natehanna

By Jamie McGeever

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's real surged on Friday through 5.00 per dollar for the first time since March, sealing its biggest weekly rise in nearly 12 years after surprisingly strong U.S. employment data sparked a buying spree in riskier, beaten down assets.

The real, long the pariah on international foreign exchanges and one of the worst performing currencies this year, rose 7% against the dollar this week, its strongest performance since October 2008 and one of the biggest weekly gains on record.