Latin American currencies bounce

19 Oct, 2008

Most Latin American currencies on Friday recovered from recent losses following a series of central bank actions across the region. On the foreign exchange market, a series of recent actions by several Latin American central banks supported regional currencies.
The Brazilian real closed 2 percent higher to 2.12 per dollar after the central bank said it will offer credit lines in foreign currencies next week in a bid to ease a credit crunch for exporters. The Mexican peso strengthened 2.2 percent to 12.7790 per dollar after the central bank held its key interest rate at 8.25 percent, supporting demand for its currency.
Some analysts expected policy-makers to cut rates to protect the Mexican economy from an expected US recession. "This will help stabilise the peso and the interest-rate differential may take the exchange rate to 12.50 pesos per dollar until the end of the year," said Bartosz Pawlowski, an analyst with Toronto Dominion Bank.
In Peru, the sol edged up to 3.059 per dollar in a calm session. It had closed at 3.065 per dollar on Wednesday after the central bank sold about $153.2 million in the foreign-exchange market. Since the beginning of the month, Peruvian policy-makers have spent $2.133 billion to support the currency.

Read Comments