By Carla Mozee
Latin American equities rose Tuesday as investors took their cue
from Wall Street, where a batch of positive corporate earnings
reports helped stocks and oil prices climb.
Mexico's IPC index rose 1.1% to 33,813.16 with shares of
consumer discretionary companies, miners, finance firms and home
builders pushing the index to its first win after two losing
sessions.
Brewer Grupo Modelo (GPMCY) was the best price performer of the
day, up 3.2% after shareholders approved a dividend payment
totaling 6.65 billion pesos. Silver miner Industrias Penoles rose
2%.
The Bovespa index in Brazil rose 0.3% to 69,318.44, its first
advance in four sessions. The index got a lift from a 2.2% rise in
shares of market heavyweight and oil giant Petrobras (PBR) as
crude-oil futures rose after two sessions of sharp losses. Crude
for June delivery, the most active contract, rose 0.9% to $83.85 a
barrel.
Housing and consumer discretionary stocks also advanced, but
overall gains were limited as steel stocks traded in the red. Vale
(RIO) lost 1.6% and Gerdau (GGB) fell 0.6%.
Utilities closed mostly lower. A judge in Brazil suspended a
government tender auction aimed at selling rights to build the Belo
Monte hydroelectric dam, according to a report by Dow Jones
Newswires.
The Mexican and Brazilian markets found higher footing after
better-than-expected results were issued from the U.S. financial
and consumer discretionary groups, including U.S. Bancorp (USB) and
high-end retailer Coach Inc. (COH) Better corporate earnings in the
U.S. bode well for Latin American securities as investors place
bets that the world's largest economy will continue to recover from
recession.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS) said first-quarter profit
doubled from the year-ago period, but its shares remained under
pressure stemming from last week's fraud charges leveled against it
by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Oil prices also were buoyed by earnings reports ahead of weekly
inventories data, and the moves spurred a rally among energy
stocks, where sector gains led a 0.8% advance in the widely watched
S&P 500 Index. (SPX)
Argentina's Merval rose 0.4% to 2,454.19, with locally traded
shares of Petrobras up 1.9%, and Tenaris (TS), a maker of steel
tubes used in the oil industry, higher by 0.9%.
Chile's IPSA index rose 0.8% to 3,832.25.
In other regional developments, Brazil's census bureau said
consumer prices through mid-April rose 0.48%, in line with market
estimates. Prices through mid-March rose 0.55%.
Rises in inflationary pressures and expectations have led market
players to expect that Brazil's central bank will raise its key
interest rate from 8.75% when it meets for two days starting April
27.