Wednesday, June 21, 2006, 4:45 PM EST (Thomson Financial): Latin
American shares leapt on the session. Mexican stocks closed higher for a
second- consecutive session, as investors took advantage of recent weakness
to go bargain hunting, while Brazilian investors were encouraged by a
strong day on Wall Street and new economic data.
Brazil's Bovespa Index surged 914.50 points, or 2.72%. Mexico'
benchmark Bolsa gained 374.93 points, or 2.11%, while Argentina's Merval
rose 29.15 points, or 1.88%.
Brazilian stock prices increased their gains today, as investors
reacted positively to current-account figures released by the Brazilian
Central Bank. Brazil posted a May current-account surplus of US$475
million, up from US$241 million in April. The central bank said foreign
direct investment in May was US$1.58 billion, up from US$790 million in
April.
Amid the volatility in global stock markets in recent weeks, Wall
Street tends to influence the Ibovespa strongly. Despite today's gains,
analysts expect investors to remain cautious ahead of the U.S. Federal
Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee meeting next week.
In corporate reports, airline Varig canceled more than a third of its
daily flights yesterday, following the approved sale of the firm to the TGV
consortium this past Monday.
Elsewhere, Mexican stocks were higher, alongside upbeat economic data.
After a bout of selling that knocked 24% off the IPC in just over a month,
the market has fluctuated on modest volume.
In economic headlines, the National Statistics Institute, or Inegi,
said that unemployment declined to 2.9% in May, compared with 3.3% in April
and 3.3% a year ago.
Meanwhile, shares of media group Televisa ended higher; the company is
among concerns planning to bid, along with several partners, for U.S.
Spanish- language broadcaster Univision.
Elsewhere, Argentine shares tracked other Latin American issues higher
today on Wall Street's strong performance, as investors greeted positive
earnings reports that eased recent interest-rate and inflation woes.
Meanwhile, French retail group Carrefour has filed a complaint in
Argentina against the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and others,
claiming it paid too much for the supermarket chain Norte Supermarkets in
2001 as the result of fraud. Carrefour and its Argentine unit alleged
Norte's accounts were inflated by at least US$120 million, raising the
acquisition price of US$253 million by 40%.
-- Michael.O'Brien@contractor.Thomson.com; Thomson Financial Corporate
Services
This is Thomson Financial Corporate Services Latin American Commentary.
The information herein is believed to be true and accurate, we take no
responsibility for inaccurate information and reserve the right to update
our reports. If you have any questions please e-mail James Sang at
james.sang@tfn.com or call 646.822.6233. For more information about Thomson
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SOURCE Thomson Financial Corporate Group
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