Brazil dollar outflows $4.64 bln in Oct

Wed Nov 5, 2008 9:44am EST
SAO PAULO, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Brazil had $4.64 billion in net dollar outflows in October, reversing inflows of the previous two months after investors sharply reduced holdings of domestic securities as the global financial crisis deepened.
The outflows in October compared with inflows of $2.8 billion in September and $1.94 billion in August, central bank data showed on Wednesday.
Data on banks' dollar positions showed banks were more bearish on the Brazilian currency, the real BRBY, which has weakened more than 26 percent since reaching a nine-year high in early August.
Banks had long dollar positions of $7.08 billion at the end of October compared with $6.68 billion at the end of September. A long position on the dollar is a bet that the currency will strengthen against the real. (Reporting by Jenifer Correa; Writing by Elzio Barreto; Editing by James Dalgleish)