BM&F Bovespa: the greatest stock exchange of Brazil

Brazil is the largest economy in South America and its importance is known worldwide. One of the ten largest economies in the world, Brazil is also a strong reference in Latin America. Even with the political and economic adversities, the country has shown great potential for growth.

The country has become a giant in the agricultural, oil and mining industry, and nowaday is a major exporter of important products - such as soybeans, coffee, meat and iron ore. The great potential for investments in the Brazilian market, justified by the high productivity and profitability, is attracting many investors around the world.

The Brazilian innovation capacity has also shown great growth. Brazilian startups are gaining prominence in the technology field and are helping put the country on the map of success. The Brazilian entrepreneurship is an example how Brazil can still develop and increase its world economic power.

Through national and international investments the country can expand its horizons, also helped by important institutions like the Central Bank of Brazil and the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM). At the BM &F Bovespa, the Brazilian stock exchange, investors can buy shares of Brazilian companies and help the country become one of the biggest economic potency of the planet.

Internationally, Brazil is respected for its great economic importance worldwide. The Brazilian stock market brings together huge companies, such as Petrobras, and that is one of the reasons why it has the highest market capitalization in Latin America.

History

First founded in 1890, the Stock Exchange of São Paulo is the main one in Brazil. Known as Bovespa, it offers a range of investment possibilities, such as stocks, commodities, and indexes. Since the 2000s the Brazilian financial system was transformed to facilitate operations. One of the benefits of this transformation is that now the applications are made mostly through the home broker technology, providing more autonomy and agility to investors.

Managing the trading of open capital companies in Brazil, the BM&F Bovespa is the largest in Latin America if we take account the market capitalization. Thus, it brings together a large amount of the financial volume of the region.

Despite the economic downturn worldwide, the Brazilian financial market keeps showing great opportunities. An example of this potential was registered in march 2016 when BM&F Bovespa presented a raise of profitability over 16%. This is the best monthly performance of the Brazilian stock exchange since 2002.

In comparison with other stock exchanges around the globe, BM&F Bovespa’s market value worths a sum of U$ 726 billion and occupies the 13th place among the stock exchanges around the world.

Progress

Every year, investments in the stock market are becoming an interesting option for more investors. Since saving accounts suffered a severe reduction in the number of clients - in 2016, savings recorded the highest volume of withdrawal of the last decade in Brazil -, the stock exchange market increased its performance.

Hence, in 2016, the stock market has proved to be the most lucrative investment in the country for the first six months of the year. Its accumulated profitability reached over 20% in the period.

That is why investors are becoming more interested in exploring the investment sector in Brazil. The Brazilians are also starting to understand the importance of investing in better opportunities. The number of saving accounts is decreasing exponentially and the stock exchange market is acquiring more and more followers.

This phenomenon was confirmed by data released this year: in 2016, the number of people registered in the Bovespa increased more than six times since 2002. It jumped from 85,000 people to 560,000 names registered in the Brazilian stock exchange. The female presence is still small, but the number of women trading in the financial market rose more than eight times during the period researched.

Foreign investors are also very present in the transactions of the BM&F Bovespa. The monthly average of trading by people from outside the country improved 52 times in the past two decades. During 2015, foreign investors were responsible for over half of the trading monthly average in the Brazilian stock exchange.

Among the main assets traded at the biggest stock exchange in Brazil are stocks of large companies such as Petrobras, Vale, Ambev, and Bradesco. A way to evaluate the economic performance of the companies available in the Brazilian stock exchange is the Bovespa Index. Also known as Ibovespa, this index presents the most important stocks traded in the BM&F Bovespa.