OREANDA-NEWS. In March the equities market's (BOVESPA segment) financial volume totaled BRL 125.23 billion against BRL 131.54 billion in February. The daily average was BRL 6.59 billion against BRL 6.57 billion in the previous month. The total number of trades in March was 18,503,854 against 17,943,360 in February. Daily average number of trades was 973,887 against 897,168 in February.

The most traded stocks in March were: PETROBRAS PN, with BRL 10.41 billion; VALE PNA, with BRL 8.59 billion; ITAUUNIBANCO PN, with BRL 6.28 billion; BRADESCO PN, with BRL 5.31 billion; and PETROBRAS ON, with BRL 3.75 billion.

The Ibovespa ended March at 50,414 points, up 7.05% from the previous month. The best performing stocks for the Ibovespa in March were: ELETROBRAS ON (+32.00%); ELETROBRAS PNB (+19.69%); CESP PNB (+18.44%); COPEL PNB (+18.06%); and LOJAS AMERICANAS PN (+16.23%). The main losses were: OI PN (-13.09%); BRADESPAR PN (-7.65%); SUZANO PAPEL PNA (-5.63%); VALE ON (-4.79%); and PDG REALT ON (-4.64%).

Derivatives markets in the BM&F segment (including financial and commodities derivatives) totaled 46,972,143 contracts and BRL 3.27 trillion in volume in March against 62,179,222 contracts and BRL 4.48 trillion in February. Open interest contracts ended the last trading day of March with 35,087,042 positions against 32,903,867 in the previous month.

In March, interest rate futures (ID) traded 19,468,273 contracts against 30,059,456 in February. US Dollar futures ended the month of March with 6,630,715 contracts compared to 7,019,665 contracts in February. IBOVESPA futures traded 1,566,535 contracts against 1,596,455 in the previous month.