SAO PAULO/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Brazilian and Mexican stocks rose to record highs on Thursday, propelled by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s signaling toward lower interest rates in 2024 and monetary policy decisions in both Latin American nations.
In Brazil, stocks were partially driven by the local central bank’s rate cut on Wednesday evening, with board members indicating that 50-basis-point cuts will continue past its next meeting in January.
Brazil’s equities benchmark index Bovespa settled up 1.06% on Thursday, reaching a new closing high of 130,842.09 points, after climbing to an intraday record of 131,259.81 earlier in the day. The previous records had been set in June 2021.
The positive session was also helped by oil firm Petrobras’ shares, which were up 2.17% at close as oil prices trended higher.
Mexico’s main stock index rose 3.39% to a historic close of 57,036.42 points, though it also inched even higher during trading to an intraday high of 57,077.52 points.
The index was propelled by Mexico’s airport operators, a day after Grupo ASUR announced details of its 2024-2028 master development plan.
Earlier in the day, Mexico’s central bank unanimously held the country’s interest rate at 11.25% and pointed toward more of the same “for some time.”
(Reporting by Andre Romani and Paula Arend Laier in Sao Paulo and Noe Torres in Mexico City; Editing by Kylie Madry)
