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Latam stocks up 0.6%, FX up 0.3%

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BRICS group discusses shared response to Trump trade

policies

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Mexico's March unemployment rate at 2.6%

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Cemex's jump as Dominican asset sale propels profit

(Updates with afternoon trading levels)

By Pranav Kashyap and Nikhil Sharma

April 28 (Reuters) - Indexes tracking Latin American

assets rose on Monday, with a whiff of caution as investors

awaited further developments on the U.S.-China trade policy

front, while the region braced for a slew of central bank

meetings this week.

Index tracking Latin American currencies

ticked up 0.3%, after it eked out a modest gain for the

previous week on Friday.

Though U.S. President Donald Trump has asserted that trade

talks with China were underway, his claims have been rebuffed

by Beijing. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent failed on Sunday

to back Trump's assertion.

The Mexican peso slipped 0.2% against the U.S.

dollar, hurt by lower oil prices, while its stock index

rose 0.7%.

A Reuters poll showed that Mexico's economy will barely

grow this year owing to the U.S. tariff shock, after inching

closer to a technical recession last quarter.

The country's GDP figures for the first quarter are set to

be released later this week.

"The Mexican economy has avoided a technical recession,

but it is not out of the woods yet," said Andres Abadia, chief

LatAm economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

"The biggest downside that the Mexican economy will

continue to have will be weakening CapEx because some

companies would prefer to move to the sidelines in terms of

investment until we know more about the tariff policy from the

U.S."

In Colombia, the benchmark stock index started

the week by dropping 1.4% after the International Monetary

Fund on Saturday placed conditions on its continued

eligibility for its flexible credit line.

The country's central bank is widely expected to leave its

benchmark interest rate unchanged on Wednesday as it grapples

with global trade uncertainties and weak public finances. The

peso was flat against the dollar.

Chile's central bank's rate decision is also scheduled for

Wednesday. Its local peso fell 0.8%, the worst

performing currency for the day.

In Brazil, the real appreciated by 0.7%, and the

local stock market edged up 0.2%. Finance Minister

Fernando Haddad expressed optimism about the momentum building

for the long-awaited ratification of the Mercosur-European

Union trade agreement.

The BRICS group of developing nations, which counts Brazil

as a member, met on Monday and is expected to produce a joint

statement criticizing "unilateral measures" on trade by the

U.S.

MSCI's gauge for Latin American equities

climbed 0.6%, following its strongest weekly performance in

over two years on Friday.

The stock index has gained 19% this year and the broader

currency index is up 11.8% for 2025 so far.

Relatively lower U.S. import tariffs on South American

countries have partly protected Latin American assets from

extreme selling pressures, unlike their international peers.

Elsewhere, Pakistan bonds,

lost more than 4 cents each as war-like

tensions with its neighbor, India, continued to escalate after

Delhi said it had responded to "unprovoked" small arms firing

from Islamabad.

Among individual stocks, Mexican cement maker Cemex

climbed 4% after its first-quarter net profit

nearly tripled due to the sale of assets in the Dominican

Republic.

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies:

Stock indexes Latest Daily % change

MSCI Emerging Markets 1103.19 0.56

MSCI LatAm 2204.53 0.42

Brazil Bovespa 134914.44 0.13

Mexico IPC 56937.57 0.38

Chile IPSA 7982.54 -0.12

Argentina MerVal 2184157.17 -1.85

Colombia COLCAP 1619.57 -1.35

Currencies Latest Daily % change

Brazil real 5.65 0.59

Mexico peso 19.5902 -0.46

Chile peso 942.48 -0.88

Colombia peso 4217.5 0

Peru sol 3.664 0.11

Argentina peso (interbank) 1,177.0 -0.64

Argentina peso (parallel) 1,185.0 2.07