EMERGING MARKETS-Brazilian real falls for the week; Mexican peso eyes weekly gain

  • 6/11/2021
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* Brazil"s service sector rebounds in April * Mexico industry output suffers setback in April * Peru"s Castillo cites "victory" as vote count nears end (Adds comments, bullets, details; Updates prices throughout) By Susan Mathew and Shreyashi Sanyal June 11 (Reuters) - Latin American currencies weakened against a strong dollar on Friday, with Brazil"s real on track for its worst session in three weeks. The greenback bounced back strongly after declines when investors shrugged off data showing higher U.S. inflation as transitory. The real fell around 1%, on track for a weekly loss of around 1.3%. Brazilian services sector rebounded in April, official figures showed on Friday, though it failed to recover all the ground lost in March and activity remained below levels in February last year before the pandemic struck. A Reuters poll showed, Brazil"s central bank will announce the third consecutive 75 basis point hike of its benchmark rate next week, and possibly hint at a more aggressive cycle ahead by dropping its commitment to a "partial normalization" of policy. "At the last meeting, the central bank gave a clear steer that a 75bp hike is on the cards," said Jonathan Petersen, markets economist at Capital Economics. "We see nothing in the latest data to change that: inflation has continued to rise far above target and the economy has started to recover." Mexico"s peso fell 1% after data showed industrial output fell month-on-month for the first time in 11 months in April, even as activity rose by a record margin from the previous year. But optimism after mid-term elections has pushed the peso to positive territory for the week - its best week since early May. "Hopes of a rapid recovery from the pandemic are supporting the peso, as are expectations of interest rate hikes. But much seems to be priced in already," said Commerzbank analysts. "(With the) expected start of (the U.S. Federal Reserve)tapering from Q4 2021 and expected discussions on first rate hikes, challenging times are likely ahead (for the peso)." Chile"s peso fell 0.4% as rising COVID-19 cases kept sentiment in check with Chilean health authorities announcing a blanket lockdown across the capital Santiago on Thursday. Second biggest copper exporter Peru"s sol was flat. Socialist Pedro Castillo held his slim lead in presidential elections as counting nearly drew to a close. But with rival Keiko Fujimori contesting ballots, the final results may take a while. Among stocks, Brazilian food processor BRF SA rose up to 10% after o Globo columnist Lauro Jardim reported meatpacker JBS SA is interested in potentially acquiring the company. Rival meatpacker Marfrig Global Foods announced last week it reached a 31% stake in BRF. Embraer extended its rally after Zanite Acquisition Corp confirmed merger talks with the Brazilian planemaker"s subsidiary Eve Urban Air Mobility Solutions. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1847 GMT: Stock indexes Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging Markets 1379.81 0.07 MSCI LatAm 2645.61 -0.73 Brazil Bovespa 129080.75 -0.77 Mexico IPC 51300.22 0.81 Chile IPSA 4303.42 1.01 Argentina MerVal 66058.72 -3.061 Colombia COLCAP 1264.35 0.33 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 5.1155 -0.97 Mexico peso 19.8732 -0.98 Chile peso 722.7 -0.39 Colombia peso 3652.25 -1.33 Peru sol 3.89 0.07 Argentina peso (interbank) 95.1300 -0.02 Argentina peso (parallel) 155 1.29 (Reporting by Susan Mathew and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Nick Zieminski) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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