(Adds analyst comment)
By Miguel Gutierrez
MEXICO CITY, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Equities and currencies fell across Latin America on Tuesday after new Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said his personal outlook for the U.S. economy had strengthened since December.
In remarks to the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, newly appointed Powell added that recent data had increased his confidence that U.S. inflation will rise, fueling bets that the Fed could hike interest rates four times this year and sending the dollar higher against most major currencies.Higher U.S. interest rates cap sap demand for riskier assets, such as emerging market currencies and stocks.
In Latin America, all major currencies fell against the dollar, and all major equities market sank along with Wall Street. Mexico, which is currently undergoing a sensitive round of North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiations, led losses.
"The peso could face additional pressures ... especially if there are no advances in the seventh round of NAFTA talks," Banco Base wrote in a report.
Mexico's benchmark IPC equities index fell about 1 percent while the Mexican peso shed about 0.8 percent against the dollar.
Elsewhere in Latin America, Brazil's benchmark Bovespa index and Argentina's Merval fell.
Weak quarterly results in Mexico have also added pressure on stocks.
Among the biggest losers on the IPC was Gentera SAB de CV , which specializes in credit products for low-income consumers, as the company missed fourth-quarter profit estimates due in part to higher-than-expected costs.
Its shares fell 3.5 percent, posting their biggest intraday loss since November.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 2053 GMT:
Stock indexes dailyYTD %
%chang
Latest change
eMSCI Emerging Markets1210.05 -0.9 5.41 MSCI LatAm 3121.92-1.2411.77
Brazil Bovespa 86963.67-0.7913.82
Mexico IPC 47957.37-1.04-2.83
Chile IPSA 5642.04-0.49 1.39
Chile IGPA 28312.64-0.44 1.19
Argentina MerVal 32589.01 -1 8.39
Colombia IGBC 11742.61-0.86 3.27
Venezuela IBC 4478.55-8.82254.5
6
CurrenciesdailyYTD %
%chang
Latestchange
eBrazil real 3.2503-0.09 1.94
Mexico peso 18.8355-0.78 4.58
Chile peso 592.1-0.79 3.81
Colombia peso 2858-0.66 4.34Peru sol 3.252-0.12-0.46
Argentina peso (interbank) 20.2200-0.15-8.01 Argentina peso (parallel)20.23 0.69-4.94 (Additional reporting by Gram Slattery in Sao Paulo Editing by Diane Craft and Alistair Bell)
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