EMERGING MARKETS-Colombian peso tumbles, Brazil's real supported by tight policy

  • 6/17/2021
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* Brazil"s real near 1-year high * Latam stocks hit two-week low * Chile"s peso at near three-month low (Adds details on stocks, updates prices) By Susan Mathew and Ambar Warrick June 17 (Reuters) - Colombia"s peso led Latin American currency losses on Thursday, dropping 1.5% on a combination of dollar strength and weaker oil prices, while policy tightening expectations allowed Brazil"s real to hold near one-year highs. The dollar, powered by the U.S. Federal Reserve"s hawkish surprise on Wednesday, weighed on most emerging currencies while commodity exporters such as Colombia were also undermined by oil"s 0.6% pullback. Colombia, which has seen political unrest in recent weeks and several bombings attributed to leftist guerillas, saw its peso touch three-week lows. A Wednesday bombing injured a Colombian soldier and two U.S. military personnel Crude exporter Mexico"s peso touched an 11-week low, down 0.2%. Chile"s peso fell to a near three-month low of 738.50, rattled by a sharp drop in the prices of copper - the country"s largest export. World no. 2 copper producer Peru"s sol also dropped 0.4%. Brazil"s real was the outlier, firming 0.6% and holding just below one-year highs on expectations of more central bank policy tightening. The central bank on Wednesday raised the Selic interest rate by 75 basis points to 4.25% and dropped plans for a "partial" normalization of policy. The "comments represent a more hawkish tone in comparison to the previous document and to market expectations. It indicates that the Central Bank could increase rates higher than the current median market expectations," Credit Suisse analysts told clients, predicting four consecutive hikes of 75 basis points, taking rates to 7.25% by December. That"s a more aggressive call than the 6% rate forecast by a Reuters poll conducted before Wednesday"s decision. On equities, Brazilian power utility Eletrobras sank 3.6%, with a reformed bill for its privatization to be voted on in the Senate on Thursday. Latam stocks fell in tandem with emerging markets, with the MSCI"s index of regional stocks down 1.5% to a more-than two-week low. Emerging market debt also suffered losses, as a rise in U.S. yields narrowed the gap between risky and risk-free debt. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies: Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging Markets 1361.19 -0.64 MSCI LatAm 2611.22 -1.48 Brazil Bovespa 128098.73 -0.9 Mexico IPC 50163.61 -0.82 Chile IPSA 4330.51 -0.6 Argentina MerVal 66450.68 -1.665 Colombia COLCAP 1251.42 0.05 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 5.0253 0.60 Mexico peso 20.4354 -0.16 Chile peso 737.8 -1.10 Colombia peso 3726 -1.46 Peru sol 3.9158 -0.39 Argentina peso 95.3500 -0.03 (interbank) (Reporting by Susan Mathew and Ambar Warrick in Bengaluru; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Andrew Heavens) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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