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Chile copper exports total $2.98 bln in January
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Brazil's c.bank sees risks from fiscal framework review
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Colombia unveils development plan worth nearly $250 bln
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Latam FX rises 0.3%, stocks off 0.3%
By Bansari Mayur Kamdar Feb 7 (Reuters) - Currencies in Latin America outperformed the broader emerging market, with top copper producer Chile's peso leading gains as metal prices recovered.
The peso rose 0.6% to 799 against the greenback, as prices of the red metal rebounded from a four-week low in the previous session on easing risk-off sentiment and a pause in dollar rally.
Chile also saw exports of the red metal reach $2.98 billion in January, down 21.6% from a year earlier, the central bank said, while trade surplus in January exceeded expectations.
World's no.2 copper producer Peru's sol added 0.3% by 1450 GMT. Optimism around the recovering in demand in China and concerns over supply shortages following the shutdown of a major export terminal after an earthquake in Turkey supported crude prices. Oil producer Mexico's peso rose 0.5%.
The peso is set to pare its advance of recent months but will keep trading at firm levels, helped by the central bank's aggressive policy tightening to combat elevated inflation, a Reuters poll showed. The Colombian peso was subdued after the government on Monday presented a $247.1 billion four-year development plan to the country's lawmakers, laying out details of its projected social and economic investments. Elsewhere in the emerging markets, trading on the Istanbul stock market was halted for a second time as a market-wide circuit breaker kicked in following heavy losses in the wake of Monday's devastating earthquake in Turkey and neighboring Syria. "The earthquakes are a humanitarian disaster and a negative shock for the (Turkish) economy," said Hasnain Malik, managing director of emerging and frontier markets equity strategy at Tellimer. The emerging markets currencies index slipped 0.2%, lagging the 0.3% climb in their Latin American peers . Overall, emerging market currencies are expected to drift higher in coming months, helped by improved global growth prospects due to the reopening of China's economy, a Reuters poll of 40 foreign exchange strategists found. Limiting gains on the Latam FX index, Brazil's real fell 0.9% against the dollar.
Brazil's central bank expressed concern at increased inflation expectations, saying that a fiscal framework revision and government stimulus package may lead to upward pressure on consumer prices. This comes amid criticism from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that there was "no explanation" for the country's high interest rates, with the benchmark rate at a six-year high. Stocks in Latin America edged 0.3% lower, with Brazil's Bovespa and Mexico's IPC down 0.1% each.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1450 GMT: Stock indexes Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging Markets 1014.17 -0.03 MSCI LatAm 2216.01 -0.24 Brazil Bovespa 108604.78 -0.11 Mexico IPC 53978.85 -0.13 Chile IPSA 5286.66 0.02 Argentina MerVal 246644.95 1.247 Colombia COLCAP 1268.41 -0.01
Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 5.1903 -0.32 Mexico peso 19.0729 0.46 Chile peso 798 0.50 Colombia peso 4785.25 -0.04 Peru sol 3.8426 -0.19 Argentina peso (interbank) 189.4100 -0.15 Argentina peso (parallel) 371 0.54 (Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
@BansariKamdar;))