What is the Ibovespa?

The Bovespa Index (Ibovespa) is an index of about 50 stocks that are traded on the Sao Paulo Stock, Mercantile & Futures Exchange. It's the oldest and most traditional indicator of average stock price behaviour in Brazil.

Where have you heard about the Ibovespa?

As a benchmark index, Ibovespa is closely followed during times of political and economic upheaval in Brazil. There's an example of the Wall Street Journal reporting an upward movement of the index in May 2017.

What you need to know about the Ibovespa.

Ibovespa's index number represents the current value of a portfolio started on 2 January 1968, with an initial value of 100 and taking share price increases into account along with the reinvestment of all dividends, subscription rights and bonus stocks received.

The portfolio is revised quarterly, in order to maintain representativeness of the volume traded. On average the components of Ibovespa represent 70% of all the stock value traded.

Ibovespa fell to a five-year low of 38,031 in January 2016. Just over a year later the index hit a five-year high of 69,052 in February 2017.