according to a Reuters poll.

The CPI is one of the main gauges of inflation being watched by the Fed, which is at the height of a year-long campaign to fight inflation through monetary tightening and sharp hikes in interest rates.

“The CPI is looking back and the Fed has yet to consider how much of the credit crunch should factor into the economy,” Gina Bolvin, president of Bolvin Wealth Management, said in a statement.

Currently, futures markets price in more than a 75% chance that the US central bank will raise its base rate by 0.25 percentage points at next month’s meeting.

The dollar tends to benefit from higher interest rates in the US as this draws funds into the US fixed income market.

In the afternoon, at 3 pm, the minutes of the Fed’s March meeting will be released, which may show how close the US central bank came to postponing further increases in interest rates after the failure of two US banks.

In the domestic scenario, the market still reflects the retail trade data, released a little while ago by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), and the March inflation result, published yesterday.