Latam stocks, FX rise; services data boosts Brazil's real
Brazil's service sector beats forecasts
Brazil's c.bank had no reason to intervene in FX
Itau Unibanco shares at all-time high
Stocks up 1%, FX up 0.1%
Updated at 3:16 p.m ET/1916 GMT
By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Ankika Biswas
Aug 13 (Reuters) -Latin American assets broadly rose on Tuesday after soft U.S. inflation data bolstered hopes of an early easing of interest rates in the world's largest economy, while markets in Brazil jumped after services activity touched a record high in June.
Ahead of closely watched consumer price inflation data due Wednesday, U.S. producer prices increased less than expected in July which lifted hopes for a bigger interest rate cut at the Federal Reserve's September meeting.
Markets are hoping for a total of around 100 basis points worth of rate cut by the year's end, as per LSEG data.
The MSCI index tracking Latin American stocks .MILA00000PUS jumped nearly 1%, touching a near one-month high, while the currencies gauge .MILA00000CUS rose 0.14%.
Brazil's real BRL= touched a near one-month high against the dollar, up about 0.8% after data showed the service sector rose 1.7% in June from the month prior, beating expectations for a 0.8% rise.
Brazil's central bank governor noted that the real had experienced "accelerated weakening," but said the central bank has managed to drive the disinflation process with minimal impact on economic activity.
The Bovespa index jumped 0.9% to its highest since January, led by gains in banking stocks like Itau Unibanco ITUB4.SA, whose preferred shares touched an all-time high. CSN Mineracao CMIN3.SA was the biggest gainer on the index, jumping over 7%.
"We expect services activity to benefit from continued strong fiscal stimulus, the generous increase in the minimum wage, the turnaround in the credit cycle and solid real household disposable income growth," said Goldman Sachs analysts.
Among other Latin American bourses, Colombia's main index .COLCAP rose 0.7% and Mexican stocks .MXX jumped 1%.
Mexico's peso MXN= gained 0.2% against the dollar after falling more than 1% in the previous session.
The dollar had briefly weakened against most Latin American currencies in early trade after the U.S. data, before climbing back up. Colombia's peso COP= was up 0.5%, and Chile's peso rose 0.4% against the greenback even as copper prices pulled back.
Emerging market assets have steadily recovered from a steep selloff last week, with worries about a slowdown in the U.S. economy easing even as traders have increased bets on a 50 basis point rate cut at the Fed's next meeting.
The Japanese yen JPY= has also weakened this week, helping high-yielding currencies such as the Mexican peso which were hit hard last Monday as crowded yen-funded carry trades unwound.
Chinese industrial output and U.S. retail sales data later in the week will be closely watched for clues on global economic performance.
Meanwhile, Latin America and Caribbean economies are expected to grow an average of 1.8% this year, less than previously forecast, amid global geopolitical uncertainty and tight financial conditions, the United Nations' economic commission for the region said.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies by 1916 GMT:
Equities | Latest | Daily % change |
MSCI Emerging Markets .MSCIEF | 1072.75 | 0.34 |
MSCI LatAm .MILA00000PUS | 2280.73 | 0.98 |
Brazil Bovespa .BVSP | 132287.57 | 0.89 |
Mexico IPC .MXX | 53569.75 | 1 |
Chile IPSA .SPIPSA | 6355.36 | 0.46 |
Argentina Merval .MERV | 1597587.75 | 0.546 |
Colombia COLCAP .COLCAP | 1339.19 | 0.67 |
Currencies | Latest | Daily % change |
Brazil real BRL= | 5.4555 | 0.77 |
Mexico peso MXN= | 19.0073 | 0.27 |
Chile peso CLP= | 930.43 | 0.41 |
Colombia peso COP= | 4030 | 0.49 |
Peru sol PEN= | 3.7485 | -0.55 |
Argentina peso (interbank) ARS=RASL | 939 | 0 |
Argentina peso (parallel) ARSB= | 1335 | 1.498127341 |
Reporting by Lisa Mattackal and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Alistair Bell
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