Brazil central bank sells $354 mln in forex swaps

Tue Nov 18, 2008 10:27am EST
SAO PAULO, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank sold about $354 million in dollar swap contracts on Tuesday in the first of two auctions of swaps as it seeks to add liquidity to the foreign exchange market and roll over a similar batch of paper due next month.
The bank sold 7,180 of 10,000 contracts on offer. It will also offer 73,100 contracts in a second auction on Tuesday, seeking to extend contracts that mature on Dec. 1.
Brazil's currency, the real BRBY, was trading 0.5 percent weaker at 2.29 per dollar shortly after the auction.
The central bank resumed selling dollar swap contracts last month after a two-year hiatus, one of several measures it has taken to add liquidity to the financial system. It has also sold dollars from its international reserves on the spot currency market and dollar repurchase agreements.
Central bank President Henrique Meirelles said on Monday the bank has already sold about $30 billion of swaps as the turmoil in global markets deepened. (Reporting by Fabio Gehrke; Writing by Elzio Barreto, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)