Latam stocks post weekly gain, eurozone weighs

Latin American stocks logged gains the first week of the year, though persistent fears about the eurozone's debt crisis pushed the index down on Friday. The MSCI Latin American stock index lost 0.64 percent but advanced 2.29 percent for the week. Deepening worries about Europe overshadowed signals of a continued economic recovery in the United States, where the jobless rate neared a three-year low in December.
"We have these two giants, on one hand the economic data comes out consistently good," said Rafael Camarena, economist with Santander in Mexico City. "On the other hand, we see continued nervousness over the crisis in Europe." On Friday Europe's woes won out. Shares fell as retail sales and consumer sentiment in the eurozone dropped in December, according to the European Commission and official statistics agency Eurostat.
Investors are eyeing talks between the German chancellor and French president on Monday that will likely center on new rules to enforce budget discipline across the European Union. Spain and Italy - seen as most at risk from the eurozone debt crisis - are also set to issue bonds in what are sure to be closely watched auctions next week.
European leaders have so far failed to convince markets they can rein in the debt crisis. The region's troubles have led to a sell-off of riskier Latin American and other emerging market assets in favour of safe havens such as gold and the US dollar. Mexico's IPC index fell 0.58 percent, bringing its loss for the week to 0.73 percent.
Retailer Wal-Mart Mexico slipped 1.68 percent, and bottler Femsa declined 1.52 percent. Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index inched up 0.09 percent and clocked its biggest weekly gain in a month. "The Brazilian market has been an underperformer for the past two years. In general equities in Brazil look attractively valued relative to other markets," said Urban Larson, who manages $2 billion in equities for London-based F&C Investments.
He said financial and commodities companies are among sectors that could have shares rising this year. Shares of Hypermarcas, Brazil's largest maker of disposable consumer goods, gained 9.04 percent, its biggest jump in seven months after a local newspaper said banking powerhouse BTG Pactual is in talks to buy a controlling stake in the company.
Construction firm Brookfield Incorporacoes gained 1.83 percent after it posted better-than-projected operational results in the fourth quarter. Chile's IPSA index rose 0.31 percent for a 0.57 percent weekly gain. Chile's largest brewer, CCU, jumped 2.41 percent and the country's No 2 bank, Banco de Chile added 0.79 percent.