Brazilian Stocks Slip, Led by Petrobras, ALL; Bolsa Advances

By Alexander Ragir

Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Brazilian stocks declined for the first time in four days, on concern a slowing economy and slumping commodity prices may make it difficult for the nation’s biggest raw-material producers to raise capital.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, fell 2.8 percent after oil prices slipped and the energy minister said the company had to borrow money because it had “momentary difficulty” paying taxes. ALL America Latina Logistica SA lost 6.8 percent as TV Globo reported that Brazil’s biggest railroad operator and other companies are under investigation for misappropriation of government-owned rail wagons and locomotives.

“Commodities are down a bit so investors are taking this into account on a day when markets are calm because of the holiday in the U.S.,” said Guilherme Sand, who helps manage the equivalent of $330 million at Solidus Brokerage in Porto Alegre, Brazil. For Petrobras, “there could be some investors that are worried about the loan and are selling.”

The Bovespa slipped 0.7 percent to 36,212.65. Chile’s Ipsa rose 0.5 percent at 3:23 p.m. New York time and Mexico’s Bolsa gained 0.9 percent. U.S. markets were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rise 2.4 percent.

Petrobras lost 57 centavos to 19.95 reias. The company was forced to borrow from state-owned discount bank Caixa Economica Federal. It may also receive loans from the sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates, Energy Minister Edison Lobao said.

Petrobras’s ability to generate cash and borrow may be further hurt by a 60 percent decline in the price of oil since reaching a high in July and the world credit crunch sparked by recent U.S. bank failures, Lucas Brendler, an energy analyst at Banco Geracao Futuro in Porto Alegre, Brazil, said yesterday.

ALL Drops

ALL slid 6.8 percent to 11 reais. The police suspect 3,000 wagons and 210 locomotives were destroyed and used as raw materials by steelmakers such as Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal and Dedini SA Acucar e Alcool Ltda., Globo said on its Jornal Nacional evening news show. The transactions took place in the past two years, according to the report. ALL didn’t return messages left by Bloomberg.

Tim jumped 5.9 percent to 4.10 reais after Italy’s Il Sole 24 Ore reported that parent company Telecom Italia is considering selling either its fixed-line network or its mobile phone unit in Brazil.

The BM&FBovespa Small Cap index gained 1.3 percent. The BM&FBovespa MidLarge Cap index fell 0.8 percent.

In Mexico, Corporacion Geo SAB rose 2.5 percent to 12.04, adding to a 14 percent advance yesterday. The announcement by Mexico’s second-biggest homebuilder that it sold short-term debt of 200 million pesos ($15.2 million) is “positive given tight credit markets,” Citigroup Inc. said in a report.

Cemex SAB gained 4.8 percent to 9.05 pesos, the highest in three weeks. The biggest cement producer in North America may benefit from a U.S. infrastructure spending plan that is “gaining momentum” in Washington, UBS AG wrote.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexander Ragir in Rio de Janeiro at aragir@bloomberg.net.