Gains among Brazilian mining stocks help guide the country's equity benchmark to its strongest close in more than a year.

A jump in shares of meatpacker JBS SA on Wednesday helped push Brazil's equity benchmark past a key level that hasn't been seen in more than a year.

Brazilian stocks and the currency rise after the country's central bank said improvement in economic conditions contributed to its widely expected decision to leave the key interest rate unchanged at an historic low.

JBS, the worldâ??s largest beef exporter, is reportedly in talks to purchase bankrupt Pilgrimâ??s Pride in a multi-billion-dollar deal that would stretch the Brazilian companyâ??s reach into the U.S. food production industry.

Food plays make a lot of sense for a growing continent.