Brazil's benchmark stock index rose almost 1 percent on Friday after data showed economic growth in key trade partner China quickened to its fastest pace of the year. Brazil's Bovespa index rose 0.82 percent to 55,811, adding to gains of more than 20 percent since early July. Chilean and Mexican stocks were also higher, pushing up the broader MSCI Latin American stock index by 0.42 percent.
China's economy, the world's second-largest, grew 7.8 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, its quickest pace this year. The nation is the main buyer of many of Latin America's natural resources, such as Brazilian iron ore. Preferred shares of Brazilian bluechip mining company Vale SA rose 0.91 percent to 32.13 reais, while common shares of steelmaker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional gained 1.04 percent to 11.69 reais.
Brazilian stocks also tracked optimism in the US market after strong third-quarter results from Google Inc and Morgan Stanley, said Gustavo Mendonca, an economist with Saga Capital in Rio de Janeiro. Shares of homebuilder MRV Engenharia e Participacoes SA also led the Bovespa index higher with an increase of 1.60 percent to 10.14 reais. The company, one of Brazil's biggest homebuilders, reported a 35 percent increase in contracted sales in the third quarter from a year earlier.
Shares of OGX Petróleo e Gás Participações SA continued to seesaw. The stock had risen sharply earlier in the week days on hopes of an imminent cash injection as part of a restructuring plan. Mexico's benchmark IPC index rose 0.84 percent. Shares of restaurant operator Alsea SAB de CV, which runs Domino's Pizza and Burger King in Mexico, jumped 4.04 percent. Chile's IPSA gained 0.62 percent after a surprise rate cut by the central bank on Thursday.