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Americas dazed, confused
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August 28, 1998: 5:29 p.m. ET
Canadian stocks slip further but Brazil, Mexico get their second wind
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Financial markets in the Western Hemisphere ended an exhausting week in disarray on Friday, as Sao Paulo and Mexico City snapped a losing streak in afternoon trading to close higher while Canadian stock prices ebbed yet again.
Toronto stocks trimmed their losses but still ended lower in a technical sell-off inspired by Thursday's worldwide fall in equities.
"The factors that have been driving the market haven't gone away, but we breached some important technical levels yesterday in the U.S. And as you got back to them today in the rally, you couldn't go through them, and now we've got this technical follow-through selling," said Dave Picton of Synergy Mutual Funds.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's key 300 Composite Index fell 33.16 points or 0.57 percent to 5,766.30 after opening up 61.04 points. Volume was 115 million shares.
On Thursday, the index closed down 6.04 percent at 5,799.46 -- its fifth-largest percentage drop and third-biggest point fall -- caused by Russia's economic woes spilling over into the world's equities markets and by a 100-basis-point rate hike by the Bank of Canada.
Traders said the market was showing signs of reviving, although it would take time and concentrated effort.
"I believe there is some value emerging," Picton added. "But it's probably going to take some sort of response from the (U.S.) Federal Reserve to really get the market back on track to the upside."
Overall in Toronto, the majority of the TSE 300's 14 subindexes traded flat or lower, led by a 5.14 percent plunge in the gold and precious metals sector.
Canada's dollar strengthened to $0.6408 in steady trading after several heavy buy orders sparked a small rally for the troubled currency, dealers said.
Brazilian shares closed 1.96 percent higher after seesawing between gains and losses as the market tried to decouple from Wall Street and the global financial market crisis, traders said.
The Bovespa index of 58 leading stocks closed 130 points higher at 6,746 in volatile action that saw the index swing between a high of 6,890 and a low of 6,530 points.
"We are the tail of the dog, and when it moves we wag further," one trader said.
Some traders said there was some buying in late trade as investors tried to cover short positions ahead of the weekend.
Mexican stocks recovered from earlier losses, climbing into positive territory with help from the rise in Brazilian stocks, traders said.
The benchmark IPC index ended up 98.43 points, or 3.22 percent, to 3,154.14.
"Brazil is going up again, and I say this is helping what was an undue punishment of shares," one dealer said.
Dealers said a few strong stocks were supporting the IPC, including construction firm Empresas ICA and cement company Cemex.
Russia's economic crisis -- combined with a new poll that showed former coup leader Hugo Chavez is still Venezuela's most likely next president -- pushed Caracas stocks down to a fresh 29-month low, traders said.
The 15-stock IBC index dropped 4.5 percent, 137.47 points, to end at 2,901.05. Volume was a healthy 58 million shares worth 1.3 billion bolivars ($2 million).
"Between the vodka effect, the Chavez effect, and the poor state of the economy, things aren't going to get better for a while," one dealer said.
The bolsa has already dropped over 70 percent so far this year.
Bolsa bellwether Electricidad de Caracas dropped 1.8 percent to end at 139.50 points, while national phone company CANTV (VNT) fell 3.4 percent to end at 940.00 bolivars. 
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