EMERGING MARKETS-Politics weigh on Chile, Brazil stocks, inflation in Mexico
(Updates with final prices, details from Mexico)
SAO PAULO, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Equities markets across Latin
America fell on Thursday amid light Thanksgiving trading, led by
the blue-chip IPSA index in Chile (Stuttgart: 704599.SG - news) , where investors are still
jittery over a weak performance by conservatives in elections
over the weekend.
On Thursday leftist Chilean presidential candidate Alejandro
Guillier, competing in a run-off after coming second in a first
round on Sunday, said he was open to eliminating Chile's
quasi-private pension fund system for a state-run model.
Additionally, workers at BHP Billiton Ltd's
major Escondida copper mine in Chile walked off the job
temporarily, spooking investors in the mining-dependent
country. The IPSA closed down 1.84 percent.
In Mexico, the S&P/BVM IPC index slipped by 0.13
percent after data showed a surprise acceleration in inflation
in early November, complicating the central bank's hopes of
dampening price pressures before the end of 2017.
Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in miner Grupo Mexico put downward
pressure on the stock index, slipping 2.08 percent.
Brazil's Bovespa dipped 0.04 percent as President
Michel Temer continues to face difficulties pushing through a
pension reform seen as key to shoring up fiscal health.
On Wednesday night, the congressman in charge of drafting
the reform presented a new version in an event at Temer's
official residence. However, attendance was poorer that
expected, which some analysts interpreted as a sign of
relatively weak support for the measure.
Among the poorly performing major constituents of the index
was steelmaker Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA
, whose shares fell by 1.28 percent.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 2330 GMT:
Stock indexes daily % YTD %
Latest change change
MSCI Emerging Markets 1152.40 -0.37 33.65
MSCI LatAm 2820.30 0.18 20.49
Brazil Bovespa 74486.576 -0.04 23.68
Mexico S&P/BVM IPC 48136.24 -0.13 5.46
Chile IPSA 5034.33 -1.84 21.27
Chile IGPA 25361.77 -1.74 22.32
Argentina MerVal 27293.31 -0.13 61.33
Colombia IGBC 10862.65 -0.14 7.25
Venezuela IBC 704.63 1.16 -97.78
Currencies daily % YTD %
change change
Latest
Brazil real 3.2226 0.38 0.83
Mexico peso 18.61 0.18 11.47
Chile peso 635 -0.22 5.65
Colombia peso 2976.75 -0.13 0.83
Peru sol 3.237 -0.03 5.47
Argentina peso (interbank) 17.38 0.17 -8.66
Argentina peso (parallel) 18.05 0.22 -6.81
(Reporting by Gram Slattery; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)