EMERGING MARKETS-Most Latam currencies edge lower amid trade worries

(Updates prices) By Susan Mathew Sept 30 (Reuters) - Most Latin American currencies edged lower as the dollar found favor amid uncertainty arising from the U.S.-China trade war and as the euro fell following weak growth data from Germany. Reports last week that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration was considering delisting Chinese companies from U.S. stock markets frayed investor nerves, even though they were dismissed as wrong by Treasury officials. Mexico's peso fell 0.1% and Colombia's currency declined 0.6% with lower oil prices further pressuring the crude exporters. Chile's peso also slid 0.4% as prices of its main export, copper, fell. On the month, the Mexican peso gained about 1.7%, while the latter two gave up more than 1% each. Analysts point to further pain. "A range of October risks such as trade talks, tight USD liquidity, relative monetary policy/growth differentials and EM supply cause us to switch back to a bearish EMFX stance," said Morgan Stanley analysts in a note. Brazil's real fell marginally over the month but was up 0.2% on Monday despite data showing national debt rose to record high 79.8% of GDP in August, and central bank survey that showed interest rate and exchange rate expectations for this year have hit new lows. On Tuesday, the Brazilian Senate's Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee is to vote on amendments to the government's landmark pension reform bill after postponing it last week. "We expect minor changes to the current text," wrote Rabobank Brazil strategists Mauricio Oreng and Gabriel Santos. The total expected federal savings for the next 10 years would be kept at 870 million reais, they said. They expect Brazil's economy to be in a group of the more resilient among emerging markets given its sound balance of payments, muted inflation pressures and further advances in budget reforms. Capping a volatile quarter for financial markets marked by heightened trade tensions, political turmoil in Britain and Hong Kong and a crash in Argentina's markets, an index of Latin American currencies edged marginally lower on the day, and marked its worst three months since June 2018. The Argentine peso, among the worst performers this quarter, shed nearly a third of its value after President Mauricio Macri's poor showing in the presidential primaries in August. General elections in October will be a source of further pressure for the currency. The Brazilian real and the Colombian peso followed with about 7% declines each on the quarter, while Mexico's peso lost about 2.5% with the pending ratification of its trade agreement with the United States and Canada being a possible source of volatility. Among stocks, those in Mexico and Argentina rose on Monday tracking gains on Wall Street, while most other Latam shares fell. Brazil stocks posted their sixth straight quarter of gains, while Mexican shares edged 0.1% lower in the third quarter. Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1921 GMT: Stock indexes Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging Markets 1001.38 -0.01 MSCI LatAm 2677.63 -0.32 Brazil Bovespa 104905.36 -0.16 Mexico IPC 43111.98 0.59 Chile IPSA 5058.74 -0.8 Argentina MerVal 28868.73 -0.03 Colombia IGBC 12847.95 -0.34 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 4.1498 0.13 Mexico peso 19.7364 -0.25 Chile peso 728.8 -0.40 Colombia peso 3476.75 -0.58 Peru sol 3.369 0.36 Argentina peso 57.5900 -0.45 (interbank) (Reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; editing by Grant McCool)