imageSAO PAULO/MEXICO CITY: Latin American stocks closed higher on Thursday, with Brazil's Bovespa gaining for the first session in five as bargain-hunters picked up shares of commodities producers OGX and Vale to take advantage of recent losses.

Mexico's IPC index rose 0.91 percent, while Chile's bourse snapped a three-day decline. Traders said a market holiday in the United States kept volumes low.

* Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index rebounded from a four-day, more than 5 percent slide, rising 1.6 percent to 45,763.16 points. Mining firm Vale led gains, with its share price climbing 3.73 percent.

* Shares of OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes SA, the oil company controlled by Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista, jumped more than 20 percent after reporting an increase in oil output in June from May.

* The shares had fallen 58 percent over the previous five sessions after the company said it was pulling out of some offshore oil blocks.

* Shares of power generator MPX Energia SA, also part of Batista's Grupo EBX conglomerate, jumped more than 10 percent after the company said Batista was stepping down as chairman and it would sell 800 million reais of stock rather than hold a planned share offering.

* Mexican media giant Grupo Televisa led gains in the IPC with a 2.26 percent rise. The IPC index closed at 41,200.40 points.

* Trading volumes in Mexico and across the region were low due to the US Independence Day holiday.

* Despite the thin volume, Luis Rodriguez, head of analysis at brokerage firm Finamex, attributed the IPC's gains to signals the European central bank would continue its monetary stimulus measures.

* Chile's IPSA index rose for the first session in four, adding 0.48 percent as shares of lender Banco Santander Chile rose 2.05 percent, driving the index north.

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