AGL 40.44 Increased By ▲ 0.43 (1.07%)
AIRLINK 127.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-0.38%)
BOP 6.63 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.45%)
CNERGY 4.52 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-1.74%)
DCL 8.60 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.42%)
DFML 42.00 Increased By ▲ 0.52 (1.25%)
DGKC 87.61 Increased By ▲ 1.03 (1.19%)
FCCL 32.75 Increased By ▲ 0.61 (1.9%)
FFBL 65.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.42 (-0.64%)
FFL 10.32 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.68%)
HUBC 109.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.69 (-0.62%)
HUMNL 14.80 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.34%)
KEL 5.13 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
KOSM 7.51 Increased By ▲ 0.39 (5.48%)
MLCF 41.76 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (0.26%)
NBP 59.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.29 (-0.48%)
OGDC 194.70 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.01%)
PAEL 28.25 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (1.07%)
PIBTL 7.83 Decreased By ▼ -0.17 (-2.13%)
PPL 152.26 Increased By ▲ 1.09 (0.72%)
PRL 26.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.3%)
PTC 16.20 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (1.25%)
SEARL 86.02 Increased By ▲ 7.82 (10%)
TELE 7.60 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (2.84%)
TOMCL 35.53 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-0.39%)
TPLP 8.18 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (3.41%)
TREET 16.12 Increased By ▲ 0.23 (1.45%)
TRG 52.82 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.11%)
UNITY 26.69 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (0.53%)
WTL 1.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-1.57%)
BR100 9,953 Increased By 33.1 (0.33%)
BR30 30,895 Increased By 143.6 (0.47%)
KSE100 93,795 Increased By 570.5 (0.61%)
KSE30 29,067 Increased By 181.6 (0.63%)

Latin American currencies took a beating on Thursday, as investors fretted over the global spread of the coronavirus after cases outside of China rose, with Brazil's real hitting a new low amid rising safe-haven buying of the US dollar.

The number of new infections rose in South Korea, while Japan reported two new deaths and new research suggested the pathogen was more contagious than previously thought, adding to the alarm.

"There is still uncertainty about how long this (outbreak) is going to last and how big the economic effect is going to be, not just on China, but on supply chains around the world," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James.

The dollar was perched at a 10-month high against the Japanese yen after rising nearly 2% since Tuesday, while also upping pressure on Latin American currencies.

Brazil's real weakened 0.4% to 4.3917 against the greenback, touching a fresh record low. Data showed Brazilian inflation slowed in February to its lowest in over a quarter of a century.

A basket of currencies in the region weakened by 0.4%, while MSCI's index for Latin American equities fell 0.5%.

The Chilean peso fell nearly 1% against the dollar, touching levels not seen since early December as prices of copper, the country's biggest export, slipped on rising worries of demand.

Argentine bond prices fell 1.5% after the International Monetary Fund essentially gave the government a green light to restructure its bonds.

Other major currencies in Latin America, including Mexico and Colombia, also eased The central bank of Latin America's biggest economy said it would lower banks' reserve requirements on time deposits to 25% from 31%, starting on March 16, in a move that will free up an estimated 49 billion reais ($11.2 billion) of liquidity.

Copyright Reuters, 2020

Comments

Comments are closed.