*
Brazil's real gains over 1% against dollar
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Consumer prices in Brazil rise 0.71% in March, below
forecasts
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Chilean peso climbs as copper prices jump
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Latin American FX up 1.1%, stocks up 3.6%
By Shashwat Chauhan and Bansari Mayur Kamdar April 11 (Reuters) - Brazil's real led the rally among Latin American currencies on Tuesday, as the dollar slid ahead of Wednesday's U.S inflation data that could help gauge the Federal Reserve's stance on interest rates. The MSCI's Latin American currencies index rose 1.1% by 14:30 GMT, to its highest level since 2018, while the real gained 1.3% against a softer dollar.
Data in Brazil showed consumer prices were pressured in March by the rise in fuel prices, but still slowed down compared to the previous month and beat market expectations. "When it comes to Brazil, their own energy independence, their own push for reforms and trying to cooperate better with trade, is adding to the attractiveness going into EM and into the real (BRL) specifically," said Juan Perez, director of trading at Monex.
The Chilean peso rose 0.8% as a softer greenback offered support to copper prices, aiding the currency of the world's largest copper producer. Currency of No.2 copper producer Peru added 0.4% against the dollar.
A senior official said on Monday that Peru expects to produce 2.8 million tonnes of copper this year, representing a nearly 15% jump from 2022. Colombia's peso gained 0.9% against the dollar, as the oil producer's currency benefited from steady oil prices. The recent bounce in commodity prices, coupled with a weakening U.S. dollar, has boosted Latin American currencies 9.2% since the start of the year.
"Latin American currencies are starting to look more attractive because the growth is there and it's going to continue if the outlook for an overall global growth recovery post-pandemic with China reopening develops," added Perez.
Mexico's peso , was the outlier on Tuesday, slipping 0.1%.
Data showed Mexico's industrial output rose 0.7% in February from January. "Cost-push pressures, high interest rates, tighter domestic financial conditions, enduring policy uncertainty, soft business confidence, and moderating external demand are likely to weigh on the broad industrial sector in the near term," said economists at Goldman Sachs in a note.
Latin American stocks rose 3.6%, helped by a 3.2% gain in Brazil's Bovespa index as mining stocks such as Vale rallied. The International Monetary Fund trimmed its 2023 global growth outlook slightly as higher interest rates cool activity but warned that a severe flare-up of financial system turmoil could slash output to near recessionary levels.
The IMF also pegged
economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean at 1.6% in 2023 and 2.2% in 2024.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1430 GMT:
Stock indexes Latest Daily %
change
MSCI Emerging Markets 996.55 0.8 MSCI LatAm 2260.24 3.64
Brazil Bovespa 105107.95 3.2
Mexico IPC 54697.17 1.15
Chile IPSA 5313.40 0.62
Argentina MerVal 260869.11 1.605
Colombia COLCAP 1200.47 0.01
Currencies Latest Daily %
change
Brazil real 4.9968 1.37
Mexico peso 18.1775 -0.09
Chile peso 812.9 0.69
Colombia peso 4515.3 0.89
Peru sol 3.7787 -0.26
Argentina peso (interbank) 213.7600 -0.17 Argentina peso (parallel) 387 1.03 (Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in
Bengaluru
Editing by Nick Zieminski)
