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EMERGING MARKETS-LatAm equities fall for 3rd session on trade war fears

SAO PAULO, March 15 (Reuters) - Latin American equities slumped for the third straight session on Thursday, as traders said fears of a trade war continued, with Brazil's Bovespa leading losses due in part to disappointing results at state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA.

Earlier in the week, sources told Reuters that U.S. President Donald Trump was seeking to impose tariffs on up to $60 billion of Chinese imports, targeting the technology and telecommunications sectors.

Trade fears did not subside after a White House spokesman said on Wednesday the Trump administration was looking to reduce China's trade surplus with the United States by $100 billion.

On Thursday, Trump said on Twitter the country has a trade deficit with Canada, despite having a surplus., and the United States placed sanctions on a number of Russian entities and individuals for their involvement in meddling with the 2016 U.S. election.

"What is contributing to the caution is insecurity about the U.S. government becoming more and more protectionist," said Cleber Alessie Machado, a trader at brokerage H.Commcor.

Losses were generally mild, and Brazil's Bovespa was the only big loser in the region, trading off 0.84 percent in afternoon trade.

Preferred shares in Petrobras, as Petroleo Brasileiro is known, fell 3.3 percent after the company posted a massive fourth-quarter loss, largely due to the settlement of a class action lawsuit and federal tax refinancing. Overall, shares in Petrobras accounted for about a third of the Bovespa's fall.

Across Latin America, Mexico's benchmark IPC index fell 0.12 percent, Chile's IPSA slipped 0.2 percent, and Argentina's Merval dropped 0.21 percent.

Latin American currencies were also down across the board after Larry Kudlow on Wednesday accepted the position of top economic adviser to Trump.

Kudlow, a longtime supporter of maintaining a strong dollar, reiterated those beliefs in comments on Wednesday and said he had no reason to believe Trump disagreed.

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1652 GMT: Stock indexes daily % YTD % Latest change change MSCI Emerging Markets 1216.38 -0.19 5.2 MSCI LatAm 3061.66 -1.19 9.56 Brazil Bovespa 85327.69 -0.84 11.68 Mexico IPC 48097.50 -0.12 -2.55 Chile IPSA 5607.37 -0.2 0.77 Chile IGPA 28075.47 -0.12 0.34 Argentina MerVal 32756.26 -0.21 8.95 Colombia IGBC 11397.10 0.3 0.23 Venezuela IBC 6622.05 9.28 -79.11 Currencies daily % YTD % change change Latest Brazil real 3.2865 -0.80 0.82 Mexico peso 18.7150 -0.67 5.26 Chile peso 605.45 -0.72 1.52 Colombia peso 2848.46 -0.23 4.69 Peru sol 3.263 -0.31 -0.80 Argentina peso 20.2650 -0.12 -8.22 (interbank) Argentina peso 20.75 0.10 -7.33 (parallel) (Reporting by Gram Slattery; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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