*
Colombian peso hits session low as Ricardo Bonilla named
finmin
*
Brazil's mid-April inflation below estimates
*
Bank of Mexico to consider holding interest rate steady
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Argentina's peso recovers in choppy trading
(Adds comments, updates prices throughout)
By Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Shreyashi Sanyal
April 26 (Reuters) - Colombia's peso plunged on
Wednesday to levels not seen in more than three weeks, as
President Gustavo Petro named a new finance minister after he
asked his cabinet ministers to resign amid a turbulent
reshuffle.
The Colombian peso slipped 3.2% to 4652.50 per dollar by late afternoon, tracking its worst session in over nine months as the leftist leader said he had lost his majority coalition in Congress.
Petro named Ricardo Bonilla as finance minister, despite market anxiety over former minister Jose Antonio Ocampo remaining in the job. A debate on the president's health reform had to be abandoned after not reaching the necessary quorum.
"Petro came into power promising change and he will put in place people that he feels will not hesitate to push his reforms and ideas," said Juan Perez, director of trading at Monex USA in Washington.
"Colombia is yet to have a definite direction as it
shuffles ideas about land, health, as well as pension reform.
All items that could slow down economic progress, but thus far
have yet not done so."
The yield on 10-year TES Treasury bonds sold in the domestic market, set to come due in February 2033, was down to 11.739% from Tuesday's close of 11.425% Argentina's peso recovered slightly after opening sharply lower on parallel markets, but continued to hover near 500 per dollar amid rising political turmoil ahead of October's election, pressuring President Alberto Fernandez government to devalue the currency, something he has long resisted. "This is still an accumulation of imbalances and high inflation, so that continues to pressure the exchange rate," said Alejandro Cuadrado, Latin America strategist and global head of FX at BBVA. "Our base case is for the government to try to muddle through this and hand over to the next administration, aiming to avoid adjustments in the exchange rate." In Brazil, the real was flat against the dollar after data showed inflation slowed to a 30-month low, more than expected in the year to mid-April, backing the government's calls for an interest rate cut even as the central bank maintains a hawkish tone.
Chile's peso added 0.9% against the dollar as the top copper producer was expected to benefit from the recovery in copper prices and weakness in the U.S. dollar.
Chilean lithium miner SQM expects to start talks about lithium with Chilean authorities soon, its Chairman Gonzalo Guerrero said in a letter to shareholders. No. 2 copper producer Peru's currency rose 0.6% against the dollar, while Mexico's peso slipped 0.4% against the dollar. The Bank of Mexico's governing board may consider keeping its benchmark interest rate steady at its next monetary policy meeting, in what would be its first rate hold after 15 straight hikes, Central Bank Governor Victoria Rodriguez said on Tuesday.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 2009:
Stock indexes Latest Daily
%
change
MSCI Emerging Markets 967.43 0.19 MSCI LatAm 2187.62 -0.84
Brazil Bovespa 102372.9 -0.82
6
Mexico IPC 54033.69 -0.62
Chile IPSA 5327.84 0.53
Argentina MerVal 304204.3 0.378
6
Colombia COLCAP 1185.60 -1.01
Currencies Latest Daily
%
change
Brazil real 5.0589 -0.01
Mexico peso 18.1552 -0.47
Chile peso 803.8 1.17
Colombia peso 4649.5 -3.05
Peru sol 3.7236 0.53
Argentina peso (interbank) 221.5000 -0.28 Argentina peso (parallel) 469 5.54 (Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Shreyashi Sanyal in
Bengaluru; Editing by Alison Williams and Diane Craft)
