Latin American currencies rose in early trading hours on Thursday, amid a weakening dollar in global markets, a day after the United States Federal Reserve left rates unchanged change in interest.
* The dollar fell sharply and risk-sensitive Asia-Pacific currencies led the gains, as investors became more convinced that US interest rates were likely to rise after the Fed left them to stop.
* Fed Chair Jerome Powell left the door open to another hike, but with the rate ceiling at 5.5%, the highest level in 22 years, he said the risks of doing too much or too little are balanced. .
* The US currency fell around 0.4% against a basket of six major currencies that make up the dollar index.
* At the regional level, the markets of the two main economies, Brazil and Mexico, remain closed for the holidays.
* However, the Mexican peso traded at 17.6631 units per dollar, with a gain of 0.55% in offshore operations.
* Gains were led by the Colombian peso, which rose 1.18% to 4,061.25 units per dollar. In the stock market, the MSCI COLCAP benchmark index added 0.66% to 1,095.58 points.
* It was followed by the Chilean peso, which rose 1.11%, to 889.20/889.50 per dollar. Meanwhile, the main index of the Santiago Stock Exchange, the IPSA, rose by a shy 0.09%, to 5,412.44 units.
* The economy of Chile registered no difference in September compared to the same month last year, amid the growth of mining balanced by the fall of services and commerce, among others, the Central Bank reported on Thursday.
* The Monthly Indicator of Economic Activity (Imacec), which represents nearly 90% of the South American country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), increased by 0.6% in seasonally adjusted terms compared to August.
* The Peruvian currency, the sol, appreciated by 0.76% to 3.810/3.811 units per dollar. Meanwhile, the Lima Stock Exchange benchmark fell 0.17% to 565.20 points.
* Consumer prices in Peru fell in October and annual inflation slowed to 4.34%, the lowest level in more than two years, the government said on Wednesday, although the rate was still higher to the government’s target.
* In Argentina, the peso is quoted at 350.05 per dollar under the control of the central bank.
* Meanwhile, the Merval stock index rose by 3.45% to 637,557.97 points, in a speculative context given the proximity of the presidential runoff between the Minister of Economy Sergio Massa and the libertarian Javier Milei, who proposed dollarization of the economy and abolition of the central bank (BCRA). ).
* “The uncertainty is so marked that the markets go from one extreme to another,” said investment analyst Diego MartÃnez Burzaco of the Argentine School of Personal Finance, who suggests not selling shares at this time. “I’m not going to flip a coin. I’m going to wait to see what the economic program is.”
