LATIN AMERICAN MARKETS: Mexico, Brazil Stocks Down; Chile 3Q GDP
Contracts
By Carla Mozee
Latin American stocks fell Wednesday, tracking declines on Wall Street
where an unexpected drop in housing figures spurred worries about the country's
nascent recovery, while a report of improving economic fundamentals in Chile
failed to push equities higher.
Brazil's Bovespa fell 0.6%, backing away from a fresh closing high reached in
the previous session, with only shares of oil giant Petrobras (PBR) ,
transportation stocks including air carrier TAM (TAM), and a handful of utility
stocks able to gain traction.
Mexico's IPC fell 0.8%, with declines in stocks of home builders, banks,
transportation and retailers putting the index at risk of breaking a three-
session winning streak.
Argentina's Merval fell 0.4%. In Santiago, Chile IPSA fell 0.9%, remaining
lower after the country's central bank said third-quarter gross domestic product
contracted on a year-over-year basis but grew on a seasonally adjusted basis
from the second quarter.
The declines mirrored those on Wall Street where stocks were bathed in red
after the Commerce Department said new construction on housing units dropped to
a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 529,000, the lowest level since April.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were expecting housing starts at around a
590,000 annualized rate.
The expanded tax credit will encourage homebuyers to purchase existing homes,
reducing inventory of homes available for sale, "which is a good thing," said
Jennifer Lee, an economist at BMO Capital Markets, in a note to clients. "But in
the meantime...it will take a while before residential construction begins to
contribute meaningfully to growth."
Stability in the U.S.' economic recovery process is important for many
exporting countries, particularly Mexico because it sells about 80% of its
products to the U.S.
Chilean GDP contracts at slower pace in third quarter
Meanwhile, in Chile, the economy appeared to be on its own path to recovery.
The central bank on Wednesday said gross domestic product, on a seasonally
adjusted basis, grew 1.1%, aided by higher metals prices and government stimulus
measures. GDP declined 0.3% in the second quarter.
"GDP posted its first positive advance in that quarter from the previous
period, in seasonally adjusted terms. With this result, Chile puts an end to a
year-long recession," said Alfredo Coutino, director of Latin American research
at Moody's Economy.com, in a note.
On a non-adjusted basis, GDP in the third quarter contracted 1.6% on a year-
over-year basis. The consensus estimate was for a contraction of 1.3% from the
same quarter a year ago. In the second quarter, GDP contracted at a revised rate
of 4.7%, and it fell at a revised rate of 2.4% in the first quarter.
The year-over-year contraction during the third quarter was largely due to
slower activity in the construction, fishing, industrial and retail sectors.
However, mining and utility-sector activity improved.
But full-fledged recovery in the Andean nation's economy "won't be before [the
first quarter]" of 2010, and the economy needs to see improvement in consumer
demand, Alvise Marino, emerging markets analysts at IDEAglobal, wrote in a
preview of the third-quarter GDP figures.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-18-091521ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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