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Americas dip into the red
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April 13, 1999: 4:54 p.m. ET
Stocks in Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela and Canada pressed by host of factors
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The majority of stock markets in the Americas ended trade in the red Tuesday, taken down by a host of factors including profit seeking, a wavering Dow and political uncertainty.
Brazilian stocks accelerated their decline in afternoon activity, trading down 225 points, or 1.97 percent, at 11,205.
Before the market opened, traders said investors would cast a wary eye on developments in a brewing scandal involving local bank Marka and a central bank official.
Brazil's Justice Minister Renan Calheiros on Monday ordered an investigation into reports that Marka paid a senior central bank official for leaks of information on monetary policy.
The small Rio de Janeiro-based investment bank was forced to close its doors in January after betting heavily that the government would maintain a stable foreign exchange policy.
Despite the probe, the Brazilian currency on Tuesday ended trade stronger by 1.8 percent at 1.665 reals to the U.S. dollar. The real has continued to recover from a 45 percent plunge after the central bank shifted its foreign exchange policy in mid-January. It is currently down 27.3 percent against the greenback.
In Mexico, stocks flirted with a record high but began paring gains in early afternoon, dragged down by the Dow and some light profit consolidation, dealers said.
The IPC index of leading stocks finished trade down 6.97 points, or 0.13 percent, at 5,296.31 in brisk turnover.
Earlier in the day, the index peaked at 5389.24, seven points short of the record intraday high of 5396.06 set on Oct. 16, 1997.
In general, said Sergio Garcia, director of research at the Value brokerage, "The market is maintaining a marked correlation to the Dow because of a lack of local news, which will probably change once quarterly earnings reports start appearing."
In Venezuela, stocks on the IBC index sank 51.75 points, or 1.23 percent, to close at 4,167.96.
Investors continued to be concerned about a political battle brewing between the country's Congress and President Hugo Chavez. On Tuesday, Planning Minister Jorge Giordani said the government will not accept any modifications by the opposition-dominated Congress to a proposed special powers bill that would give Chavez fast-track powers for six months to put several bills into law to tackle the country's economic crisis.
Chavez has rejected the version submitted to him by Congress as inadequate and threatened to declare a state of emergency unless it approves his full proposal.
Elsewhere in the region, a few markets moved higher. In Chile, stocks were up 0.24 percent at 4,384.41 in late trading, while in Peru, shares closed up 0.42 percent at 1,497.29, and in Colombia, equities climbed 1.2 percent to close at 997.36. The bolsa in Argentina proved the exception, however. Stocks on the Merval index fell 0.44 percent to 442.03 in line with a decline in Brazilian stocks and in anticipation of options maturities due Friday.
Toronto stocks slip
Stocks in Toronto traded mixed on Tuesday but finally succumbed to downward pressure in a number of sectors.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's key 300 Composite Index closed off 25.58 points, or 0.37 percent, at 6,913.30.
Of the TSE 300's 14 subindexes, nine finished in the red, led by consumer products, which lost 1.51 percent, the pipelines group, which shed 1.34 percent, and the gold and precious metals sector, which fell 1.16 percent.
Among the day's gainers, paper and forest stocks climbed 2.26 percent. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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