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Bolsas buck rate worries
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August 5, 1999: 5:36 p.m. ET
Latin America follows Dow, overcomes rate scare, Toronto stays nervous
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Latin America's major markets, Mexico and Brazil, took heart from a resurgent Wall Street Thursday and shook off earlier losses to finish just up by the close.
In Mexico, the market was down over 2 percent after the U.S. productivity report showed higher-than-expected labor costs pointing to possible wage inflation.
But investors shook off their initial worries after the Dow Jones industrial average continued to climb.
The IPC index rose 7.88, 0.15 percent, to 5,150.79.
The story was the same in Brazil, where an expected early rally was snuffed out by the economic data.
"The two economic data released in the United States put a damper on the market," said trader Erik Szaniecki at Bozano Simonsen bank. "The figures are again signaling possible inflation and higher interest rates there."
But the Bovespa index managed to finish slightly up after a steady push all day, rising 24, or 0.23 percent, to 10,196.
In Argentina, the MerVal bounced back from an initial drop, ending 0.83 percent higher to 465.78.
But Venezuela could not produce a rally, however, with the IBC index dropping 1.82 percent to 4,608.53.
In Peru, the IGRA index rose 1.11 percent to 1,629.72, while in Chile the IGPA index fell 0.27 percent to 4,736.34.
Toronto still scared of rate hike
Investors on the Toronto Stock Exchange took the U.S. economic data as a clear sign of rising interest rates and quickly backed off buying shares.
The TSE 300 Composite index fell 55.65, 0.81 percent, to 6,905.55.
"This is a mess," said Fred Ketchen, director of equity trading at ScotiaMcLeod Inc. "Big daddy (U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Alan) Greenspan is obviously eyeing these numbers, if we ever had doubt before that maybe we weren't going to see a quick move in interest rates, this may dispel that."
-- from staff and wire reports
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