SAO PAULO, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Brazil's real currency
strengthened almost 1 percent on Wednesday as a poll showed
right-wing presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro in the lead,
after previous polls had shown him giving up ground to his main
leftist opponent.
According to a poll by Brazil's Instituto Parana, 31.2
percent of respondents are planning to vote for Bolsonaro in the
first round of the presidential election on Oct. 7, versus 20.2
percent for Fernando Haddad, the leftist protege of jailed
former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Crucially, the poll
showed Bolsonaro winning a likely second round later in October,
with 44.3 percent of the vote versus Haddad's 39.4 percent.
The poll came as welcome news to traders, who generally
favor Bolsonaro for his avowed free-market policies, after a
separate recent poll had shown Bolsonaro losing in a likely
run-off.
"The market liked the poll because it showed Bolsonaro
rising, not stagnating," said Jose Carlos Amado, a trader at
brokerage Spinelli.
The real had climbed 0.96 percent against the dollar
in afternoon trade.
Brazilian equities were effectively flat for much of
Wednesday, dragged down by heavily weighted iron ore miner Vale
SA and a slew of corruption arrests in the
infrastructure sector.
Vale shares were off 3.5 percent in afternoon trade, as
traders took profits after the firm hit an all-time high on
Tuesday.
Shares in highway operators Ecorodovias Infraestrutura e
Logistica SA and CCR SA were off 3.1
percent and 5 percent, respectively, after police investigated
almost 20 people for taking part in a corruption scheme in which
both firms allegedly participated.
Brazil's benchmark Bovespa equities index was up 0.1
percent in afternoon trade.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1619 GMT:
Stock indexes daily % YTD %
Latest change change
MSCI Emerging Markets 1041.78 -0.05 -10.07
MSCI LatAm 2509.73 -0.69 -11.26
Brazil Bovespa 78709.90 0.1 3.02
Mexico IPC 49746.40 0.19 0.79
Argentina MerVal 33968.85 -0.25 12.98
Colombia IGBC 12383.73 0.13 8.91
Venezuela IBC 318810.69 -0.28 25139.54
Currencies daily % YTD %
change change
Latest
Brazil real 4.0425 0.96 -18.04
Mexico peso 18.9075 -0.41
Chile peso 661.83 0.68 -7.13
Colombia peso 2996.25 0.19 -0.48
Peru sol 3.304 0.12 -2.03
Argentina peso 38.7200 -0.57 -51.96
(interbank)
Argentina peso 38.5 -0.65 -50.05
(parallel)
(Reporting by Claudia Volante and Gram Slattery; Additional
reporting by Paula Arend Laier
Editing by Alistair Bell)