*

Mexico central bank rate decision due on Thursday

*

Ukraine's GDP warrant tumbles

*

Brazil's foreign direct investment beats estimates in

February

*

Latam stocks down 1.1%, FX off 0.6%

(Updates with late afternoon trade)

By Shashwat Chauhan and Nikhil Sharma

March 26 (Reuters) - Latin American currencies and

stocks broadly fell on Wednesday, as U.S. President Donald Trump

was set to announce new tariffs on imported autos in the latest

development in U.S. tariff policy.

Trump said he

will announce

plans for tariffs on automotive imports later in the day,

the latest escalation in the trade war that has driven market

volatility this year.

Latin American currencies depreciated on the day, led by

the Colombian peso, which slumped 0.8%, while Brazil's

real lost 0.6% after a more than 1% jump in the last

session.

Mexico's peso also depreciated 0.4%, and the main

stock index dipped 0.7%. The country is one of the

biggest suppliers of automotive products to the U.S.

An index of Latin American currencies fell

0.6%, while an index tracking regional equities

was down over 1% and set for its worst day in more than two

weeks.

Leading copper producer Chile saw its currency

lose 0.8%, after reports that U.S. tariffs on the metal could be

coming within weeks.

Focus was also on the Bank of Mexico's interest rate

decision on Thursday, with expectations that the central bank

will cut its benchmark lending rate by 50 basis points.

"In order to get ahead of the economic damage that may come

from tariffs, the central banks are going to have to be very

stimulus-driven," said Juan Perez, director of trading at Monex.

"They have to worry about inflation because price growth

is one of the many results of trade wars."

Latin American currencies have lately benefited from a

weakening dollar as the uncertainty over Trump's tariffs and

other policies has raised concerns about economic slowdown in

the world's biggest economy.

The Latam currency index is up more than 9% on a

year-to-date basis, while the regional stocks index has gained

nearly 14%, outperforming an index of global equities

.

Data showed Brazil's foreign direct investment (FDI) far

exceeded expectations in February, improving the country's

12-month inflows while its current account deficit worsened on

the same metric.

Brazil's Bovespa added 0.4%, boosted by rising

energy stocks.

Elsewhere, Ukraine's

sovereign GDP warrant

slid to its lowest since late December as a U.S.-brokered

truce

between Kyiv and Moscow on energy strikes appeared to

falter.

The warrant lost over 2 cents to trade at 76.91 cents on the

dollar, while Ukraine's other dollar bonds gave back gains from

the previous session.

Among individual stocks, JBS fell 2.7%

despite the world's largest meatpacker

posting earnings

above most analysts' expectations.

HIGHLIGHTS

** Brazil Supreme Court to put Bolsonaro on trial for

alleged coup attempt

** Kenya targets sustainable debt cuts amid IMF programme

uncertainty

** Mercosur eyes trade talks with Japan this year, says

Brazil's Lula

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 2009 GMT

MSCI Emerging Markets 1131.07 0.15

MSCI LatAm 2108.69 -1.07

Brazil Bovespa 132616.26 0.42

Mexico IPC 52821.2 -0.72

Chile IPSA 7593.44 -0.17

Colombia COLCAP 1598.67 -2.22

Brazil real 5.7323 -0.59

Mexico peso 20.1187 -0.36

Chile peso 926.1 -0.76

Colombia peso 4131.5 -0.82

Peru sol 3.6386 -0.25

Argentina peso (interbank) 1071 -0.02

Argentina peso (parallel) 1290 0.39