Latin American stocks were mixed on Friday as investors focused on a key vote in Greece next week needed to help the country avoid becoming the first member of the eurozone to default on its debt. Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index retreated 0.3 percent, as plunging oil prices hit energy stocks after a Thursday market holiday that sapped Friday volumes.
Crude extended its sell-off after a surprise announcement of emergency fuel stocks from consumer nations in an attempt to support a stumbling global economy. Uncertainty over passage of Greek austerity measures also erased early gains on bourses in Mexico and Chile.
"If a new fiscal plan and the sale of assets is approved (by the Greek parliament), the bourse could see some short-term enthusiasm," said Caue Pinheiro, an analyst with Brazil's SLW brokerage. Energy companies led losses in Brazil as preferred shares of state-controlled Petrobras gave up 1.7 percent, and its common stock lost 2.0 percent.
Banks also dropped, with Itau Unibanco down 0.6 percent, Bradesco off 0.7 percent and Banco do Brasil, Latin America's largest bank by assets, slipping 1.1 percent. Mexico's IPC index closed nearly flat, pulling back for a fourth straight day from resistance above 35,400 points, reinforced by its 40-day simple moving average.
Shares of Mexico's biggest retailer Wal-Mart de Mexico plunged 1.6 percent to their lowest close since January. Chile's IPSA index settled little changed, retreating from 0.5 percent gains earlier in the day. An overbought signal in the IPSA's slow stochastics, an oscillating indicator, suggested a possible pullback in the index after stalling at resistance above 4,700.
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