Brazil's Bovespa still sinking

It may only be Wednesday yet this week has felt like an eternity for Brazilian stock traders.

On Monday, action in Brazil's stock exchange had to be suspended twice as stocks nosedived by as much as 15%. Tuesday was more of the same as the Bovespa stock index kept tumbling and Brazil’s currency continued losing value. The Bovespa closed Wednesday at a loss despite emergency measures taken by several central banks worldwide:

The Bovespa index of the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange tumbled for the fifth straight session, ending 3.85 percent lower at 38,593.54 points after falling as much as 6.3 percent. With the losses, the Bovespa has now plunged 48 percent since hitting an all-time high of 73,920 on May 29…

"The coordinated actions by the central banks is not going to have a convincing effect on the credit crisis," said Jose Francisco de Lima Goncalves, chief economist at Banco Fator.

Image- AP (“Traders work on the floor of the Brazilian Mercantile and Futures Exchange in Sao Paulo, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008.”)
Sources- The Latin Americanist, Reuters, Guardian UK, New York Times, Bloomberg