*

Fitch unlikely to raise Brazil's credit rating soon

-director

*

Mexico's top court accepts constitutional challenge to

judicial

overhaul

*

Latam FX up 0.8%, stocks up 1.6%

(Updated at 3:36 p.m. EDT/1936 GMT)

By Ankika Biswas and Shashwat Chauhan

Oct 4 (Reuters) - Most Latin American currencies

appreciated on Friday, as risk assets globally advanced after a

U.S. jobs report allayed growth concerns in the world's biggest

economy, though they were headed for weekly losses as escalating

conflicts in the Middle East kept investors on edge.

U.S. job gains increased by the most in six months in

September and the unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, suggesting a

resilient economy that likely does not need the Federal Reserve

to deliver large interest rate cuts for the rest of this year.

"The September jobs report was unambiguously strong with all

key metrics coming in favorably and pointing toward a soft

landing," Jeffrey Schulze, head of economic and market strategy

at ClearBridge Investments, said.

Both Colombia's peso and Brazil's real added

0.4%, though they were set for weekly losses.

Fitch is unlikely to upgrade Brazil's credit rating in the

near term, despite the country's better-than-expected economic

growth, because of doubts it will be able to significantly

improve public finances, a director in Fitch's sovereign ratings

group said.

Brazil's government published an executive order that

effectively rolls out a minimum 15% tax on the profits of

multinational corporations. This comes as it seeks new revenue

sources to meet targets including reducing the fiscal deficit to

zero, while being loath to adopt broad spending cuts.

Mexico's peso appreciated 0.4%, the only major

currency in the region headed for weekly gains.

Mexico's Supreme Court agreed to consider a constitutional

challenge to a controversial judicial overhaul that will move

the country over the next few years to a system of popularly

elected judges.

Despite Friday's gains, most currencies were set for weekly

losses as investors shied away from risky assets on the back of

escalating tensions in the Middle East.

The MSCI Latam currencies index crept up

0.8%, set to extend gains for a fifth straight week, as China's

recent set of stimulus measures boosted sentiment toward

emerging market stocks and currencies.

MSCI's index for Latin American stocks

gained 1.6%, in line with a global rise of risky assets such as

equities.

Elsewhere in emerging markets, Sri Lanka's $12.5 billion

bondholder debt rework received support from bilateral creditors

and the International Monetary Fund, a huge boost to the

nation's fragile economy.

Sri Lanka's biggest price jump occurred in its short-dated

dollar-denominated bonds maturing in 2029, up

2.9 cents on the dollar to be bid at 58.43 cents, Tradeweb data

showed.

IMF staff and officials in Ghana reached an agreement on

their third review of the West African country's $3 billion IMF

loan program.

In Europe, Romania held its benchmark interest rate at

6.50%, after two consecutive cuts.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** South Africa sells 1 billion rand of inflation-linked

bonds at auction

** Polish rate-setters point to energy prices as reason for

CPI rise, minutes show

** Goldman sees later Turkey rate cut, higher year-end

inflation

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies:

Equities Latest Daily %

change

MSCI Emerging Markets 1175.51 0.21

MSCI LatAm 2246.08 1.61

Brazil Bovespa 131823.85 0.12

Mexico IPC 52576.96 1.75

Chile IPSA 6480.93 1.43

Argentina Merval 1754558.6 -0.025

2

Colombia COLCAP 1304.25 0.08

Currencies Latest Daily %

change

Brazil real 5.4552 0.38

Mexico peso 19.2575 0.43

Chile peso 924.04 -0.44

Colombia peso 4167.09 0.37

Peru sol 3.7197 0.00

Argentina peso (interbank) 971 0.10

Argentina peso (parallel) 1175 2.55