* Brazil's real up 0.7%
* Mexican markets cheer vote down of energy reform bill
* Argentine peso slides; inflation surges more then expected
* Brazil's Banco Inter up as it resumes listing work
(Adds details, updates prices)
By Susan Mathew
April 18 (Reuters) - Brazil's real rallied on Monday on
expectations of continued monetary policy tightening, while most
other Latin American currencies fell against a strong dollar.
The real rose 0.7% to around 4.66 a dollar after
ending last week flat.
Stronger-than-expected domestic inflation data on Monday
fueled bets that the central bank will extend its monetary
tightening cycle beyond the May meeting, said Jefferson Rugik,
executive director of Correparti.
Mexico's peso also rose, while most other emerging
market currencies slipped as the dollar
hit nearly two-year highs.
Expectations of aggressive monetary policy tightening by the
U.S. Federal Reserve this year to tame surging inflation have
lifted U.S. bond yields and the dollar this year, pressuring
riskier assets.
In Mexico, business groups cheered the opposition's voting
down of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's major
electricity reform that had clouded the country's energy market.
But uncertainty remains as Lopez Obrador tries to reinforce
state domination of the industry.
The world's second biggest copper exporter Peru's peso
slipped after MMG Ltd's Las Bambas copper mine
in the country suspended operations after residents of a nearby
community entered company property as part of a protest.
In Chile, the lower house will debate and vote on two
proposals for the early withdrawal of pensions on Monday, one by
legislators and another by President Gabriel Boric, as he tries
to juggle inflation and populist demands.
Argentina's peso fell 0.6% despite heavy controls.
Argentine monthly inflation climbed to 6.7% in March, data
showed last week, taking annual inflation to 55.1%, above
estimates. Argentina's benchmark interest rate is set to be
hiked by 250 basis points to 47%, a central bank source told
Reuters on Wednesday.
"Strong (Argentine) inflation data suggests that the
government will fail to meet the IMF's target to reduce
inflation this year. There's a risk this will be a prelude to
broader slippage on the terms of its new deal with the Fund,"
said Nikhil Sanghani, EM economis at Capital Economics.
Among stocks, Brazil's Bovespa index hit four-week
lows, in line with a weakness in broader developing market
bourses.
Material and energy names led losses with miner Vale
down 1.5%.
Creditors of Brazilian miner Samarco Mineracao SA, a joint
venture of Vale and BHP, on Monday rejected the debt
restructuring plan presented by the company in an online
creditors assembly.
Losses were limited by banks, with SoftBank-backed Banco
Inter up 5.3% after the company announced it had
resumed a process to transfer its shareholder base to Inter & Co
Inc and be listed on the Nasdaq.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1836 GMT:
Stock indexes Latest Daily %
change
MSCI Emerging Markets 1106.88 -0.54
MSCI LatAm 2603.29 0.56
Brazil Bovespa 115863.71 -0.27
Mexico IPC 54324.22 0.28
Chile IPSA 4898.44 -0.38
Argentina MerVal 91427.13 0.424
Colombia COLCAP 1610.20 -0.3
Currencies Latest Daily %
change
Brazil real 4.6610 0.74
Mexico peso 19.8912 0.25
Chile peso 816.1 -0.20
Colombia peso 3728.51 -0.25
Peru sol 3.736 -0.08
Argentina peso 113.6300 -0.58
(interbank)
(Reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru and Luana Maria
Benedito in Sao Paulo; Editing by Nick Macfie and Barbara Lewis)
