Latam markets rise as commodities track oil higher

15 May, 2017

Oil jumped more than 2 percent to the highest in more than three weeks after officials from Saudi Arabia and Russia said supply cuts need to last into 2018.

Currencies of oil exporters in the region, Mexico and Colombia, were the biggest gainers. Other currencies in the region also strengthened, tracking increases in prices of raw materials including iron ore, copper and aluminum.

Demand for high-yielding emerging market currencies has picked up following mixed US economic data on Friday, which cooled expectations of a rapid pace of Federal Reserve interest rate increases in the coming months.

"The setback clouds the near-term outlook," analysts at Brown Brothers Harriman wrote in a note to clients.

MSCI's 23-country emerging market stock index touched its highest since May 2015, on track for a sixth straight session of gains for the first time since August.

Shares of state-controlled oil company Petr?leo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, added the most to Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index. Miners and steelmakers, such as Usinas Sider?rgicas de Minas Gerais SA and Gerdau SA, ranked among the biggest gainers.

A drop in shares of food processor BRF SA, however, curbed the market's advance as traders booked profits on the stock after it closed near a three-month high.

BRF reported a net loss last quarter, but some analysts said the figures may have bottomed out as domestic performance surpassed analysts' expectations.

 

Copyright Reuters, 2017
 

 

 

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