*

Investors weigh signs of Sino-US trade tensions

de-escalating

*

Commodity exporters gain on higher base metal, crude

prices

*

Hamas begins releasing Israeli hostages, Egypt summit eyed

*

Peru's new leader readies cabinet to quell anger as

elections

loom

By Niket Nishant

Oct 13 (Reuters) - Currencies and stocks of

resources-rich Latin American economies rose on Monday,

recovering from sharp declines sustained last week and as

commodity prices gained, even though some caution prevailed as

investors were on the look out for any signs of trade friction

between the U.S. and China.

MSCI's gauge for Latin American currencies

gained 1%, while a parallel index tracking regional currencies

marginally higher against the dollar.

Investor sentiment showed signs of stabilizing after the

indexes logged their biggest weekly declines since early July

following U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to ramp up

tariffs on imports from China on Friday.

However, Trump eased his tone over the weekend and Treasury

Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that the U.S. president

was set to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea in late

October and said "the 100% tariffs on China does not have to

happen."

A flare-up could further complicate the outlook for

investors who have been recovering from market ructions when

Trump imposed tariffs on world economies in April.

"You know that every once in a while he (President Trump) is

going to throw a monkey wrench into things. We pretty much have

the playbook for this from earlier in the year," said Matthew

Tuttle, CEO of Tuttle Capital Management.

The Brazilian real firmed 1.3% against the dollar,

tracking higher iron ore prices - a top export item from the

country, while oil exporter Mexico's peso appreciated

0.8% as oil prices gained.

Equities were also supported by strength in commodities and

a recovery in oil prices.

Crude exporters in the region including Brazil's Petrobras

and Argentina's YPF gained 0.8% and 2.9%,

respectively. Miners such as Brazil's Vale and Grupo

Mexico gained 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively, while

Chile's SQM climbed 0.4%.

Argentina's local stock index was flat while the

peso jumped 5%, ahead of the upcoming meeting between

President Javier Milei and Trump at the White House, which some

analysts believe will be crucial to underpinning market

confidence.

In Peru, the sol inched up 0.3% in light trading and

the Lima Stock Exchange gained 1.6% as

investors digested political turmoil following President Dina

Boluarte's removal. Lawmakers swore in Congress Speaker Jose

Jeri as the new president on Friday, shortly after unanimously

voting to oust Boluarte.

Mexican stocks IPC index and Brazil's Bovespa

added 0.9% each.

With U.S. data still on hold due to the government shutdown,

investors are turning to external cues to guide near-term

positioning.

This week, attention will turn to central bankers at the

International Monetary Fund meetings and to developments in

international politics, including signs of easing tensions in

the Middle East, where Hamas released the last surviving Israeli

hostages on Monday under a ceasefire agreement.

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies:

Latin American market prices

from Reuters

Equities Latest Daily %

change

MSCI Emerging Markets 1353.24 -0.91

MSCI LatAm 2448.01 1.09

Brazil Bovespa 142010.04 0.95

Mexico IPC 61158 0.97

Chile IPSA 8752.17 0.88

Argentina Merval 1925082.7 0.008

Colombia COLCAP 1869.78 -1.03

Currencies Latest Daily %

change

Brazil real 5.4496 1.31

Mexico peso 18.423 0.83

Chile peso 957.54 0.14

Colombia peso 3921.53 0.05

Peru sol 3.421 0.37

Argentina peso (interbank) 1345 5.61

Argentina peso (parallel) 1405 4.75