The Brazilian currency extended yesterday’s gains versus the U.S. dollar as both retail data from Brazil and the United States improved, suggesting that the economy in both countries is recovering, which provided support for the emergent-market real to gain.

The South African rand and the Brazilian real are the best performing currencies versus the greenback this year so far, as improved global economic data is helping emergent markets currencies to rally sharply, as traders retrieved confidence to look for yield in riskier assets, making the real to touch a one-year high versus the greenback today.

USD/BRL traded at 1.8090 as of 20:46 GMT from an opening rate of 1.8100 today.

If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the Brazilian Real, feel free to post them using the commentary form below.