Ibovespa advances as rising commodities prices bolster usiminas

The Ibovespa advanced the most in a week as higher commodity prices boosted the outlook for raw- material exporters amid signs that growth is picking up in the U.S., Brazil’s second-biggest trading partner.

Meatpacker Marfrig Alimentos SA was the best performer on the gauge as JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised it to the equivalent of hold. Steel-maker Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA followed metals higher. All 10 industry groups on the MSCI Brazil Index climbed.

The Ibovespa rose 0.9 percent to 56,891.22 at 10:32 a.m. in Sao Paulo. Sixty-three of the 71 stocks on the gauge advanced. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI index of 24 raw materials added 1.3 percent, increasing for the first time in five days, as a report showed U.S. home prices rose by the most in seven years in the 12 months ending in March. The real gained 0.1 percent to 2.0553 per dollar.

“We’re seeing good news in the U.S.,” Pedro Galdi, chief strategist at Sao Paulo-based brokerage SLW Corretora, said in a phone interview. “Commodities are rising, and all this pushes the Ibovespa higher.”

The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values increased 10.9 percent from March 2012, the biggest 12-month gain since April 2006, after advancing 9.4 percent in February, according to data released today in New York. The median projection of 30 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 10.2 percent advance.

Marfrig added 3 percent to 8.22 reais. Usiminas, as Usinas de Minas Gerais is also known, gained 1.8 percent to 9.57 reais.