*

Argentina signs off on $21.66 billion in fiscal liquidity

bill

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Mexico's Arca Continental stock falls despite core profit

ticking up

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Latam stocks down 3.1%, FX off 1.8%

(Updated at 3:30 p.m. ET/1930 GMT)

By Johann M Cherian and Shashwat Chauhan

July 18 (Reuters) - Chile's peso led losses across

resources-rich Latin America on Thursday, tracking a decline in

prices of base metals, while uncertainty around U.S. elections

and a firmer dollar further ramped up the selling pressure.

The Mexican peso dipped 1.7% against the dollar to

17.99, breaching the psychologically important barrier of 18,

while Colombia's peso shed 1.4%, touching an over

one-week low.

Brazil's real weakened 1.8% to an over two-week low,

as prices of iron ore, the country's top export, extended the

previous session's losses.

World's biggest copper producer Chile's peso

depreciated 1.9% to hit an over two-week low intraday, as prices

of the red metal neared three-month lows without new stimulus

from a key political meeting in China and investors switching

from copper to gold to bet on earlier interest rate cuts by the

U.S. Federal Reserve.

"Barring a surprise from Chinese policy announcements, the

fast decline in commodity demand expectations suggest downside

convexity is still rising," Daniel Ghali, senior commodity

strategist at TD Securities, wrote in a note.

Fellow copper producer Peru's sol slipped 0.5% as

well.

Most currencies in the region are heading for weekly

losses between 1% and 3% as traders reacted to a possible second

term for U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, whose

policies on trade, security and immigration are seen as negative

for Latin American economies, most of which are led by

left-leaning governments.

President Joe Biden's reelection bid faced fresh turmoil

after reports that top Democratic leaders had privately pushed

him to end his campaign.

A broader gauge for regional currencies also

dropped 1.8% as the greenback firmed after data showed U.S.

jobless claims rose more than expected last week, although it is

not considered to be a notable shift in the labor market due to

seasonal factors.

Meanwhile, MSCI's index tracking regional bourses

weakened 3.1%, to an over one-week low, with

Brazil's Bovespa falling close to 1.5%.

Mexico's main stock index shed about 1%. Arca

Continental declined 0.5% despite the bottler posting

upbeat second-quarter core profit, bolstered by positive volume

performance.

Meanwhile in Argentina, the local government gave the green

light to issue up to 20 trillion pesos ($21.66 billion) in a

one-year fiscal liquidity bill, its latest move to mop up excess

peso trading.

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies:

Latest Daily % change

MSCI Emerging Markets 1104.06 -0.67

MSCI LatAm 2237.55 -3.05

Brazil Bovespa 127604.47 -1.43

Mexico IPC 53219.44 -0.98

Chile IPSA 6559.93 -0.13

Argentina MerVal 1528903.63 0.289

Colombia COLCAP 1363.61 -0.19

Currencies Latest Daily % change

Brazil real 5.5795 -1.71

Mexico peso 17.9998 -1.71

Chile peso 942.9 -1.86

Colombia peso 4048.73 -1.40

Peru sol 3.7301 -0.51

Argentina peso 924.5000 -0.11

(interbank)

Argentina peso 1435 1.39

(parallel)