SAO PAULO, April 2 (Reuters) - Latin American currencies
extended the previous session's rally on Thursday as investors
pulled back from the dollar ahead of Friday's closely-watched
U.S. payrolls report.
Equities also advanced, with the MSCI Latin American stock
index up about 1.3 percent. Stock markets in
Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela were closed for local
holidays.
All of Latin America's major financial markets will be
closed on Friday for the Good Friday holiday.
Investors remained focused on the U.S. non-farm payrolls
data, which is likely to influence the perspective for U.S.
interest rates.
Disappointing data on U.S. manufacturing and job growth on
Wednesday helped push investors into riskier assets on bets that
an extended period of low U.S. rates would support the search
for higher returns in emerging markets.
"Today is basically a continuation of yesterday," said
Alfredo Barbutti, chief economist with BGC brokerage in Brazil,
adding that Wednesday's data had swayed the outlook for Friday's
numbers. "Here in Brazil we've also been seeing a lot of
foreigners coming in for fixed income assets, which is
influencing the currency."
The Brazilian real strengthened for the fourth
straight session, gaining more than 1 percent to trade near 3.14
per dollar. Statements from Finance Minister Joaquim Levy and
President Dilma Rousseff expressing confidence in the
achievement of this year's fiscal savings target have also
buoyed the currency.
Exchange rate moves elsewhere in the region were more muted,
though Chile's peso was on track to reach its strongest
level since mid-January.
Brazil's Bovespa stock index climbed for the third
session in four, rising above 53,000 points for the first time
since early December.
Widely-traded shares such as state-run oil producer Petroleo
Brasileiro SA, known as Petrobras, and lender Itau
Unibanco Holding SA, both of which tend to attract a
large share of foreign investors seeking exposure to Brazilian
assets, drove gains.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1613 GMT:
Stock indexes daily % YTD %
Latest change change
MSCI Emerging Markets 995.05 1.23 2.78
MSCI LatAm 2552.65 1.31 -7.63
Brazil Bovespa 53218.86 1.71 6.42
Mexico IPC 44202.94 1.09 2.45
Chile IPSA 3957.43 0.46 2.76
Chile IGPA 19257.24 0.38 2.05
Argentina MerVal 11071.68 2.16 29.06
Colombia IGBC 10175.16 1.76 -12.54
Peru IGRA 12717.95 2.06 -14.03
Venezuela IBC 5449.19 5.49 41.22
Currencies daily % YTD %
change change
Latest
Brazil real 3.1378 1.08 -15.31
Mexico peso 15.0581 0.62 -2.09
Chile peso 615.5 0.36 -1.48
Colombia peso 2570.5 0.08 -7.10
Peru sol 3.097 -0.03 -3.81
Argentina peso 8.8250 -0.03 -3.12
(interbank)
Argentina peso 12.5 0.96 12.00
(parallel)
(Reporting by Asher Levine; Editing by Grant McCool)
