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Peruvian sol hovers near one-year highs
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Brazil CPI likely to have eased in April -poll
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Turkish assets rally after presidential candidate
withdraws
(Updates prices throughout, adds details throughout)
By Amruta Khandekar and Ankika Biswas
May 11 (Reuters) - Most Latin American currencies eased
on Thursday as weak data from China raised concerns about
economic recovery, while Turkey's stocks rallied after
presidential candidate Muharrem Ince announced his withdrawal
from Sunday's election.
Data on Thursday showed China's consumer prices rose at the
slowest pace in more than two years in April, while factory gate
deflation deepened, suggesting more stimulus may be needed to
boost a patchy post-COVID-19 economic recovery.
Chile's peso , the currency of the world's biggest
copper producer, fell 1% tracking falling prices of the red
metal. The central bank is set to announce its latest interest
rate decision on Friday.
The Mexican peso and Colombia's peso fell 0.2%
and 1%, respectively, as crude prices slipped amid recession
concerns driven by a political standoff over the U.S. debt
ceiling. Both the countries are leading oil exporters.
Meanwhile, Brazil's real was flat ahead of
inflation data expected on Friday.
Consumer price inflation likely slowed in April, a Reuters
poll showed, giving fresh ammunition to government officials
demanding immediate monetary policy easing from a reluctant
central bank.
Peru's sol rose 0.3%, hovering near a one-year high before a policy decision by the central bank, which is expected to hold rates at 7.75%. "The rate has been unchanged since January, and the mild decline in yearly inflation in April was not nearly enough to justify a reversal of policy. But trends are changing," Guillermo Arbe, head economist for Peru at Scotiabank, said in a note. After taking a hit during the nearly two-year presidency of Pedro Castillo, the sol is bouncing back just months after his removal and subsequent protests that briefly stifled the economy. The sol had its best showing since May 2022 for the third straight day, central bank and traders' data showed. Also, two Reuters polls showed that Colombia's economy could have expanded 2.8% year-on-year in first quarter, a deceleration from previous quarters but still resilient, while Argentina's inflation for April is seen at 7.5%, keeping the annual rate at its quickest pace after emerging from a hyperinflation crisis since 1990s. MSCI's index of Latam currencies edged up 0.3%, after hitting an eight-year high on Wednesday after a slower-than-expected rise in annual U.S. inflation boosted hopes of a rate hike pause by the Federal Reserve.
Latin American stocks edged up 0.3% to an almost one-month high.
Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras gained 2.6% on plans to pay dividends of about 24.7 billion reais ($4.94 billion). Elsewhere, Turkey's main BIST-100 stock index jumped 7.9%, while credit default swaps dropped, as presidential election candidate Ince withdrew.
Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 2003 GMT:
Stock indexes Latest Daily %
change
MSCI Emerging Markets 977.49 -0.22 MSCI LatAm 2306.21 0.3
Brazil Bovespa 108163.68 0.67
Mexico IPC 54979.20 -1
Chile IPSA 5598.96 0.53 Argentina MerVal 313359.72 0.922
Colombia COLCAP 1143.42 -1.44 Currencies Latest Daily %
change
Brazil real 4.9331 0.05
Mexico peso 17.5816 -0.20
Chile peso 795.8 -0.96
Colombia peso 4596.03 -0.97
Peru sol 3.6452 0.27
Argentina peso (interbank) 228.9500 -0.17 Argentina peso (parallel) 470 0.43 ($1 = 5.0033 reais)
(Reporting by Amruta Khandekar and Ankika Biswas; Editing by
Kirsten Donovan and Grant McCool)
