RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Central Bank Wednesday staged the first U.S. dollar auctions on the foreign exchange market since March 2003, selling 1.7 billion dollars altogether.

    Three auctions took place in the morning, with decreasing exchange rates of 2.44, 2.37 and 2.35 Brazilian reais per U.S. dollar.

    The operation was aimed at increasing market liquidity, helping exporters acquire the dollars they need for international transactions, and halting the devaluation of the Brazilian Real, which has lost 35 percent of its value since Aug. 1.

    In order to increase market liquidity, the bank sold dollar swap contracts during the last few days. But the effects were not as significant as expected and demand for dollars remained intense, forcing the institution to resort to dollar auctions.

    The strategy did help calm the market and bring down the exchange rate. After eight days of increases, the U.S. dollar exchange rate decreased by 2.38 percent Wednesday, closing at 2.25reais per dollar.

    The dollars sold Wednesday came from Brazil's foreign exchange reserves, which total about 207 billion U.S. dollars.