EMERGING MARKETS-Brazil's real steady after ministerial reshuffle, jobs data

  • 3/30/2021
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* Real edges up after six-day losing streak * Strong dollar keeps EM currencies subdued * Mexico, Colombia stocks hit by commodity prices (Adds comments, updates prices throughout) By Shreyashi Sanyal and Sruthi Shankar March 30 (Reuters) - Brazil"s real stabilized on Tuesday after six straight days of losses against the dollar, as investors reacted to President Jair Bolsonaro"s major ministerial reshuffle amid criticism over his government"s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The real edged up to trade at 5.7279 per dollar, remaining near the three-week low of 5.806 per dollar hit on Monday. Regional peers including the Mexican peso and Colombian peso were trading marginally lower as oil prices slipped and the prospect of a stronger U.S. economic recovery lifted the dollar. Bolsonaro made a series of changes to his cabinet on Monday, with three ministers leaving the far-right leader"s government. The departures included Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo, a China hawk who faced mounting criticism over his failure to guarantee additional COVID-19 vaccine supplies for Latin America"s largest economy. "Brazil"s political outlook is very uncertain and the range of possible outcome remains quite wide," said analysts at UBS in a client note. "Risk premiums on Brazilian assets have increased recently, and we see few reasons for country risk to be priced out in the foreseeable future." Brazil is experiencing its worst phase of the pandemic, with deaths topping 3,000 a day as a contagious new variant rages through the country. That, along with a slow vaccination program, has put the Brazilian currency on track for nearly a 10% decline this quarter, making it among the worst-performing emerging market currencies in the past three months. The real got an additional boost on Tuesday after data showed Brazil"s economy added a net 401,639 formal jobs in February, the highest monthly figure in at least 20 years. The Bovespa stock index rose 1.1%, with travel-related stocks among the top gainers. Tourism operator CVC Brasil and airlines Gol and Azul each jumped about 6%. Stock markets in Mexico, Colombia and Chile were trading lower, hurt by a drop in commodity prices. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1839 GMT: Stock indexes Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging Markets 1319.06 0.68 MSCI LatAm 2279.27 1.51 Brazil Bovespa 116640.09 1.06 Mexico IPC 47494.79 -0.53 Chile IPSA 4913.95 -0.06 Argentina MerVal 47849.08 1.287 Colombia COLCAP 1317.81 -0.23 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 5.7279 0.66 Mexico peso 20.5618 0.23 Chile peso 728.8 0.63 Colombia peso 3727 -0.29 Peru sol 3.7708 -0.56 Argentina peso (interbank) 91.9500 -0.03 Argentina peso (parallel) 138 2.90 (Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru Editing by Paul Simao and Lisa Shumaker)

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