*

Chile's peso up for third straight session

*

Might be better to slow down rate cuts: Brazil cenbank

director

*

Some Bank of Mexico board members caution against rate cut

cycle

*

Brazil currency sentiment worsens at start of second

quarter:

Reuters poll

*

Latam stocks up 0.6%, FX adds 0.4%

(Updated at 3:40pm ET/1940 GMT)

By Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Lisa Pauline Mattackal

April 4 (Reuters) - Latin American stocks and currencies

broadly rose on Thursday, with the Chilean peso extending its

sharp rally as the U.S. dollar weakened and copper prices hit a

14-month peak.

MSCI's index for Latin American currencies

jumped 0.4%. Regional stocks added 0.6%,

tracking an early rally in global shares after U.S. Federal

Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed on Monday U.S. interest

rates were still on course to be cut this year.

However, comments from other Fed policymakers on Thursday

indicating the outlook for rates is potentially more hawkish,

took some wind out of the market's sails.

The peso gained 1.3% to 941.9 against the dollar, up

for a third straight session.

Boosting the top copper producing nation's currency, prices

of copper touched their highest level since January 2023 on

optimism around demand from top consumer China.

The Chile's peso lags most regional peers this year, but

rose over 2% in the previous session on hopes of less aggressive

rate easing by the Central Bank of Chile.

"We think that the period of CLP weakness - driven by

aggressive rate cuts - is over, and that USD/CLP could get back

down to 880 at year-end," Thierry Wizman, global FX & rates

strategist at Macquarie, wrote.

Brazil's real slipped 0.17% against the

dollar, while the country's benchmark stock index jumped

0.3%.

Brazil's central bank director Paulo Picchetti said that it

might be better for policymakers to slow the pace of rate cuts

so they can go further.

Sentiment towards Brazil's currency has worsened at the

start of the second quarter due to uncertainty over the future

direction of global central bank policies and mounting fiscal

imbalances at home, a Reuters poll of market strategists showed.

Shares of Petrobras were flat on the day, paring

earlier losses after newspaper O Globo reported Brazil ministers

reached a deal for the company to pay extra dividends.

The Colombian peso rose 0.8% against the greenback,

boosted by rising oil prices.

Mexico's peso slipped 0.4% after minutes from the

Bank of Mexico's last policy meeting showed some board members

cautioned against steady interest rate cuts given uncertainty

about inflation.

Mexican broadcaster Televisa lost 1.3% after

announcing Wednesday it reached an agreement to buy out AT&T's ( T )

stake in Sky Mexico.

HIGHLIGHTS

** Poland and Romania's central banks leave main interest

rates unchanged

** Colombian senate committee rejects health reform proposal

** Peru's Congress backs new cabinet after government

announces new funding for mining

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1940 GMT:

Latest Daily %

change

MSCI Emerging Markets 1047.64 0.42

MSCI LatAm 2529.66 0.62

Brazil Bovespa 127690.71 0.29

Mexico IPC 57816.43 0.54

Chile IPSA 6589.11 -0.42

Argentina MerVal 1187238.25 -2.095

Colombia COLCAP 1400.97 1.23

Currencies Latest Daily %

change

Brazil real 5.0478 -0.17

Mexico peso 16.6022 -0.41

Chile peso 941.9 1.34

Colombia peso 3781.28 0.80

Peru sol 3.6751 0.00

Argentina peso 861.5000 0.00

(interbank)

Argentina peso 980 2.55

(parallel)