CURRENCY EASED

SAO PAULO, March 26 (Reuters) - Brazil's stocks and currency eased on Friday as investors cashed in on sharp rallies made this week on the back of government efforts abroad and at home to combat the global financial crisis. Sao Paulo's main stock index .BVSP, the Bovespa, fell 1.63 percent to 41,896.17 points, in tandem with global shares.
But the index was still up about 4.5 percent in a week marked by hopes a U.S. plan to clean up toxic assets from banks' balance sheets would help the financial sector and that a $15 billion housing program at home would revive Brazil's economy. "The U.S. government measures for the economy gave markets a boost in recent days, but now investors are opting for taking profits," said Roberto Alem, an economist at M2 Investimentos. Brazil's currency, the real BRBY shed 1.6 percent to 2.277 reais as the greenback .DXY surged nearly 1.3 percent against a basket of major currencies. Commodity shares led the downturn in the stock market. State-run Petrobras (PETR4.SA) slumped 2.6 percent to 29.57 reais as oil prices eased more than 4 percent and mining giant Vale (VALE5.SA) shed 2.1 percent to 27.7 reais as copper prices fell. Lower metal prices also put steelmakers under pressure, with Gerdau (GGBR4.SA) down 1.9 percent at 13.44 reais and CSN (CSNA3.SA) 1.1 percent lower at 33.93 reais. Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer (EMBR3.SA) tumbled 6 percent to 7.63 reais after announcing on Thursday its fourth-quarter profit fell 44 percent because of large derivatives losses and slowing sales. Brazilian pulp producer Aracruz (ARCZ6.SA) lost 1.21 percent to 1.63 reais after posting a fourth-quarter net loss of $1.33 billion, due to foreign exchange losses. (Reporting by Ana Nicolaci da Costa and Aluisio Alves; Editing by Diane Craft)

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