SAO PAULO: Latin American currencies weakened on Tuesday as the US dollar rebounded from an early 2018 sell-off that drove it to the lowest in more than three months.
Emerging market currencies kicked off the year with a rally as solid economic growth figures drove investors away from the greenback and toward riskier assets.
That move faded in recent days as expectations that the US Federal Reserve will increase rates three times in 2018, potentially draining funds away from high-yielding assets, grew stronger.
Currencies from Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Colombia slipped between 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent on Tuesday.
Stock markets were also down across the region on profit-taking, with Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index steering away from all-time records.
Blue-chips, such as lenders Ita? Unibanco Holding SA and Banco Bradesco SA, and miner Vale SA , led the drop.
Shares of Centrais El?tricas Brasileiras SA were among the biggest declines on news that regulators could ask the state-controlled power utility to return 1 billion reais to government coffers due to irregular subsidies.
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