(Updated at 1450 GMT)

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Brazilian government debt as share of GDP rises in March

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Petrobras up as diesel loaded in India after delay

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Ecopetrol shares up on offshore wind auction speculation

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Stocks up 0.7%, FX adds 0.3%

By Shubham Batra

May 6 (Reuters) - Latin American stocks and currencies

extended gains on Monday as the dollar slid on revived hopes of

U.S. interest rate cuts this year, while the Chilean peso

outperformed its regional peers.

MSCI's Latin American stocks index rose

0.7%, hitting more than a three-week high, while the currencies

index was up 0.3%.

Trading volumes are likely to be thin as London is closed on

account of a bank holiday.

The dollar weakened as traders priced in close to two

U.S. interest rate cuts this year in the wake of data on Friday

that showed U.S. job growth slowed more than expected in April

and annual wage gains cooled.

"Last week's combination of softer data and a dovish Fed

should weigh on the dollar near-term," Win Thin, the global head

of markets strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman, said in a note.

Chile's peso surged more than 1.1% against a softer

dollar.

The Brazilian real rose 0.1% against the

greenback. Government debt as a share of gross domestic product

in Brazil, the largest economy in Latin America, rose to 75.7%

in March from 75.5% a month earlier, due to interest charges.

Mexico's peso advanced 0.5% against the dollar as oil

futures climbed after Saudi Arabia hiked June crude prices for

most regions and as the prospect of a Gaza ceasefire deal

appeared slim, renewing fears the Israel-Hamas conflict could

still widen in the key oil-producing region.

The technical team of Colombia's central bank slightly

raised its inflation forecast for this year to 5.5% from 5.4%.

The Colombian peso was trading 0.4% higher.

Among regional stock gauges, Argentina's Merval index

led gains, surging 2.7%, while Brazil's Bovespa

edged up 0.4%.

Shares of Petrobras were up 0.9% after the

Brazilian energy major loaded diesel from India on a Suezmax

crude oil tanker after a month-long delay, the first such

shipment from India in more than a year, amid volatile freight

rates for clean product tankers.

Shares of Ecopetrol advanced 0.7% after Reuters

reported that Colombia's majority state-owned energy company is

analyzing its potential direct participation in the Andean

country's first-ever offshore wind auction.

Activity in emerging market bond supply took a breather last

month with only $6.3 billion of new issuance, which followed

$85.4 billion of cumulative issuance in the prior three months,

JP Morgan's Nishant Poojary said in a note.

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1450 GMT:

Stock indexes Latest Daily YTD %

% change

change

MSCI Emerging 1068.13 0.63 3.59

Markets

MSCI LatAm 2505.86 0.68 -6.53

Brazil Bovespa 129065.9 0.43 -3.82

0

Mexico IPC 57500.85 0.64 0.20

Chile IPSA 6557.02 -0.03 5.7

Argentina MerVal 1491595. 2.727 60.44

16

Colombia COLCAP 1382.22 -0.24 15.5

Currencies Latest Daily YTD %

% change

change

Brazil real 5.0677 0.02 -34.62

Mexico peso 16.9170 0.25 16.44

Chile peso 927.1 1.20 -33.70

Colombia peso 3892.76 0.26 -23.40

Peru sol 3.7202 -0.21 -12.99

Argentina peso 880.0000 -0.11 -97.89

(interbank)

Argentina peso 1025 1.46 -98.12

(parallel)