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Colombia CPI data due on Saturday
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Brazil's producer prices rise in Jan
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Turkey's opposition alliance splits over election
candidate
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Latam FX off 0.1%, stocks up 0.7%
By Amruta Khandekar
March 3 (Reuters) - Latin American stocks rose on Friday
on hopes of an economic rebound in China, while the Brazilian
real slipped for the second straight day, weighing on regional
currencies.
MSCI's index for Latin American stocks gained 0.7% by 1508 GMT and was set for marginal weekly gains
after declines last week on concerns about U.S. interest rates
staying higher for longer.
Equities in Mexico rose nearly 1% while Brazil's
Bovespa index gained 0.9% on Friday on a boost from
materials stocks.
Broader EM stocks rose 0.8% and were on track for
the first weekly gain in five weeks, lifted by upbeat economic
data from China and overnight comments from a Federal Reserve
official backing a measured pace of rate hikes.
Investors shed $1.8 billion in emerging market debt and
bought $2.4 billion in emerging market equities in the week to
Wednesday, a report from BofA Global Research showed on Friday.
Meanwhile, currencies in the region were
down 0.1% but were set for weekly gains of around 0.9%.
The Mexican peso , up 0.6% against the dollar, led
gains among some regional peers and was headed for weekly gains
of around 2%.
"In Mexico, which has been perceived as the region's
darling, what we are seeing right now is robust macro
fundamentals, narrow deficit and low debt, high carry and on top
of that this really positive narrative regarding nearshoring,"
said Joel Virgen Rojano, senior Latam strategist at TD
Securities.
The Colombian peso rose 0.2%, extending gains for the
third straight session.
Investors are awaiting data on the country's consumer prices
in February due on Saturday.
The currency of top copper exporter Chile rose 0.2%
as copper prices firmed on China recovery hopes. Limiting gains on the Latam currencies index, the Brazilian
real fell 0.3%, extending the previous session's declines
driven by worries around a slowdown in Latam's largest economy.
Data on Friday showed the country's producer price index
rose 0.29 percent in January from the previous month.
Economists at Scotiabank said they are also awaiting an
announcement from Brazil's Finance Minister Fernando Haddad on
his proposal for a new fiscal framework.
Elsewhere, Turkey's right-wing IYI Party withdrew from the
main opposition alliance on Friday, rejecting its proposal to
make the biggest opposition party leader their election
candidate and potentially weakening the challenge to President
Tayyip Erdogan.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1508 GMT:
Stock indexes Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging Markets 987.97 0.81 MSCI LatAm 2211.24 0.93 Brazil Bovespa 104093.10 0.74 Mexico IPC 53839.78 0.96 Chile IPSA 5456.15 0.9 Argentina MerVal 246063.48 1.365 Colombia COLCAP 1206.04 1.43 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 5.2174 -0.27 Mexico peso 18.0062 0.60 Chile peso 811 0.05 Colombia peso 4802.62 0.24 Peru sol 3.7857 -0.34 Argentina peso 198.2400 -0.19 (interbank) Argentina peso 371 1.62 (parallel) (Reporting by Amruta Khandekar;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
