EMERGING MARKETS-LatAm assets broadly steady as investors cautious over Iran peace chances
By Purvi Agarwal
May 11 (Reuters) - Most Latin American currencies were steady and stocks were mixed on Monday, after logging gains in the previous week, as investors assessed the fallout of the Middle East conflict, after progress stalled over the weekend.
U.S. President Donald Trump rejected Iran's response to a U.S. peace proposal, raising prospects that the conflict will drag on and sending oil prices up over 2% as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remained choked.
Trump is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping later in the week, with trade and Iran among the items on the agenda.
"It is possible that an agreement between Presidents Trump and Xi sees China exert some pressure on Iran to cede to some of the US demands and that could lead to a breakthrough in negotiations and ultimately trade flows resuming," said strategists at Invesco. "We expect the USD to be lower by year-end, however, news can change quickly, so prudence rather than conviction should guide positioning."
Most LatAm currencies were little changed as investors exercised caution. Still, the MSCI gauge tracking these .MILA00000CUS gained 0.2%, trading at a record high.
The stocks equivalent .MILA00000PUS slipped 0.1%, weighed down by heavyweight Brazilian stocks .BVSP, down 0.8%.
On the flip side, stocks in Peru .MXNUAMPESCPGPE rose 0.7%, while ones in Mexico .MXX were 1.1% higher.
Mexican central bank Governor Victoria Rodriguez said in an interview on Monday inflationary risks in the economy were contained at the moment and monetary policy should not react to transitory, limited supply shocks.
The central bank delivered a widely expected 25 basis-point cut last week, but indicated it was the last of its easing cycle started in 2024.
Argentine equities .MERV gained 0.7%. Both Mexican and Argentine indexes were helped by 2.5% and 1.8% gains in miners Grupo Mexico GMEXICOB.MX and YPF YPFDm.BA respectively, tracking an uptick in base and precious metal prices.
On the data front, Colombia's consumer prices rose 0.78% in April, taking cumulative 12-month price growth to 5.68%. Its currency COP= and stocks .COLCAP fell 0.2% and 0.1% respectively.
Brazil and Colombia head to elections this year, in October and May respectively, and analysts wait to see if a market-friendly government can consolidate, which could boost capital flows into local assets.
Recent polls showed Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was tied with Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, while the left-wing coalition appeared set to retain power in Colombia.
Elsewhere, Ukraine's bonds jumped over 1 cent on the dollar each on Monday. Russian President Vladimir Putin said over the weekend that he thinks the Russia-Ukraine war was coming to an end.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies:
Latin American market prices from Reuters |
|
|
Equities |
Latest |
Daily % change |
MSCI Emerging Markets .MSCIEF |
1725.38 |
0.83 |
MSCI LatAm .MILA00000PUS |
3198.14 |
-0.22 |
Brazil Bovespa .BVSP |
182715.24 |
-0.76 |
Mexico IPC .MXX |
70636 |
1.12 |
Chile IPSA .SPIPSA |
10770.52 |
0.11 |
Argentina Merval .MERV |
2788987.56 |
0.72 |
Colombia COLCAP .COLCAP |
2120.67 |
-0.1 |
|
|
|
Currencies |
Latest |
Daily % change |
Brazil real BRL= |
4.8934 |
0 |
Mexico peso MXN= |
17.1773 |
-0.09 |
Chile peso CLP= |
891.81 |
0.05 |
Colombia peso COP= |
3744.3 |
-0.17 |
Peru sol PEN= |
3.4389 |
-0.15 |
Argentina peso (interbank) ARS=RASL |
1400 |
-0.18 |
Argentina peso (parallel) ARSB= |
1385 |
-0.36 |
