Latin American currencies, benefiting from a soft dollar, rose on Wednesday on growing concerns about the escalating trade dispute between China and the United States, while stocks in Brazil gained.
US President Donald Trump confirmed through a tweet on Wednesday that Chinese officials were coming to Washington to work out a deal and possibly end a lengthy trade disagreement between the world's largest economies.
Caution, however, remained as the president warned that if a deal was not finalized, tariffs $200 billion of Chinese goods would rise beginning on Friday.
Brazil's real led gains among currencies.
Data showed inflation in Brazil as measured by the IGP-DI price index rose 0.90 percent in April, compared with a 1.07 percent gain in March.
Chile's peso rose marginally but Mexico's peso slid as oil prices moved lower on US-Chinese trade jitters.
MSCI's index of Latin American stocks rose more than 1 percent, outperforming the overall emerging markets index, which slipped about half a percent.
Sao Paulo-traded stocks rose 1.5 percent after two straight sessions of losses.
Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau was among the top gainers after the company said it expected the Brazilian economy to recover and demand for construction steel in the United States to grow in 2019.
Echoing a similar positive sentiment, Moody's said on Wednesday that stronger fundamentals have helped trim liquidity risk for most Brazilian sectors.
Preferred shares of gun maker Taurus rose 14 percent after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro signed a decree easing access to guns and ammunition.
Vale was among the few weak spots after it reported a slump in its iron ore production for the first quarter, reflecting the impact of the deadly collapse of a tailings dam at Brumadinho in late January.
Mexican stocks dropped 0.3 percent, while Chile's IPSA index fell about half a percent, dragged lower by lithium producer Sociedad Quimica y Minera.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.