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Argentina seeks IMF waiver for missing FX reserve targets

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Brazil posts narrower current account deficit in May

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Mexico monetary policy statement awaited

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MSCI FX down 0.5%, stocks off 0.9%

(Updates with mid-session prices)

By Ragini Mathur, Purvi Agarwal and Pranav Kashyap

June 25 (Reuters) -

Latin American currencies held steady or edged higher on

Wednesday, while regional stocks seesawed as global markets

weighed the fragile calm brought by a ceasefire between

Iran

and Israel.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed the rapid

de-escalation in the Middle East, voicing optimism that warming

U.S.-Iran ties would keep Tehran's nuclear ambitions in check.

On the day, assets in the Middle East were mixed. Israeli

stocks closed 1.7% higher, around a record high hit on

Tuesday. The shekel held steady, just shy from a more

than two-year high it hit in the previous session.

Israel's international bonds were up a little, extending

previous days' gains, while five-year credit default swaps

slipped. Egypt's longer-dated maturities were up close to 1 cent

and Jordan's over half a cent, Tradeweb data showed.

The 12-day flare-up had rattled global markets, most

notably in the Middle East, stoking fears of a broader regional

conflict and potential shocks to oil supply.

"It was interesting to me that Latam rose so much after the

ceasefire because we didn't seem to have a big drop down when

the conflict became increasingly likely," said Charles Sunnucks,

portfolio manager for EM strategy at Oldfield Partners,

highlighting that countries such as Mexico and Brazil would

benefit from higher commodity prices.

"Today kind of seems like a step back (from the

rally)."

In Latin America, Mexico's peso climbed 0.3%

ahead of a central bank report.

Policymakers at Banxico, set to decide on interest rates

Thursday, face a delicate balancing act as inflation sprints

past their 3% target.

Underneath the headline numbers, Mexico narrowly

sidestepped a technical recession in the first quarter, but now

grapples with tepid domestic demand and lingering uncertainty

over U.S. trade policy.

BIGGEST DECLINER

By contrast, Brazil's real emerged as the region's

laggard, slipping 0.8%. While Brazil's current account deficit

came in smaller than anticipated for May, it still widened from

the previous year, weighed down by a shrinking trade surplus.

Still, MSCI's index for regional currencies

dipped 0.5%, while the regional stock gauge

dipped 0.9%. Both indexes were set for its steepest single day

fall since late May.

Equities in the region were mixed, with heavyweight

Brazilian ones down 0.9%. Bourses in Mexico held

steady, while Chile's slipped 0.3%.

Meanwhile, Argentina, the International Monetary Fund's

largest debtor, is seeking a waiver for missing foreign reserve

targets tied to its fresh $20 billion agreement with the IMF,

inked in early April along with a pledge to relax capital

controls.

The country's stock index lost 1.8%.

Testing the waters further, Argentina's Cordoba province

is poised to

launch

its first U.S. dollar-denominated bond in eight years,

according to financial news service IFR.

All eyes now turn to the U.S., where a barrage of

economic data due this week will help investors gauge the

fallout from Trump's tariffs, which have kept markets on edge in

recent months.

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies:

MSCI Emerging Markets 1222.03 0.84

MSCI LatAm 2271.53 -0.87

Brazil Bovespa 135872.96 -0.94

Mexico IPC 56775.42 0.06

Argentina Merval 2027733.4 -1.785

5

Chile IPSA 8120.98 -0.33

Colombia COLCAP 1669.19 -0.15

Brazil real 5.557 -0.84

Mexico peso 18.9174 0.35

Chile peso 936.74 -0.08

Colombia peso 4051.5 0.43

Peru sol 3.571 0.2

Argentina peso (interbank) 1188.5 -1.14

Argentina peso (parallel) 1190 2.10