Brazil sees brief respite in losses to real

The Brazilian real, the currency of Latin America's largest economy, mounted a minor rally after weeks losses brought on by an uncertain economic climate.

Bloomberg reports that the currency was able to make gains against the U.S. dollar after the country's central bank auctioned off thousands of currency swaps. The Brazilian central bank only managed to unload 14,000 of the 40,000 put up for auction, but the auction served to help support a minor reversal of the recent declines.

"The central bank was very active this week," Eduardo Galasini, head of proprietary trading at Banco Banif, told Bloomberg. "The bank is showing that it’s concerned with the risk that the drop in the real could have an effect on inflation. The bank wants a weaker currency, but not so weak that it increases inflation.

Brazil has been hit hard by the ongoing debt crisis in Europe, with The Wall Street Journal reporting concerns about Greece helped push the real to its lowest value against the dollar in three years earlier in the week.

The real has lost more against the dollar than any other major currency.