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EMERGING MARKETS-Brazil real slips on narrow win for outsourcing bill

By Bruno Federowski SAO PAULO, March 23 (Reuters) - The Brazilian real weakened on Thursday after the country's lower house of Congress approved a government-sponsored bill by a narrower margin than expected, raising concerns of fading support for a planned pension reform.

The bill, which allows companies to outsource any job and drew fierce opposition from labor unions, was approved 231-188. President Michel Temer's government says it will create new jobs and help pull Brazil out of a two-year recession.

The real slipped 1.4 percent as traders worried that could force Temer to further dilute plans to revamp the country's costly pension system in order to guarantee approval.

Temer announced on Tuesday that the proposal would only apply to federal employees, without changing pension systems managed by state governments or large cities.

Most other Latin American currencies were flat as investors waited to see whether U.S. President Donald Trump could push through a healthcare bill to replace Obamacare, paving the way for an effort to cut taxes.

Emerging assets have rallied hard this year on the back of Trump's promises to cut taxes and regulations and to revitalize crumbling infrastructure. But they stumbled on Wednesday after the healthcare bill stalled in Congress, raising doubts about his ability to implement his pledges.

Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index seesawed, with shares of power utility Cia Energética de Minas Gerais SA among the biggest gainers.

Traders booked profits on the stock following a three-day slump triggered by concerns that it could lose the operating licenses to several power dams.

Reuters reported on Thursday that Cemig, as the company is known, plans to sell a bigger stake than initially planned in subsidiary Light Energia SA, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plan.

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1540 GMT: Stock indexes daily % YTD % Latest change change MSCI Emerging Markets 968.01 0.11 12.14 MSCI LatAm 2584.43 -0.8 11.3 Brazil Bovespa 63413.15 -0.17 5.29 Mexico IPC 48741.43 0.52 6.79 Chile IPSA 4706.79 0.36 13.38 Chile IGPA 23564.61 0.33 13.65 Argentina MerVal 19767.30 0.51 16.84 Colombia IGBC 10071.13 0.19 -0.56 Venezuela IBC 37377.17 1.05 17.89 Currencies daily % YTD % change change Latest Brazil real 3.1376 -1.35 3.56 Mexico peso 19.0330 -0.09 8.99 Chile peso 663.8 -0.17 1.04 Colombia peso 2918.6 -0.10 2.84 Peru sol 3.243 0.03 5.27 Argentina peso (interbank) 15.6150 0.03 1.67 Argentina peso (parallel) 16.03 0.31 4.93 (Reporting by Bruno Federowski; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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