*
U.S. Feb unemployment rate ticks higher
*
Brazil's consumer prices rose more than expected
*
Stocks join global rout
By Shubham Batra March 10 (Reuters) - Emerging market currencies strengthened on Friday as bets of aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve were tempered by slowing U.S. wage inflation and a higher unemployment rate. The closely watched non-farm payrolls report showed the U.S. economy added jobs at a solid pace in February, average hourly earnings rose 0.2% last month after gaining 0.3% in January, while the unemployment rate rose to 3.6%. The dollar slumped 0.9% after the data as odds for a 50-basis point hike from the Fed this month fell. MSCI's index of emerging market currencies was up 0.4%, with the South African rand up 1.6%, while currencies of Chile and Colombia were up around 0.5% each. "I think one of the most important elements is that we saw the participation rate move up a little bit, which is probably why the unemployment rate moved up to 3.6%," said Victoria Fernandez, chief market strategist at Crossmark Global Investments. "I don't think it was a home run report either way for the bulls or the bears. I think it kind of says we're in a steady state, maybe the jobs market is starting to cool ever so slightly." The Brazilian real , however, was down 0.6% as consumer prices in Brazil rose slightly more than expected in February, but analysts still predict disinflation is underway. Mexican peso slid 0.1% against the dollar. Regional stocks were also down in line with the global rout in stocks sparked by worries in the banking sector emanating from SVB Financial Group's failed capital raise. Brazil's Bovespa lost 0.6%, with diagnostic services provider Diagnosticos da America SA down 2.0% after the company said it was considering a potential follow-on share offering as a way of "strengthening its capital structure". Elsewhere in emerging markets, Russia's current account surplus shrank to $12.9 billion in January-February from $37.7 billion in the same period last year, the central bank said on Friday.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies:
Stock indexes Latest Daily %
change
MSCI Emerging 957.29 -1.15
Markets MSCI LatAm 2196.03 -1.23 Brazil Bovespa 103768.31 -1.24 Mexico IPC 53255.47 -0.32 Chile IPSA 5402.07 -0.14 Argentina MerVal 244611.68 -1.188 Colombia COLCAP 1207.53 -0.26 Currencies Latest Daily %
change
Brazil real 5.1697 -0.59 Mexico peso 18.3699 -0.14 Chile peso 793.1 0.28 Colombia peso 4741.29 0.04 Peru sol 3.7792 -0.23 Argentina peso 200.6800 -0.15
(interbank) (Reporting by Shubham Batra in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak
Dasgupta)
