Mexican stocks fell on Friday as a surge in US consumer prices fuelled concerns that the Federal Reserve may hold off on cutting interest rates. The benchmark IPC stock index slipped 0.31 percent to 29,994.90 points, following the slide in equities on Wall Street.
A report showed consumer prices in the United States rising at their fastest pace in more than two years in November, which some investors took as a sign that the Fed might not cut interest rates as quickly as previously expected. The lower US interest rates that investors had been betting on would have made riskier assets, like Mexican equities, more attractive to yield hungry investors. "There's nothing good about the inflation report," said Juan Jose Resendiz, an analyst at Arka brokerage in Mexico City.
Cement maker Cemex slipped 1.73 percent to 28.48 pesos, while its New York-traded shares fell 1.97 percent to $26.35. Miner Group Mexico dropped 2.9 percent to 69.54 pesos after a court ruled a strike could continue at its Cananea copper mine. The peso, however, firmed 0.09 percent to 10.8195 per dollar at the central bank close after a government report on Thursday showed a strong rebound in Mexico's industrial output.
Mexico's factories make up a key part of its economy. In debt trading, the benchmark 10-year government peso bond fell 0.176 of a point in price to bid 99.82. The bond's yield, which moves inversely to its price, rose 2 basis points to 8.03 percent.