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By Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Luciana Lopez

SAO PAULO, June 19 (Reuters) - Brazilian stocks rose for the first day in three on Friday as investors judged recent declines in major mining, financial and commodities shares as overdone.

After a series of economic data and news flooded Brazil the past two weeks -- including inflation, gross domestic product and a cut in the benchmark Selic interest rate -- investors snapped up banking shares as well as Petrobras (PETR4.SA: Quote, Profile, Research) and power utility Eletrobras (ELET6.SA: Quote, Profile, Research) as prices dropped in recent days.

"It looks like sentiment improved after Thursday's release of the monetary policy minutes, showing that the worst of the crisis likely is over," said Bruno Lembi, who helps manage 180 million reais ($92 million) in assets for M2 Investimentos in Sao Paulo.

The benchmark Bovespa index .BVSP rose by 0.9 percent to 51,373.77. The real (BRBY: Quote, Profile, Research), Brazil's currency, was unchanged at 1.974 to the U.S. dollar, in contrast to Thursday's 0.61 percent loss.

State-controlled energy company Petrobras (PETR4.SA: Quote, Profile, Research) rose 0.6 percent to 31.95 reais on the heels of a company announcement that domestic oil production in May was up 0.7 percent to 1.99 million barrels per day. For more details see [ID:nN18421150].

Eletrobras surged after Chief Executive Jose Muniz told Reuters in an interview the company will pay 10 billion reais in dividends retained in 1979 and 1980 for investment. Common shares of the Rio de Janeiro-based state-controlled company gained 6.4 percent to 28.99 reais.

The news "helped end the uncertainty regarding the payment of those dividends," said Edson Hydalgo Jr., a trader with Intrader in Sao Paulo.