By Carla Mozee
Brazilian and Mexican stocks moved higher Friday afternoon,
aided by advances among resource-related issues in part as a
pullback in the U.S. dollar supported a climb in prices for most
commodities.
Brazil's Bovespa recently rose 0.9% to 64,524, helped by gains
among communications, housing, and utility stocks, with electricity
provider CPFL Energia (CPL) up 1.3%. Market heavyweight Petrobras'
(PBR) preferred shares moved 1.6% higher, their first advance in
seven sessions.
Friday's gains for Petrobras were supported in part by a nearly
3% jump in oil prices as traders looked to a potential storm
forming in the Caribbean.
Mexico's IPC index rose 0.8% to 0.8% to 32,570, led by
construction group Empresas ICA (ICA) and industrial conglomerate
Alfa as their shares each rose more than 3%. The index was on track
to fall about 0.7% for the week.
Metals stocks in Mexico City were all higher Friday, with copper
miner Grupo Mexico up 1.5% and Compania Minera Autlan, which
provides manganese ore for use in the steel industry, up 0.9%.
Silver mining company Industrias Penoles, gained 1.3%. July silver
futures rose 37 cents to $19.11 an ounce and July copper rose 9
cents to $3.09 a pound.
Prices for oil and metals found room to rise as the dollar eased
from gains the euro ahead of meetings of the Group of 20 and Group
of 8 leading industrialized countries in Toronto. Officials are
likely to work on efforts to boost global economic growth.
Brazil and Mexico, the largest- and second-largest economies in
Latin America, are members of the G-20, as is Argentina.
The dollar index (DXY), which gauges the dollar's move against a
basket of six other currencies, fell 0.5%.
Mexican and Brazilian stocks had traded lower earlier in the
session as investors mulled mixed economic data from the U.S.
Mexico's economy is particularly sensitive to conditions in the
U.S. because the U.S. is Mexico's biggest trading partner.
Earlier Friday, the U.S. Commerce Department revised its reading
on first-quarter growth economic activity to a rate of 2.7%, down
from its original estimate of 3.2%. The revision hadn't been
expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch.
At the same time, a reading of consumer sentiment rose to a
2-year high in June, according to a survey by Reuters and the
University of Michigan. The UMich index rose to 76.0 in late June,
up from 73.6 in May and 75.5 in mid-June. June's reading was the
highest reading since January 2008, the month after the recession
began.
In Sao Paulo, the index was on track to post a modest gain for
the week. The Bovespa suffered its worst loss this week on
Thursday, shedding 1.9% after an unexpected rise in the country's
monthly jobless rate to 7.5%. The index has also been under
pressure as investors continued to react to oil giant Petrobras'
decision this week to delay a long-awaited sale of shares, and
estimates of the value of the sale have run as high as $60
billion.
In market moves, Brasil Telecom (BTM) shares rose 1.4% and
wireless services provider Vivo Participacoes (VIV) gained 0.4%.
Brazil's telecom agency said Thursday Vivo remained the cell-market
leader with a 30.25% share of subscriptions. Total cell
subscriptions increased 1.6% in May.
Steelmakers Usiminas and CSN (SID) rose 1.2% and 0.5%,
respectively, and iron ore provider Vale (RIO) gained 1%.
Chile's IPSA rose 1.2% to 2,313. The peso advanced against the
dollar, aided by a rise in copper prices. Chile is the world's
largest copper producer. The IPSA index was in line for a scant
gain for the week. Trading in Santiago will be closed Monday for a
holiday.
Argentina's Merval rise 0.6% on Friday to 2,314, and was on
track for a weekly loss.