Brazil’s Ibovespa stock index fell 1.3% to close at 117,698 marks on Friday, after a report that showed retail sales in Brazil unexpectedly decreased in May. Brazil's retail sales fell 1% in May from a month earlier, the first decrease since December. Among single stocks, BRF tumbled 7.4% after pricing its stock offering at 9 reais per share, raising 5.4 billion reais. Also, GOL declined 6% due to forecasts indicating a loss in the second quarter and Azul slipped by 6.5%. Meanwhile, the heavyweight Petrobras lost 2.3% in line with the downward movement of oil prices. On the other hand, Méliuz surged 14.1% after closing at a record low the day before. For the week, the Ibovespa went down by 1%.
The ruble-based MOEX Russia index recovered from early losses and closed 0.6% higher at 2,903 on Friday, its highest since the crash triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, carried by sharp gains for miners and metallurgists. Markets continued to assess the outlook for Russia’s essential export-oriented industry, weighing on demand from key consumer China and international commodity price benchmarks. NLMK and Rusal led the gains in the session, both adding more than 2%. In the meantime, energy shares closed in the green but underperformed the broader market, weighed by concerns of higher taxation after Moscow proposed narrowing the Urals to Brent discount by $5 per barrel to $20 for taxation purposes, increasing levies on oil exports.
The BSE Sensex rose 500 points to close at a record-high of 66,060 on Friday, notching a 1.1% increase on the week with support from a favorable macroeconomic backdrop as slowing inflation in the US eased concerns that the Federal Reserve will be forced to keep rates elevated for a prolonged period. The tech sector, which is highly exposed to consumer appetite from the US and Europe, led the gains in the sector. TCS extended yesterday's strong momentum with a 5.1% surge, while Infosys added 4.5% and Tech Mahindra gained 4.3%. Risk-on sentiment was enough to offset muted earnings reports from Wipro and HCL Tech, with both shares adding around 3%. In the meantime, quicker producer deflation domestically slightly offset the hotter-than-expected consumer inflation print posted earlier in the week, raising hopes that consumer inflation will remain within the RBI’s target.
The Shanghai Composite inched up 0.04% to close at 3,238 while the Shenzhen Component lost 0.14% to 11,080 on Friday, but both benchmarks still finished the week higher as easing US inflation that limited expectations of further Federal Reserve rate increases and hopes for more stimulus in China boosted the market. Earlier this week, China extended a rescue package for the country’s ailing property sector and urged technology companies to support a slowing economy, raising hopes that Beijing’s crackdown on various industries is over. High-growth technology stocks led the advance on Friday, with strong gains from Foxconn Industrial (10%), iFLYTEK (3%), Inspur Electronic (4%), Zhongji Innolight (0.7%) and Dawning Information (6.5%).
The JSE FTSE All Share index extended gains for a fourth session to close 0.6% higher at 77,750 on Friday, as investors continued to welcome signs of stronger commodity demand worldwide. Miners Goldfields, Northam, and Harmony advanced between 4.6% and 3.6% to lead the gains among heavyweight stocks in Johannesburg as bullion prices held gains from the week. Earlier data pointing to slower inflation in the US pared expectations on the duration of restrictive monetary policy set by the Federal Reserve, triggering a rally for precious metals and adding nearly 4% to South Africa’s benchmark equity index on the week.
