Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Brazilian stocks rose for a fourth day, led by phone and oil companies, after Vivendi SA offered to buy GVT Holding SA and Petroleo Brasileiro SA said the Guara field in Santos Basin contains up to 2 billion barrels of oil.

Petrobras, as Brazil’s state-controlled oil company is called, climbed for a sixth day after saying initial output at the deepwater field may be as much as 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day by 2012. GVT led a rally for phone companies, rising the most ever on speculation the French company will need to boost the price paid per share to gain stockholder approval.

“The outlook for economic growth is quite favorable,” said Emerson Lambrecht, head of trading at Solidus Brokerage in Porto Alegre, Brazil, which manages the equivalent of $305 million in assets. Petrobras’ estimate “is helping sustain a big part of the index’s gain. It’s positive.”

The Bovespa index added 0.1 percent to 57,909.95. Thirty- three stocks rose on the index, while 30 fell. Rossi Residencial SA paced losses for homebuilders after a measure of inflation unexpectedly rose, prompting traders to bet the central bank will raise interest rates next year.

The BM&FBovespa Small Cap index added 1.1 percent. Mexico’s Bolsa dropped 0.3 percent and the MSCI Emerging Markets index slipped 0.3 percent.

Petrobras preferred, or non-voting shares, rose 0.4 percent to 33 reais. Its common shares added 1.3 percent to 39.80 reais. The energy producer completed tests on an exploratory well in the so-called pre-salt region and will build a production platform.

“We believe that this is good news for Petrobras,” Itau Unibanco Holding SA analyst Paula Kovarsky wrote in a note to clients. “Guará is only one of the wells drilled in the BM-S-9 block (where the company also drilled Carioca, Iguaçu and is drilling Abaré), which means that the block’s potential could be significantly higher.”

Phone Stocks Rally

GVT led gains for phone companies in the MSCI Brazil index, surging 19 percent to 43 reais.

Vivendi’s bid values GVT at about 5.4 billion reais ($3 billion), according to a statement from the Paris-based company yesterday. GVT’s largest shareholders agreed to support the takeover, Vivendi said.

“There is a possibility that this tender offer may not take place at 42 reais per share” because of minority shareholder resistance or a potential offer from a Brazilian rival, Vera Rossi, a Morgan Stanley analyst, wrote in a note.

Tele Norte Leste Participacoes SA, the owner of Telemar Norte Leste SA, gained 5 percent to 30.95 reais.

Homebuilders Drop

The market’s gains were limited by declines among homebuilders as traders speculated faster inflation may prompt policy makers to raise borrowing costs next year.

Rossi, Brazil’s third-biggest homebuilder, fell 2.5 percent to 12.12 reais.

Brazil’s Getulio Vargas Foundation said today that the IGP- DI index of consumer, construction and wholesale prices rose 0.09 percent in August, compared with a median estimate for a 0.12 percent drop in a Bloomberg survey of 31 analysts. Traders increased bets for higher borrowing costs increases next year, sending the yield on the overnight interest-rates contract due January 2011 two basis points higher to 9.73 percent.

The central bank will raise the benchmark overnight rate from a record low during the first quarter of 2010 as a recovery in Latin America’s biggest economy stokes inflation, according to Standard Chartered Plc.

Steelmaker Cia. Siderurgica Nacional SA slid 1.5 percent to 50.30 reais as the Bloomberg Base Metals 3-Month Price Commodity Index fell 0.8 percent.

The Bovespa has jumped 54 percent this year on speculation a rebound in commodity prices and record-low interest rates will bolster growth in Latin America’s largest economy.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexander Ragir in Rio de Janeiro at aragir@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 9, 2009 16:41 EDT