By Carla Mozee

Stocks in Mexico and Brazil rose Friday, with investors hunting for bargains after six sessions of losses that have held the countries' key indexes in negative territory for the year.

Mexico's IPC rose 0.7% to 30,571 in broad-based gains led by retailers after government statistics agency, Inegi, said retail sales in March rose 2.3% from the year-ago period, above the market consensus for a rise of 2%.

Wal-Mart de Mexico (WMMVY) rose 1%, electronics retailer Grupo Elektra rose 2.9% and Soriana gained 2.1%.

Brazil's Bovespa rose 1.8% to 59,845 with all sectors tracked moving higher. The index as of Thursday's closing was down 18.2% from its April 8 closing higher. A slide of 20% from a recent closing higher is what market analysts generally consider as the entry point of a bear market.

In Sao Paulo Friday, the heavily weighted steel group rose 4%, with shares of Usiminas up 3.3%. Gerdau (GGB) rose 3.9% and Vale (RIO), the world's largest iron ore provider, gained 4.5%. Oil giant Petrobras (PBR) shares rose 1.5%.

The Bovespa's best price performer was home builder MRV Engenharia e Participacoes as its shares jumped 6.7%.

Brazil's currency, meanwhile, fought off earlier losses to trade at 1.852 reals per dollar. The currency closed Thursday's session at 1.861. The real closed Thursday's session down 1% but not before sending lower by more than 3%. Mexico's currency rose to 12.991, an improvement from Thursday's close at 13.067.

The Bovespa index and the IPC have each finished lower in the previous six sessions, as investors worldwide have been wrapped in uncertainty and fear about the impact of Europe's debt crisis on the fragile global economic recovery process.

Mexican monetary policy makers on Friday weighed in on the issue. The central bank, in a statement outlining its decision to hold its interest at 4.5%, said that austerity measures being adopted in euro-zone nations have the potential to cut into growth and hurt prices for natural resources.

The Mexican index is facing a weekly decline of nearly 4%, and is off nearly 5% for the year. The Brazilian index is down about 6% for the week, and is down about 13% in 2010.

Pressure on the Bovespa over the course of the year has come from shares of Petrobras because of uncertainty about a major capitalization plan. The plan involves the government granting right to the company to explore and produce 5 billion barrel of crude in exchange for new shares in the company.

Petrobras on Friday said it will hold an extraordinary meeting for shareholders to vote on the share issuance plan on June 22.

Back in Mexico, the central bank's decision to leave the key interest rate unchanged met analyst expectations. The 4.5% rate has been held at that level since July 2009. Policy makers said in an accompanying statement that demand from the U.S. for manufactured goods has been strong, but domestic demand has been soft, the bank said.

Policy makers kept their 2011 inflation target of 3%.

Among exchange-traded funds, the iShares MSCI Mexico Index Fund (EWW) climbed 2.6%. The iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund (EWZ) rose 3.5%.