Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil may tap its sovereign fund to buy dollars in a move to stop its national currency, the real, from strengthening against the U.S. currency, O Estado de S. Paulo said, citing a finance ministry source it did not identify.

Dollar purchases by the national treasury using the fund, which has resources of about $17 billion, would require finance ministry approval, the newspaper said without citing anyone.

The ministry doesn’t plan to set up a new sovereign fund to buy dollars, Estado said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Diana Kinch in Rio de Janeiro at dkinch1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 10, 2009 12:13 EDT