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Powell's testimony to start 1500 GMT
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Brazil police carry out more raids to probe riots
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Peru starts copper transport as protests ease- minister
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Latam FX flat, stocks down 0.3%
By Amruta Khandekar
March 7 (Reuters) - Latin American stocks fell on
Tuesday, while currencies were muted, with investor focus
squarely on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's testimony to
Congress for clues on the outlook for U.S. interest rates.
MSCI's index for Latin American currencies was flat by 1436 GMT, while stocks in the region were down 0.3%.
Powell's two-day testimony will start at 10:00 am ET (1500
GMT) and is likely to shed light on how aggressive the U.S.
central bank's future monetary tightening could be, after recent
evidence of still sticky inflation and a robust labor market
doused hopes of an end to rate hikes anytime soon.
Markets will "focus upon whether he (Powell) intimates
openness to +25bps or +50bps on March 22nd and whether he
reveals what either he and/or the committee may be leaning
toward in terms of the terminal rate this cycle," Derek Holt,
Vice-President of Scotiabank Economics wrote in a note.
Chile's peso rose 0.2% ahead of the Andean nation's
inflation data for February due on Wednesday.
The Colombian peso fell 0.7%, snapping a recent
streak of gains.
The currency could struggle, with a recent scandal involving
President Gustavo Petro's brother and eldest son and their
alleged ties to drug traffickers adding to the political noise
in the country, said Andres Abadia, chief Latam economist at
Pantheon Macroeconomics.
"All this political volatility and uncertainty will persist
during Mr. Petro’s presidency, and will keep the COP under
pressure," said Abadia in a note.
The currency of Peru , the second-biggest exporter of
copper after Chile, rose 0.2%.
Peru's mines are starting to transport their copper concentrate to ports for export once again after three months of protests that have snarled shipments, Energy and Mines Minister Oscar Vera said. Mexico's peso was flat.
Weighing on the regional currencies index, the Brazilian
real fell 0.6%.
The son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on
Tuesday added to debate over when, and whether, his father would
return from self-imposed exile in Florida, tweeting that the
former president would return next week but deleting the tweet a
few minutes later.
Brazil's federal police said on Tuesday they were carrying
out new raids as part of a probe into riots in January, in which
Bolsonaro's supporters stormed government buildings.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1436 GMT:
Stock indexes Latest Daily % change
MSCI Emerging Markets 989.85 -0.39 MSCI LatAm 2223.07 -0.19 Brazil Bovespa 104795.04 0.09 Mexico IPC 0.00 0 Chile IPSA 5373.40 -1 Argentina MerVal 254911.95 0.748 Colombia COLCAP 1238.26 0.21 Currencies Latest Daily % change
Brazil real 5.1798 -0.21 Mexico peso 18.0150 -0.17 Chile peso 796.5 0.16 Colombia peso 4733.26 -0.69
Peru sol 3.78 -0.55 Argentina peso 199.6600 -0.16
(interbank) Argentina peso 365 1.92
(parallel) (Reporting by Amruta Khandekar
Editing by Mark Potter)
