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Latins let down
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December 28, 1998: 5:01 p.m. ET
Brazil falls nearly 4% as investors return from holiday break in nervous mood
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Latin American stocks suffered post-Christmas letdown Monday, with most major bolsas confronting traders returning from vacation with significant losses and depressed volumes.
Brazilian shares closed down 3.86 percent in light trade after some overseas investors dumped equities amid pessimism over the country's economic outlook.
"The market has absolutely no liquidity," a trader at a local brokerage said, adding that there were some "sales by foreign funds worried about the scenario for the Brazilian economy next year."
Sao Paulo's key Bovespa index ended down 277 points at 6,899, led by a 5.6 percent decline in telecom heavyweight Telebras preferred (TBH).
Trading volume was lower than average at 236 million reais ($195 million), compared with average daily trading of more than 400 million reais ($331 million) at the beginning of the month.
Mexican stocks failed to recover from a flat open, ending 1.47 percent lower after Wall Street blue chips wandered briefly south.
The IPC index of leading Mexican stocks retreated from the key 4,000-point level, shedding 58.68 points to 3,942.67.
The index fell in response to the selling in Brazil along with an afternoon struggle on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average ended up a scant 8.76 points at 9,226.75 after dipping briefly into negative territory.
Many trading desks were operating with skeleton crews because of thin holiday season volumes.
Venezuelan stocks rose 0.88 percent in languid holiday-season trading, as moderate demand for benchmark stock Electricidad de Caracas helped lift the market.
The IBC index rose 41.34 points to 4,742.27, with 12 stocks stable, nine rising and three falling.
The volume of trade was a meager 503 million bolivars ($891,000), compared with 609 million bolivars ($1.1 million) traded Thursday.
"There was demand for certain stocks such as Electricidad, and as there is no depth to the market, the price rose," said Carlos Lupini of Incambios brokerage house.
Shares of Electricidad, which accounted for more than 50 percent of the market's trading volume, closed up 3 percent at 244 bolivars a share.
Lupini said he expected the market to end the year quietly and with a slight upward tendency.
The Venezuelan market has now rallied around 20 percent in nominal terms since President-elect Hugo Chavez was voted into office on Dec. 6.
Elsewhere in Latin America, stocks fell in sympathy with the Brazilian market. Chilean stocks slid 1.49 percent, 54.16 points, to 3,580.48 while Peruvian shares slipped 4.10 points to 1,350.20. Argentina's blue-chip MerVal index fell 9.69 points, 2.18 percent, to 434. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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