Latam FX down 0.2%, stocks off 0.4%
Brazil’s services sector grows more than expected in Jan
Argentina Senate rejects economic ‘mega decree’
Updated at 3:45pm ET/1945 GMT
By Shristi Achar A
March 15 (Reuters) –Latin American currencies and stocks slipped onFriday as investor sentiment remained tepid due to waning hopes of U.S. interest rate cuts later this year.
The U.S. dollar =USD was set for its best week since January and global stocks slipped, as data showing persistent inflationary pressures in the U.S. this week led investors to dial back betsof rate cuts from the Federal Reserve in June.
The MSCI index tracking Latin American currencies .MILA00000CUS dipped 0.2%, with Chile’s peso CLP=CL and Brazil’s real BRBY both down about 0.2%, leading regional declines.
On a weekly basis, however, theindex edged up 0.1%, its third straight week in the green, with Chile’s peso among top weekly performers as the copper-exporting region’s currency benefited from a jump in prices of the red metal. MET/L
Trading was cautious as investors eye the Federal Reserve’s meeting next week, where the central bank is widely expected to hold rates steady but will release updated economic projections.
“While there has been some repricing in U.S. rates, we believe that high-for-longer rates and inflation is still the most underpriced risk in LatAm,” analysts at BofA Global Research noted.
The central banks of Brazil , Mexico and Colombia will also hold policy meetings next week.
A gauge of Latin American stocks .MILA00000PUS was down 0.4% but eyed gains of nearly 0.6% for the week.
MSCI’s gauge of global emerging market stocks .MSCIEF slumped 1.3%, set for its worst day in nearly two months, while a basket of global EM currencies .MIEM00000CUS lost 0.3% in its worst session since Feb 5.
Emerging market bond funds received $473 million in the week to March 13, breaking a four-week trend of outflows. However EM equity funds continued to see outflows, according to LSEG data.
Brazil’s Bovespa .BVSP index underperformed Latam peers, falling 0.9%, pressured by losses in mining stocks as futures for iron ore, one of the country’s top exports, tumbled to a more than six-month low. IRONORE/
Also weighing on the index was a 6% drop in shares of retailer Lojas Renner LREN3.SA following quarterly results.
Focus was also on Argentina, whose Senate on Thursday voted to reject President Javier Milei’s sprawling “mega decree” of economic reforms, a major blow to the libertarian leader’s austerity agenda.
Argentina’s Merval index .MERV rose 2.3% while the Argentine peso ARSB= weakened to 1,005 per dollar in parallel black market trade.
The Colombian peso COP= ticked up 0.4%.
Peru’ssol PEN=PE weakened slightly to 3.6751 per dollar despite cautiously optimistic economicforecasts from the central bank.
Highlights
** Ukraine’s overseas bondholders are in talks to form a creditor committee -sources
** Brazil’s Treasury sees gross debt at 77.3% of GDP this year
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1945 GMT:
|
Latest |
Daily % change |
|
|
MSCI Emerging Markets .MSCIEF |
1034.66 |
-1.34 |
|
MSCI LatAm .MILA00000PUS |
2505.51 |
-0.44 |
|
Brazil Bovespa .BVSP |
126609.04 |
-0.85 |
|
Mexico IPC .MXX |
56148.35 |
0.16 |
|
Chile IPSA .SPIPSA |
6463.76 |
0.05 |
|
Argentina MerVal .MERV |
1063053.71 |
2.306 |
|
Colombia COLCAP .COLCAP |
1284.35 |
0.09 |
|
Currencies |
Latest |
Daily % change |
|
Brazil real BRBY |
4.9962 |
-0.19 |
|
Mexico peso MXN=D2 |
16.7072 |
-0.07 |
|
Chile peso CLP=CL |
941.9 |
-0.23 |
|
Colombia peso COP= |
3874 |
0.42 |
|
Peru sol PEN=PE |
3.6751 |
-0.06 |
|
Argentina peso (interbank) ARS=RASL |
850.5000 |
0.00 |
|
Argentina peso (parallel) ARSB= |
1005 |
1.99 |
Reporting by Shristi Achar A and Lisa Mattackal in Bengaluru, Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Toby Chopra