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| - The Sao Paulo stock exchange halted trading twice in less than an hour Thursday as Brazil struggled to deal with a market rout caused by the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The real currency also plummeted to below five to the dollar for the first time ever, underlining the heavy toll the pandemic is taking on Latin America's largest economy, as traders reeled at US President Donald Trump's shock ban on travel from mainland Europe. The latest bad news could be particularly damaging for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump admirer, and his Economy Minister Paulo Guedes, who had said a week ago the real would only fall below five to the dollar "if we really mess up." "It's a floating exchange rate. If we really mess up, it could go to that level," Guedes, the far-right president's free-market guru, said at the time, seeking to calm fears over the impact of the virus. Bolsonaro, meanwhile, has urged Brazilians not to panic in the face of the virus, saying its severity "is overstated." The Sao Paulo stock exchange's Ibovespa index plunged 11.65 percent shortly after opening, triggering automatic circuit breakers that suspend trading for 30 minutes in case of a drop of more than 10 percent. But the pause failed to calm traders' nerves, and the sell-off resumed a half-hour later, again triggering the circuit-breakers -- this time for an hour-long pause, after the losses surpassed 15 percent. The index was 15.43 percent in the red when trading was stopped for the fourth time this week. Sharp losses on Monday and Wednesday had also triggered trading halts. Oil and airline stocks were again hit especially hard. State-run oil company Petrobras lost more than 20 percent, and airlines Gol and Azul were down more than 26 percent and 27 percent, respectively. Overall, the Ibovespa has plummeted by 26.5 percent this week. The Brazilian real hit 5.028 to the dollar in early trading, the first time it has crossed the threshold of five to the dollar since it was launched in 1994. It later recovered some ground as the central bank intervened to prop it up with currency auctions, and was trading at 4.9 to the dollar. Brazil has registered 73 coronavirus cases, with no deaths so far. But the pandemic has hit the economy hard, largely because of Brazil's close ties with China, its biggest trading partner and top destination for its key commodity exports. The government cut its 2020 economic growth forecast Wednesday by 0.3 percentage points, to 2.1 percent, and warned the fallout of the virus could end up shaving off even more. bur-jhb/jm
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