Mexican stocks at new high

Mexican stocks rose to an all-time high on Friday after the US unemployment rate hit a nearly four-year low, boosting prospects for growth in the world's largest economy. The MSCI Latin American stock index rose 1.0 percent, on track for its biggest gain in three weeks.
Mexico's benchmark IPC index gained 0.8 percent to pass a previous intraday record set July 27, as the outlook for Mexican exports improved with the encouraging unemployment data from its northern neighbour. Cement maker Cemex led gains on the index with a 2.8 percent rise. Shares of phone company America Movil , controlled by Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, rose 1.0 percent to a nearly one-month high.
In Brazil, the benchmark Bovespa index rose 1.2 percent, its strongest trading session in three weeks. "The numbers from the United States are breathing life into the Bovespa," said Raffi Dokuzian of CGD Securities in Sao Paulo. "This favours the outlook for exports by Brazilian companies and helps with asset prices."
Homebuilders posted some of the index's biggest gains after an increase in the maximum price of homes eligible for the government's low-income housing program. "That will help with investors' attitudes on the construction industry," said analyst Marcos Pereira of the Votorantim brokerage in Sao Paulo. "It helps in the short run with slightly better pricing of assets in the sector."
Shares of Cyrela Brazil Realty, the country's second biggest homebuilder, rose 4.0 percent, while rival Brookfield Incorporações gained 6.1 percent. Preferred shares of Vale, the world's largest iron ore producer and one of the most heavily traded stocks on the Sao Paulo exchange, rose 1.4 percent.
Vale said it resumed operations early on Friday along the railway to its Carajas mine, which produces a tenth of the world's iron ore exports. Vale secured a judicial order on Wednesday to clear an indigenous protest blocking the railroad. Shares of oil company OGX, controlled by billionaire Eike Batista, rose 1.6 percent after the company got an environmental license to drill in two offshore exploration areas in Brazil's Campos basin.