By Carla Mozee
Major Latin American equity markets ended mixed Monday, with one
of Brazil's market heavyweights slumping as oil prices fell, while
Mexico's index ticked up to a fresh record high after the country
posted a rise in industrial output.
Brazil's Bovespa, tracking the largest stock market in the
region, fell 1.1% to 70,614.36, its second session of losses. The
retail sector was the only one tracked on the Bovespa that gained
ground, with shares of department store operator Lojas Renner up
1.4%.
The Bovespa index rose 0.4% last week, and is up 3.5% this
year.
Shares of Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR), the state-run oil giant,
slid 2.4% on Monday, following a decline in oil prices on concerns
about a potential increase in stockpiles this week. Crude oil for
May fell 0.7% to $84.34 a barrel.
Meanwhile, Jose Sergio Gabrielli, Petrobras' chief executive,
reportedly said the company is still planning to sell new shares
before the first half of this year ends. The company aims to invest
up to 250 billion reals in 2011 through 2014 to develop the
pre-salt oil region in offshore Brazil.
Brazilian lawmakers are currently discussing a plan that would
give the government greater control over the country's huge
reserves in exchange for a bigger stake in Petrobras.
Separately, and earlier Monday, Petrobras' shares were
downgraded to market perform from outperform by Bernstein,
according to Briefing.com.
In Mexico City, the IPC index rose 12 points to 33,852.39 for a
new record high. The index ended on Friday at a record high, as
well.
Investors received a report from the country's statistics agency
that industrial output in February rose 4.4% compared with the
year-ago period, the third consecutive month of increases.
Industrial manufacturing climbed 8.8% and mining activity rose 2.3%
while oil output fell 1%.
The reading fell shy of the 4.6% forecast by analysts surveyed
by Dow Jones Newswires. Output rose 0.59% on a seasonally adjusted
basis from January.
In the market, shares of conglomerate Grupo Carso rose 0.9%.
Retail and finance stocks were higher, but shares of miners,
communications firms and some consumer discretionary stocks moved
lower. Shares of brewer Grupo Modelo (GPMCY) fell 0.6%.
Chile's IPSA fell 0.5% to 3,822.27 and Argentina's Merval fell
0.1% to 2,507.55.
Among exchange-traded funds, the iShares MSCI Chile Investable
Market Index fund (ECH) fell 0.9%. The iShares MSCI Mexico Index
fund (EWW) rose 0.2%, and the iShares MSCI Brazil Index fund (EWZ)
fell 0.6%.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 Index (SPX) rose 0.2% to 1,196.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.8% to 11,005.97, the
first time the blue-chip index has closed above 11,000 points since
September 2008.