*

Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Otarola resigns

*

Egypt signs expanded $8 billion loan deal with IMF

*

FX up 0.2%, stocks add 0.9%

By Shashwat Chauhan

March 6 (Reuters) - Most Latin American currencies

appreciated against the dollar on Wednesday, as the greenback

lost steam following remakes from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome

Powell, while advancing commodity prices helped local stock

markets.

At 10:03 a.m. ET (1503 GMT), MSCI's index for Latin American

currencies advanced 0.2%, on track for its

fourth straight daily gain.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback

against a basket of global peers, was down 0.3% as investors

took stock of Powell's latest remarks.

In remarks prepared for delivery to the House Financial

Services Committee, the Fed Chair said that continued progress

on inflation "is not assured," though the central bank still

expects to reduce its benchmark interest rate later this year.

"Chair Powell stuck closely to the standard Fed script in

his written Monetary Policy Testimony, breaking no new ground,"

said Ian Shepherdson, chairman and chief economist at Pantheon

Macroeconomics.

"His key points are just a repeat of the January FOMC

statement and subsequent remarks by Mr. Powell and other FOMC

members."

Leading gains among local peers was the Mexican peso,

up 0.5% against the dollar, touching seven-week highs.

An advance in crude oil prices also helped exporter Mexico's

currency, while fellow exporter Colombia's peso also

gained 0.2%.

Currency of Latin America's largest economy, the Brazilian

real was up 0.4%, touching one-week highs.

Separately, official data showed Brazil's industrial

production posted in January its worst monthly performance in

nearly three years, dipping slightly more than markets expected

and reversing some gains seen in late 2023.

A weaker dollar gave a leg up to copper prices, which lifted

top producer of the red metal Chile's peso up 0.2%, its

first advance in three sessions.

Peru's sol was flat at 3.7289 after rising close to

1% in the previous session.

Overnight, Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Otarola said he

had tendered his resignation after an audio recording came out

over the weekend purporting to be of the official attempting to

improperly influence government contracts.

A gauge of EM stocks gained 0.9%, with

heavyweight Brazil's main stock index up 0.7%.

Argentinian shares were up 1.5%, and Mexico's main

index gained 0.3%.

Amongst headlining stocks, Brazilian oil company

Petroreconcavo fell 5.6% after reporting fourth

quarter results.

Elsewhere, Egypt's prime minister said the International

Monetary Fund (IMF) will increase its current loan program with

Egypt by $5 billion.

HIGHLIGHTS

** EM forex to struggle while Fed stays cautious on rate

cuts, as per a Reuters poll

** Polish central bank keeps rates on hold amid inflation

uncertainty

** US private payrolls gains slightly below expectations in

February

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at:

Latest Daily % change

MSCI Emerging Markets 1029.20 0.73

MSCI LatAm 2538.21 0.9

Brazil Bovespa 128926.83 0.65

Mexico IPC 55643.26 0.3

Chile IPSA 6333.35 1.19

Argentina MerVal 1007392.47 1.482

Colombia COLCAP 1314.51 1.05

Currencies Latest Daily % change

Brazil real 4.9380 0.34

Mexico peso 16.8580 0.50

Chile peso 979.2 0.13

Colombia peso 3931.42 0.22

Peru sol 3.7298 0.06

Argentina peso 845.5000 0.00

(interbank)