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Brazil govt not planning to push for c.bank chief swap -
senator
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Chile consumer prices up 0.8% in January, above estimates
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FX edges 0.1% up, stocks gain 0.8%
By Bansari Mayur Kamdar Feb 8 (Reuters) - Stocks in Latin America rose on Wednesday after five sessions of losses with Chile's peso and Brazil's real supporting slim gains on the currencies index, while Turkey's Borsa Istanbul suspended equities trading for five days and canceled trades for the day. The real gained 0.1% against the dollar. Brazilian Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, the government leader in Congress, said there was no government guidance on replacing central bank Chief Roberto Campos Neto, who has been facing criticism from President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Chile's inflation accelerated in January and exceeded market expectations, lifting the peso 0.3% on signs that the headline index remains relatively high despite a downward trend for 12-month inflation. "Overall, inflation is highly disseminated, and inflationary pressures remained intense in January," said economists at Goldman Sachs in a note. "We expect inflation to remain in double digits through April, which together with higher-than-expected inflation in recent months should be consistent with a conservative calibration of monetary policy by the central bank." The MSCI's index for Latin American currencies eked out slim 0.1% gains. The Mexican peso edged 0.3% lower to 18.93 against the dollar, while fellow oil exporter Colombia's peso slid 0.8%. Stocks in Latin America rose 0.8%, supported by sharp 0.8% gains in Brazil's Bovespa index and Chile's IPSA index .
Elsewhere in the emerging markets, Egypt's
dollar-denominated government bonds fell after Moody's cut the
country's credit rating from B2 to B3 late on Tuesday.
"The timing of the negative rating action is tricky as Egypt
will likely need to tap the market this month to refinance a
$1.25 billion private placement falling due later in February,"
said Mohamed Abdelmeguid, MENA Economist at BNP Paribas.
"The downgrade reinforces the steepness of Egypt's curve (ie
high borrowing costs) and will likely limit any near-term
issuance to the short-end of the yield curve with a double-digit
coupon."
Turkey's Borsa Istanbul suspended trading on its equity
market and canceled trades for the day, while putting on hold
transactions in single stock, index futures and options
contracts for five business days after a devastating earthquake.
Poland's central bank left its main interest rate unchanged
at 6.75% as expected, remaining in wait-and-see mode as it
assesses the damage to the economy caused by the war in Ukraine.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1450 GMT:
Stock indexes Latest Daily %
change
MSCI Emerging Markets 1020.24 0.47 MSCI LatAm 2229.46 0.9
Brazil Bovespa 108533.15 0.65
Mexico IPC 53434.32 0.19
Chile IPSA 5317.21 0.87
Argentina MerVal 247599.91 0.322
Colombia COLCAP 1275.84 0.45
Currencies Latest Daily %
change
Brazil real 5.2022 -0.03
Mexico peso 18.9335 -0.31
Chile peso 790.9 0.25
Colombia peso 4765.05 -0.82
Peru sol 3.8447 -0.69
Argentina peso (interbank) 189.8700 -0.18 Argentina peso (parallel) 375 0.53 (Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by
Arun Koyyur)
