BRASILIA: Latin American assets were subdued on Friday as prospects of an end to the protracted US-Iran impasse remained shrouded in uncertainty, while Turkish assets rebounded afterlast day’s market rout amid political jitters.
MSCI’s gauge tracking LatAm stocks was off 0.7 percent, while the currencies’ equivalent was flat. Iran’s foreign ministry said that differences with Washington over Tehran’s uranium stockpile and controls were not being discussed at this time, hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that there was some progress towards a deal with Iran but more work was required.
The countries are at loggerheads over the future of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program. The see-sawing diplomatic tensions kept crude markets volatile, with Brent last up 0.8 percent at USD103 a barrel.