Brazil real up on hawkish Copom minutes, EM peers hit by strong dollar

A firm dollar kept most emerging market currencies under pressure on Tuesday, although Brazil's real stabilized after the central bank minutes showed officials discussing more interest rate hikes.

Currencies of oil exporting countries, including Russia's rouble and Mexico's and Colombia's pesos, also took a hit from a 6% drop in crude prices.

Investors globally pulled away from riskier emerging market assets, stocks and commodities after tit-for-tat sanctions between China and the West, as well as new coronavirus lockdowns in Europe that raised fears of a slow economic recovery.

Brazil's real, however, found support after minutes of the central bank's March 16-17 meeting showed policymakers were ready to raise rates by another 75 basis points in May to bring inflation back to target this year and keep 2022 expectations from taking off.

"In our assessment, the minutes are more hawkish than the post-meeting communique, particularly with regard to the constructive view on activity and decline of slack in the economy ...," Alberto Ramos, head of Latin American research at Goldman Sachs, said in a client note.

The minutes also suggested that policymakers' No. 1 concern is inflation, which they insisted is still being driven by "temporary" factors but is also being pushed higher by a faster-than-expected decline in economic slack.

The currency hovered close to a record low before the central bank's rate-setting committee, known as Copom, hiked the Selic rate last week by a bigger-than-expected 75 basis points to head off rising inflation.

A survey by asset manager Russell Investments published on Tuesday showed a preference among money managers for the real as the most attractive emerging market currency in the next 12 months.

Stocks in Sao Paulo, however, fell as airline shares came under pressure again. Shares in Azul SA and Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA fell 5% and 3% respectively.

Latin American equities tracked cautious Wall Street sentiment after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told US lawmakers that a coming round of post-pandemic price hikes will not fuel a destructive breakout of persistent inflation - fears that had driven a recent spike in yields.