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Latam stocks down 1.1%, FX down 0.7%

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Chilean markets rally on far-right victory bets

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Peru's economy grows 3.9% year-on-year in September

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Ecuador international bonds fall after government-backed

referendum fails

(Updates with afternoon trading)

By Nikhil Sharma and Sukriti Gupta

Nov 17 (Reuters) - Latin American stocks and currencies

were mixed on Monday, with Chilean markets rallying as Jose

Antonio Kast emerged as the favorite to win next month's runoff

after an inconclusive first round of presidential election

voting.

MSCI's index for Latin American equities

declined 1.1%. An equivalent gauge for regional currencies

lost 0.7%, with a firm U.S. dollar exerting

pressure on currencies elsewhere.

Investors await delayed U.S. economic data this week that

could offer clues on the Federal Reserve's policy path.

Elsewhere, Ecuador's international bonds fell after a

government-backed referendum failed to pass, in a blow to the

right-wing government of Daniel Noboa. The 2040 note

was down 3.2 cents at 67.47 cents on the

dollar.

In Chile, analysts viewed the first-round vote for

presidential election as potentially paving the way for more

market-friendly initiatives.

The country's main stock index climbed 3.1% on

growing expectations for Kast's win in the December 14 runoff

despite lagging slightly behind governing coalition ‌candidate

Jeannette Jara, a communist. The iShares MSCI Chile ETF

jumped 2.2%.

Kast has frequently voiced his pro-growth agenda, pledging

to cut corporate taxes, expand social benefits, and boost

investment to drive economic growth, while also emphasizing a

tough stance on immigration and crime - a central issue for

voters in this election.

Local currency peso rose 0.3% after briefly

surpassing a one-year high. The peso underperformed its peers in

2025 with a mere 7.2% rise year-to-date. In comparison,

currencies of Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia have grown between

9.6% and 14.7% YTD.

"We have had mixed news in Latam," said Andres Abadia,

chief LatAm Economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, adding that

Chile's general election supports the country's markets and

those closely linked to its economic cycle such as Peru.

"In other news, we had the economic activity data in Brazil,

which is basically pointing to a GDP contraction in (the third

quarter)... The sentiment is that we had bad economic data."

Brazil's economic activity fell more than expected in

September, central bank data showed. Brazilian real

slipped 0.7%, while the Bovespa stock index was down

0.7%.

The Mexican peso lost 0.8% on Monday, while

Colombia's peso was flat.

The calendar was packed with key third-quarter GDP releases

for Mexico, Chile, and Colombia later in the week.

On Sunday, data showed Peru's economy expanded 3.94%

year-on-year in September, with the agriculture and construction

sectors posting the highest levels of growth. A slate of

improving growth indications allowed the central bank to hold

its benchmark rate at 4.25% last week.

The sol currency edged up 0.1% and the country's Lima

Stock Exchange lost 2.2%.

MSCI's index for Latin American equities recorded strong

gains the previous week, supported by the end of a historic U.S.

government shutdown and managing to withstand Friday's global

selloff, which was fueled by skepticism over a Federal Reserve

rate cut in December.

Mexico's benchmark S&P/BMV IPC index lost 0.3%, and

Colombia's COLCAP Index jumped about 1%.

In Argentina, local peso jumped 1.3%, while the

benchmark stock index lost 2.2%.

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies:

MSCI Emerging Markets 1386.18 0.04

MSCI LatAm 2651.9 -1.11

Brazil Bovespa 156710.18 -0.65

Mexico IPC 62328.63 -0.32

Chile IPSA 9904.47 3.14

Argentina Merval 2926870.5 -2.203

Colombia COLCAP 2071.23 0.96

Brazil real 5.3335 -0.7

Mexico peso 18.4429 -0.79

Chile peso 922.62 0.26

Colombia peso 3755 0.01

Peru sol 3.36 0.06

Argentina peso (interbank) 1385 1.3

Argentina peso (parallel) 1415 -8.48