* Chile c.bank mulled rate increase at June meeting -
minutes
* Colombian peso reverses early gains
* Brazil's real shrugs off early losses
* Argentina pushes Paris Club group of lenders deadline to
2022
(Adds comments, updates prices throughout)
By Susan Mathew and Shreyashi Sanyal
June 23 (Reuters) - The Chilean peso led gains among its
Latin American counterparts after minutes from the country's
latest central bank meeting showed policymakers considered
raising the benchmark interest rate, while the Mexican peso
gained against a weaker dollar.
The peso gained 0.8% after the minutes. The central
bank had decided to hold the rate at its technical minimum of
0.5% where it has been for more than a year.
Rising oil prices supported the Colombian and Mexican
pesos as the dollar extended losses following
reassurances that the U.S. Federal Reserve would not rush into
policy tightening.
Mexico's peso rose to its third straight session of gains
leading up to a central bank meeting on Thursday.
The central bank is seen keeping its benchmark interest rate
steady at 4.0% amid persistently high inflation levels in the
economy as it recovers from a coronavirus pandemic slump.
"We believe that the trend in hawkishness from Banxico
should continue, but the devil will be in the details," said
Sacha Tihanyi, head of emerging market strategy at TD
Securities, citing the recent uptick in inflation trajectory.
"We ... expect any positive increment in hawkish sentiment
to help underpin a stabilization and rebound in the peso".
As the dollar looked to extend losses to the third
straight session, while Brazil's real was flat and Peru's
sol stayed close to two-week lows.
The sol has lost nearly 9% this year, weakened by
presidential election uncertainty. A final winner is yet to be
declared amid accusations of fraud by conservative candidate
Keiko Fujimori. Washington on Tuesday called the elections fair.
"While we are seeing significant political changes in Latin
America, there are opportunities for active investors to benefit
from the reform and demand potential of the region," strategists
at Amundi Asset Management wrote.
Argentina said on Tuesday it had reached an understanding
with the Paris Club group of lenders for a payment bridge until
March 2022 to settle some $2.4 billion it owes, and it would
make a partial payment in the interim period. Mired in recession
since 2018, the country is racing to push back some $45 billion
in repayments owed to the IMF.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1912 GMT:
Stock indexes Latest Daily %
change
MSCI Emerging Markets 1361.43 1.08
MSCI LatAm 2657.19 1.35
Brazil Bovespa 128609.17 -0.12
Mexico IPC 50250.03 0.24
Chile IPSA 4376.64 0.12
Argentina MerVal 65819.95 -0.124
Colombia COLCAP 1246.57 0.31
Currencies Latest Daily %
change
Brazil real 4.9655 -0.01
Mexico peso 20.1930 0.70
Chile peso 735 0.80
Colombia peso 3781.05 -0.05
Peru sol 3.9788 0.00
Argentina peso (interbank) 95.5300 -0.03
Argentina peso (parallel) 163 1.23
(Reporting by Susan Mathew and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru;
editing by Jonathan Oatis and Alistair Bell)
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