EMERGING MARKETS-Brazil shares up on Petrobras investment plan
(Updates table) By Bruno Federowski SAO PAULO, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Boosted by expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would not raise interest rates, key Latin American stocks rose on Tuesday, even as Mexico's currency sank to a record low.
Pressured by a tight U.S. presidential race, Mexico's peso reached 19.91 before closing at 19.81 per greenback, a decrease of 0.66 compared to Monday. The IPC stock index rose 1.03 percent.
In Brazil, shares rose on Tuesday after Petrobras slashed its planned investment by 25 percent, pleasing traders concerned with the indebted state-controlled oil company's health.
Petróleo Brasileiro SA is seeking to reduce the largest debt burden among global petroleum firms and revive investor confidence battered by a corruption scandal.
Brasil Plural Corretora analysts said the forecasts are "attractive, but challenging," noting the market has shown "goodwill" toward the company's new management.
Petrobras provided a sizeable boost to Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index, but gains were limited by a sharp drop in shares of Rumo Logística Operadora Multimodal SA and Metalurgica Gerdau SA.
Most other Latin American markets also closed up ahead of policy statements on Wednesday by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan.
Credit Suisse analysts expect Japan's central bank to remain on hold at least until the publication of its next outlook report, in November, while the Fed was expected to again cut forecasts for how high interest rates would need to go in an economy where output, productivity and inflation are growing at a slower pace than in past decades.
Key Latin American stocks and currencies at 2000 GMT: Stock indexes daily % YTD % Latest change change MSCI Emerging Markets 898.87 0.13 13.04 MSCI LatAm 2334.49 0.47 26.98 Brazil Bovespa 57689.45 0.59 33.08 Mexico IPC 46341.33 1.03 7.83 Chile IPSA 4063.01 0.36 10.40 Chile IGPA 20221.68 0.33 11.41 Argentina MerVal 15984.67 -0.03 36.91 Colombia IGBC 9856.51 -1.09 15.32 Venezuela IBC 12246.37 0.78 -16.05 Currencies daily % YTD % change change Latest Brazil real 3.2595 0.00 21.09 Mexico peso 19.8365 -0.76 -13.14 Chile peso 670.8 0.85 5.80 Colombia peso 2914.52 0.05 8.74 Peru sol 3.389 -0.03 0.74 Argentina peso (interbank) 15.1400 0.10 -14.25 Argentina peso (parallel) 15.71 -0.70 -9.17 (Reporting by Bruno Federowski, editing by G Crosse)
