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Mexico's core prices in Feb slowed
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Brazil's Hapvida falls on potential capital increase
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Latam FX, stocks down 0.3%
By Shubham Batra and Amruta Khandekar March 9 (Reuters) - Most Latin American currencies firmed on Thursday as the dollar took a breather, while Mexico's peso slipped as falling inflation strengthened the case for the central bank to slow its pace of interest rate hikes. The dollar fell 0.4% after hitting over three-month highs on Wednesday, underpinned by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's message that interest rates will have to go higher and possibly faster than investors previously anticipated. The greenback fell after data showed initial jobless claims rose 21,000 to a seasonally adjusted 211,000 for the week ended March 4. The figure was well above a Reuters estimate for 195,000, assuaging fears that the U.S. labour market is too tight. The Mexican peso slipped 0.3% as data showed core consumer prices slowed more than expected in the year to February. "Today's (inflation) print reduces the odds that (central bank) chooses to go ahead with a 50 bps hike, though incoming data as well as the outlook for the Fed remain key influences on the bank's decision," Scotiabank economists said in a note. The Brazilian real fell 0.1% against the dollar, while the Colombian peso led gains among most Latin American currencies, rising 1.0% against the greenback. A weaker dollar helped currencies of the world's biggest copper producers Chile and Peru rise more than 0.5% each despite falling copper prices. Latam stocks slid 0.4%. Brazil's Bovespa index lost 0.3%, led by shares of healthcare company Hapvida , which plunged 24.3%, after the firm said it was "studying mechanisms to improve its capital structure". Elsewhere in emerging markets, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the National Bank of Hungary's cuts to money supply were too drastic as inflation has probably peaked and price growth was driven by energy costs and sanctions on Russia. The forint was down 0.2% against the euro.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies:
Stock indexes Latest Daily %
change
MSCI Emerging Markets 970.28 -0.8 MSCI LatAm 2241.60 -0.57 Brazil Bovespa 106220.82 -0.3 Mexico IPC 53645.87 0.48 Chile IPSA 5429.31 0.21 Argentina MerVal 254294.19 1.348 Colombia COLCAP 1242.43 0.08 Currencies Latest Daily %
change
Brazil real 5.1426 -0.08
Mexico peso 18.0515 -0.46 Chile peso 797.7 0.86
Colombia peso 4751.54 0.47
Peru sol 3.7903 -0.09
Argentina peso 200.3700 -0.18
(interbank) (Reporting by Shubham Batra and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru;
Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
