The Brazilian real strengthened on Monday on trader relief that mass weekend demonstrations refrained from directly targeting President Michel Temer. Demonstrators protested across Brazil on Sunday to denounce corruption and a congressional vote seen as an attempt to curtail sweeping graft investigations. Some investors had feared the weekend protests would take aim at Temer, whose approval rates remain near record lows, potentially hampering his administration's efforts to gather lawmaker support for austerity measures.
The Brazilian real strengthened 0.5 percent after weakening 1.7 percent last week. Other Latin American currencies were mixed, with the Colombian peso rising 0.8 percent on the back of higher crude prices. Currencies such as the Polish zloty and Czech crown that have the closest trade ties to the euro zone initially fell on the news but later pared back losses. Brazilian stocks seesawed as a drop in financial shares helped offset a two-day rally in shares of Braskem SA, Latin America's largest petrochemical company.