Chile's peso leads Latin American FX higher as metal prices rally
Chile's peso jumps more than 1% against the dollar
Brazil's central bank boosts 2024 GDP forecast
Bank of Mexico lowers key interest rate to 10.50%
Latin American currencies up 0.5%, stocks up nearly 1%
Updated at 3:32 p.m. ET/ 1932 GMT
By Ankika Biswas and Shashwat Chauhan
Sept 26 (Reuters) -Chile's peso led gains among most Latin American currencies on Thursday, riding on the back of strong copper prices, while Mexico's peso ran into turbulence after the local central bank cut interest rates by an expected 25-basis-points.
Chile's peso CLP= strengthened more than 1% against the greenback, hitting its highest level since early June, as copper prices surged to their strongest in nearly 16 weeks. Peru's sol PEN= also gained 0.6%. Chile is the largest producer of the metal, while Peru is the second-largest.
The MSCI Latam currencies index .MILA00000CUS rose 0.5%, while the broader indextracking emerging market stocks .MSCIEF jumped more than 2% to a more than two-year high, with Chinese and Hong Kong stocks leading gains.
Metal prices rose across the board as top metals consumer China pledged fresh stimulus measures, strengthening the demand outlook.
Prices of iron ore futures also extended gains into a third straight session, likely supporting the Brazilian real BRL=, which gained 0.6% against the dollar.
Brazil's central bank raised its 2024 economic growth forecast to 3.2% from 2.3% and said it expects the economy to grow 2% in 2025, according to a quarterly inflation report.
Mexico's peso MXN= was flat at 19.6375 per dollar in choppy trading after the Bank of Mexicolowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points for the second straight time. The decision was not unanimous, with Deputy Governor Jonathan Heath casting the sole vote to hold rates.
Brazil's central bank hiked rates earlier this week while the U.S. Federal Reserve delivered a larger-than-usual 50-basis-point rate cut last week.
"Emerging market growth has been holding up reasonably well, and inflation is returning to target levels. We think the easing cycle in emerging markets will broaden as the Fed continues to cut rates, with Brazil an outlier," said Paul Diggle, chief economist at abrdn.
Colombia's peso COP= reversed initial losses to gain 1.1% against a globally weaker greenback.
The MSCI stocks index .MILA00000PUS also rose 0.9%, with most local bourses clocking gains.
Elsewhere, the Turkish Central Bank said leading indicators suggest monthly consumer inflation will slow in September, while inflation expectations and pricing behavior continue to pose risks to the disinflation process.
HIGHLIGHTS:
** Nigeria's central bank sells FX at 1,590 naira per dollar to exchange bureaus
** Wall Street strikesback against New York's sovereign debt bill
** China to issue $284 bln of sovereign debt this year to help revive economy, sources say
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies:
Equities | Latest | Daily % change |
MSCI Emerging Markets .MSCIEF | 1166.05 | 2.57 |
MSCI LatAm .MILA00000PUS | 2265.58 | 0.93 |
Brazil Bovespa .BVSP | 132935.5 | 1.03 |
Mexico IPC .MXX | 53702.09 | 0.96 |
Chile IPSA .SPIPSA | 6529.98 | 1.38 |
Argentina Merval .MERV | 1726179.25 | -1.029 |
Colombia COLCAP .COLCAP | 1322.52 | 0.1 |
Currencies | Latest | Daily % change |
Brazil real BRL= | 5.4464 | 0.57 |
Mexico peso MXN= | 19.6375 | -0.07 |
Chile peso CLP= | 900.1 | 1.33 |
Colombia peso COP= | 4157.11 | 1.13 |
Peru sol PEN= | 3.7104 | 0.62 |
Argentina peso (interbank) ARS=RASL | 967 | 0.206825233 |
Argentina peso (parallel) ARSB= | 1210 | 2.479338843 |
Reporting by Ankika Biswas and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Paul Simao and Deepa Babington
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