LATIN AMERICAN MARKETS: Brazilian Equities Edged Up Before Interest-rate Decision

By Carla Mozee

Latin American equities finished mixed Wednesday, with Brazil's benchmark steady before decision on interest rates by the country's central bank.

Brazil's Bovespa ticked up 10 points, or 0.3%, at 38,804.80, paced by a 4% gain in shares of Telecomunicacoes de Sao Paulo (TSP).

Market heavyweights Petrobras (PBR) and Vale (RIO) rose 0.6% and 0.4%, respectively.

Shares of interest-rate sensitive banks closed mixed, Banco Itau (ITU) recouping losses to end 0.2% higher. Unibanco (UBB) fell 0.2%, and Bradesco (BBD) fell 0.8%.

Banco Nossa shares, however, finished fractionally higher and Banco do Brasil gained 0.7%. The federally-run bank's planned $5.39 billion purchase of Nossa Caixa, run by the Sao Paulo state government, was approved by the central bank on Tuesday.

Ahead of the rate decision, due Wednesday night, Brazil's census bureau said consumer prices rose 0.55% in February, compared with a 0.48% rise in January, because of a seasonal adjustment in tuition fees. The reading was above the estimate of 0.52% produced by a survey of analysts conducted by Dow Jones Newswires. Excluding the change, consumer prices rose 0.24%.

Inflation in February on a 12-month basis was 5.9%, compared with a 5.84% rate in January.

The consumer price figures arrived on the heels of Tuesday's report that the economy grew just 1.3% in the fourth quarter of 2008 from the year-ago period, below the forecast for gross domestic product growth of 1.64%.

"In all, [fourth-quarter] GDP results confirmed the dismal performance partly depicted by high frequency data observed in the last few months," wrote UBS Pactual analyst Claudio Ferraz in a note Wednesday.

The broker expects the central bank to cut the benchmark interest rate by a full percentage point from the current Selic rate of 12.75%.

A number of market professionals since last week have raised their bets for a rate cut of at least 150 basis points.

The iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund (EWZ), an exchange-traded fund, slipped 0.2%.

In Mexico, the IPC rose 1.4% to 17,790.69, led by an 8.7% jump in shares of Grupo Financiero Banorte and a 6% rise in shares of cement maker Cemex (CX).

Argentina's Merval slipped less than 1 point to 992.64.

Chile's IPSA shed 0.5% to 2,428.41. The country's central bank expected to cut the key interest rate, which now stands at 4.75%, on Thursday.