EMERGING MARKETS-Latam currencies eye weekly gains but stocks set to fall
By Agamoni Ghosh Oct 4 (Reuters) - Latin American currencies rose on Friday, on track to record their biggest weekly gains in almost a month as doubts over the health of the U.S. economy kept the dollar on the back foot, while Brazil stocks eyed their worst weekly performance since August. Recent sets of disappointing data from major economies through the week indicated that the manufacturing sector globally is in a synchronized slowdown, partly caused by the U.S.-China trade war, making investors weary of riskier bets. That worsened after dire readings of both the manufacturing and services sector in the world's largest economy raised red flags about the United States being a silver lining amid a global downturn, even though labour market numbers were stable. Money markets still expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to ease monetary policy further, although expectations for two rate cuts by the end of the year somewhat waned after the modest jobs data. "The odds of a cut may have gone down but they are still quite high," said Win Thin, global head of emerging market currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman. "We have some more data points to look at next week including inflation numbers which should give a much clearer picture on what the Fed is likely to do." Most currencies in the region eyed weekly gains led by Brazil's real, on course to gain over 2% for the week, with additional impetus coming from optimism regarding the final stages of approval for a landmark pension reform bill. MSCI's index of Latin American stocks rose marginally on those rate cut bets but was set to record a weekly loss of over 1% with Brazil's Bovespa on track to shed over 3% for the week. Mexican stocks rose marginally but were set to end lower for a second straight-week, while Chile's SPIPSA index was set to snap a five-week gaining streak. Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 14:14 GMT Stock indexes daily % change Latest MSCI Emerging Markets 994.94 0.27 MSCI LatAm 2655.27 0.83 Brazil Bovespa 101471.94 -0.04 Mexico IPC 42541.83 0.23 Chile IPSA 5029.90 0.58 Argentina MerVal 0.00 0 Colombia IGBC 12891.52 -0.11 Currencies daily % change Latest Brazil real 4.0666 0.54 Mexico peso 19.5403 0.54 Chile peso 715.7 0.06 Colombia peso 3428.78 0.44 Peru sol 3.3708 0.07 Argentina peso 57.7000 0.12 (interbank) (Reporting by Agamoni Ghosh Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
