Brazil

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Tue Nov 3 20:40:45 PST 1998


Tuesday November 3, 2:34 pm Eastern Time

Brazil shares soar on optimism ahead of key vote

SAO PAULO, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Brazilian shares soared in late trade Tuesday as optimism spread in the market that a key reform would be approved in Congress on Wednesday, increasing the government's chances of carrying out promised budget cuts, traders said.

The blue-chip Bovespa index shot up 5.81 percent to 7,457 points at 1708 local time/1408 EDT/1908 GMT, with less than an hour of trade left.

``The market is increasingly more optimistic about Wednesday's vote, also as there is no other negative news around,'' said one local trader.

The lower house of Congress was to vote on Wednesday on the final three amendments to a long-delayed social security reform bill. The vote is seen as a key test for the government to see how much support it can get from Congress on its new fiscal savings plan.

The government aims to save a total of $84 billion over the next three years through spending cuts and tax hikes



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