Brazil's Ibovespa inched below the flatline at the 165,000 mark on Thursday, hovering marginally below the record high from the previous session as losses in resource-linked companies were offset by broader sector gains. Petrobras shares sank around 2%, tracking the aggressive selling for crude oil prices as US President Trump downplayed earlier threats of directly engaging with the Iranian regime amid their protests, limiting risks of lower oil supply from the region. Heavyweight steel producers were also lower after Chinese monetary aggregates disappointed, with CSN, CSN Mineracao, and Usiminas sliding over 3%. On the other hand, banks traded upwards and utilities were mostly higher. New data showed that Brazilian retail sales rose sharply in November, although the consequential restrictive monetary policy by the BCB limited optimism from the report. Renner and Assai fell 3%.