Most Latam FX down as dollar strengthens; Middle East in focus
Brazil's central government deficit down in August
Ghana says bondholders have signed off on $13 bln debt overhaul
Latam FX down 0.4%, stocks down 1.4%
Updated at 3:30 p.m. ET/ 1930 GMT
By Ankika Biswas
Oct 3 (Reuters) - Most Latin American currencies weakened against a stronger dollar on Thursday as investors pondered the trajectory of U.S. interest-rate cuts while avoiding risk during theMiddle East conflict.
The MSCI index for Latam currencies .MILA00000CUS slipped 0.4%, hitting a more than one-week intraday low.
On top of safe-haven demand, the dollar =USD also strengthened on expectations that the Federal Reserve will not rush to cut U.S.interest rates, further steering investors away from riskier assets.
Israel's military told residents of more than 20 towns in south Lebanon toevacuate their homes immediately as it pressed on with its cross-border incursion and struck Hezbollah targets in a suburb of Beirut.
Ongoing geopolitical tensions soured investors' sentiment just asemerging markets were riding high on a series of Chinese stimulus measures and the Fed's recent 50-basis-point rate cut, which had boosted Latam stocks and currencies.
"While China is trying to reshuffle market expectations, data is likely to get worse before it gets better. Stimulus is a second order effect but should favor CLP (Colombia) and BRL (Brazil) over MXN (Mexico) in Latamin the months ahead," strategists at TD Securities noted.
Brazil's real BRL= weakened 0.6% against the dollar to a more than one-week low.
Data showed Brazil's central government deficit in August in line with expectations, marking a nearly 20% drop from the year-ago shortfall, as revenue rose.
A more than 1% fall in copper prices weighed on top producers, withChile's peso CLP= downalmost 1%.
Mexico's peso MXN= reversed course to rise 0.2%.
Analysts awaited theminutes from Colombia's central bank policy meeting in September, in which it cutinterest rates by 50 basis points.
The MSCI stocks index .MILA00000PUS fell 1.4%, hitting a three-week low earlier in the session, led by Brazilian shares .BVSP.
Elsewhere, Ghana's investors signed off on its proposal to restructure $13 billion worth of international bonds, paving the way for the country to emerge from a painful 2022 debt default.
HIGHLIGHTS:
** Brazil's Treasury Secretary defends rating upgrade as technically sound
** South Africa introducing visa reforms to boost economy, says minister
** Czech watchdog says 2025 budget draft overestimates income, omits some expenditure
** Polish central bank head hopes rate cuts can start after March projection
** Egypt's GDP growth slows to 2.4% for 2023/24 year- planning ministry
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies:
Equities | Latest | Daily % change |
MSCI Emerging Markets .MSCIEF | 1170.91 | -1.44 |
MSCI LatAm .MILA00000PUS | 2221 | -1.41 |
Brazil Bovespa .BVSP | 131692.59 | -1.36 |
Mexico IPC .MXX | 51700.22 | -0.96 |
Chile IPSA .SPIPSA | 6389.22 | -0.04 |
Argentina Merval .MERV | 1741436.99 | 1.532 |
Colombia COLCAP .COLCAP | 1297.18 | -0.32 |
Currencies | Latest | Daily % change |
Brazil real BRL= | 5.4719 | -0.57 |
Mexico peso MXN= | 19.3576 | 0.22 |
Chile peso CLP= | 919.7 | -0.95 |
Colombia peso COP= | 4182.5 | 0 |
Peru sol PEN= | 3.7198 | 0 |
Argentina peso (interbank) ARS=RASL | 971.5 | -0.10 |
Argentina peso (parallel) ARSB= | 1185 | 2.53 |
Reporting by Ankika Biswas and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Richard Chang
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