Brazil stocks gain on Vivo, Gerdau profit; real up

SAO PAULO, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Brazilian stocks rose for a third straight session on Thursday, boosted by earnings at mobile phone company Vivo and steelmaker Gerdau, while the country's currency firmed on rising dollar inflows.

The benchmark Bovespa index .BVSP of the Sao Paulo stock exchange rose 0.2 percent to 64,047.17, hitting its highest level in more than a week in intraday trading.

Brazil's currency, the real (BRBY: Quote, Profile, Research), strengthened 0.4 percent to 1.726 per dollar, also its third day of gains.

Brazil plans no new capital control measures "at the moment" to curb dollar inflows, Finance Minister Guido Mantega told Reuters in London. The government plans to sell real-denominated debt abroad, but the timing is undecided, he added.

"If he says more measures may come, it's possible it would move (currency markets). Otherwise not much will happen," said Rodrigo Nassar, head of Hencorp Commcor's financial trading desk.

Brazil's government is considering a series of new measures to curb the real's 35 percent surge against the greenback this year, Folha de S. Paulo newspaper reported Thursday.

Besides issuing real-denominated debt in international markets, the country could allow overseas investors to settle stock and bond trades abroad to reduce dollar inflows that have fueled the currency's rally, the daily said.

Yields on Brazilian interest rate futures contracts <0#DIJ:> were mostly lower after central banks in the United States and Europe kept borrowing costs stable and signaled no imminent rate hikes.

On the stock exchange, steelmaker Gerdau (GGBR4.SA: Quote, Profile, Research) rose 1.4 percent to 27.88 reais. The company reported third-quarter profits of 655 million reais, below the 677 million reais expected by analysts in a Reuters survey. But costs fell from the second quarter and operational margins more than doubled in the same period, indicating a recovery in operations. For details, see [ID:nN0599444]