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The fall of more than 5% in Petrobras shares this morning, April 12, caused the state-owned company to lose 14 billion reais in market value in less than two hours of trading. The state-owned company announced the readjustment of the price of diesel, but went back at a request from President Jair Bolsonaro.
The Petrobras stock exchange operated at a fall of 0,12% this Friday morning, the main indicator of the stock market marked the indicator of 94 thousand points. Petrobras shares were the negative highlights of the trading session, around 11:30 am the shares fell about 5%. Since the opening of trading, Petrobras has lost around 14 billion reais in market value. Yesterday the State was worth 390 billion reais and now it is valued at 376 billion reais.
Last night, Petrobras announced a 5,7% readjustment of the price of diesel and hours later it reversed its decision, the company's decision to review the readjustment in the refineries, was the explanation for this great loss. The readjustment would be the first in 20 days, within the company's policy of softening the impact of high product prices abroad to avoid the impact on domestic prices and avoid a new confrontation with truck drivers. Motorists have again threatened to stop the highways after prices began to recover abroad.
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The state-owned company issued a statement to the market explaining that it evaluated and saw that it has room to space out a few more days from the readjustment, but the decision was seen as a possible intervention by the Jair Bolsonaro government in the company's pricing policy.
This Thursday, the 11th, Bolsonaro managed to contain an immediate crisis that could be explosive. Last year's truck drivers' strike irreversibly weakened the Michel Temer government. The Government alleges that it fears a repeat of the two-week stoppage that took place last year. The decision was against Petrobras' price policy, that is, giving an autonomy shock to the State's prices.
The expectation is that the state-owned company's share prices will resume business on the B3 today in a strong fall, reflecting the retreat abroad, says Spyer. “A relief for the paper may come from the increase in oil prices abroad, of 1,4%”, she observes.
But the general scenario for the stock exchange is not positive either, due to the heavy climate in the political area and new clashes between the government and the centrão, which threatens to postpone the vote on the Social Security reform project in the Chamber's Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ), initially scheduled for next week. “Delays in the reform process may occur, causing discomfort for the government and instability for the markets, and this should lead to a more negative opening of the Bovespa Index, a sharp movement by Petrobras, and an increase in country risk abroad today” , says Spyer.
The suspension of Petrobras' readjustment at the request of the government will negatively impact domestic markets.
