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Brazil's real ends 0.8 weaker at 1.821/dollar

SAO PAULO: Brazil's currency, the real BRBY, kicked off 2000 on a slightly weaker note Monday as banks amassed dollars to sell back to the Central Bank as part of a pre-Y2K dollar repurchase contract programme, traders said.

The real closed at 1.821 per dollar, 0.8 percent weaker than last Thursday's closing rate of 1.806.

"The market needed dollars to return to the Central Bank for the repurchase agreements in December," a local trader said.

The Central Bank sold $1.3 billion in dollar contracts in two December auctions to ease dollar supply fears linked to the Year 2000 computer problems. The banks agreed to sell the dollars back in the first week of January.

Brazil's banks and markets had reported no major computer-related problems in connection to the rollover to 2000 on the first trading day after the New Year.

The real ended 1999 at its strongest closing level in six months, but it still lost 33 percent of its value against the dollar after suffering a currency devaluation in January that led to a depreciation of more than 40 percent in March. -Reuters