(Updated at 10:40 a.m. ET/ 1440 GMT)

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Colombia CPI awaited

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Mexico's Gruma down after antitrust watchdog ruling

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Latam FX down 0.3%, stocks up 0.1%

By Shashwat Chauhan

Oct 7 (Reuters) - Most Latin American currencies slipped

against the dollar on Monday, as it held firm on bets the U.S.

Federal Reserve will not opt for a bigger interest rate cut this

year.

The dollar index, which measures the currency against

a basket of major global peers, hovered near a seven-week high

after its best weekly performance since 2022 last week.

Mauro Roca, managing director of emerging markets at TCW

said the Fed and the dollar will be the main drivers for EM

currencies in the near term.

"The market continued to test this hypothesis of the soft

landing because the other drivers that we have in EM are of

second nature."

Data last week showed U.S. job gains increased by the most

in six months in September and the unemployment rate fell to

4.1%, pointing to a resilient economy that likely does not need

the Fed to deliver large interest rate cuts for the rest of this

year.

The chance of smaller cuts by the Fed in the future buoyed

the U.S. dollar, while most EM currencies came under pressure.

The MSCI's index for Latin American currencies

slipped 0.3%, with Mexico's peso leading

losses, down 0.3%

Laws that will implement a judicial overhaul enacted in

Mexico last month should be presented in Congress in the coming

days, lower house leader Ricardo Monreal said over the weekend.

Colombia's peso weakened 0.8% against the U.S.

dollar, ahead of the release of September consumer prices data

later in the day, while Chile's peso slipped 0.2%.

Brazil's real was flat at 5.4572 per dollar in choppy

trading, while local equities were up 0.8%, supported by

rising commodity-linked stocks.

Inflation in Brazil as measured by the IGP-DI price index

rose 1.03% in September, compared to a 0.12% in August.

The MSCI's index for Latin American stocks

was up 0.1%, as most local bourses rose.

Mexico's Gruma slipped more than 4% after

Mexico's antitrust watchdog said that the corn flour and

tortilla-maker can fix prices in the market.

Geopolitics remained in focus after Hezbollah fired rockets

at Israel's third largest city Haifa, as Israeli forces looked

poised to expand ground incursions into southern Lebanon on the

first anniversary of the Gaza war.

Elsewhere in emerging markets, Uganda's central bank trimmed

its key lending rate by 25 basis points for the second time in a

row, lowering it to 9.75%, saying that inflation was expected to

remain below its target in the near term.

HIGHLIGHTS

** Argentina analysts largely hold monthly, yearly inflation

estimates steady in cenbank poll

** India asks banks to stop making large bets against rupee,

sources say

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies:

Equities Latest Daily % change

MSCI Emerging Markets 1184.29 0.42

MSCI LatAm 2251.97 0.13

Brazil Bovespa 132795.16 0.76

Mexico IPC 52978.42 0.7

Chile IPSA 6506.89 0.4

Argentina Merval 1738474.2 -1.027

2

Colombia COLCAP 1307.2 0.26

Currencies Latest Daily % change

Brazil real 5.4572 -0.03

Mexico peso 19.32 -0.33

Chile peso 925.9 -0.2

Colombia peso 4193.21 -0.81

Peru sol 3.7198 0.00

Argentina peso 974.5 -0.31

(interbank)

Argentina peso (parallel) 1175 1.70