UPDATE 2-Mexico peso firms on Fed rate pledge

* Peso firms to over 3-month high, IPC at 2-month high

* Telmex shares hit 3-year low on Morgan Stanley note

* Government to offer second syndicated bond (Adds details on syndicated bond offer)

MEXICO CITY, March 16 (Reuters) - Mexico's peso firmed on Tuesday as the U.S. Federal Reserve repeated its promise to keep U.S. interest rates exceptionally low for an extended period, encouraging investors to buy emerging market assets.

Also supporting markets was news Standard & Poor's affirmed its ratings on Greece, calming concerns of an imminent downgrade. Greece's debt problems have weighed on global appetite for riskier assets in recent months.

The peso MXN=MEX01 firmed 0.18 percent to 12.517 per U.S. dollar and hit its strongest intraday level since Dec. 4 during the session. The IPC stock index .MXX rose 0.45 percent to 32,723.90.

The U.S. Federal Reserve renewed its pledge on Tuesday to keep interest rates near zero for an "extended period" even as it sounded more upbeat about jobs. [ID:nN16251615]

Ultra-low U.S. interest rates have boosted the appeal of higher-yielding emerging market currencies as the global economy has slowly recovered from recession.

"As long as rates remain low, we should keep seeing flows," said a trader in Mexico City.

The yield on the government's benchmark 10-year peso bond MX10YT=RR bid down 2 basis points to 7.73 percent.

Mexico's peso has gained close to 6 percent from a low in early February, supported by bets of a rebound in Mexican exports.

The peso is trading near the key psychological level of 12.50, which it has been unable to decisively break since losing around one-quarter of its value in late 2008.

"We are seeing a conflict zone here," said Ramon Cordova, a trader at brokerage BASE in Monterrey. "What we are lacking is a rally in stocks that has a bit more conviction," he said.

Mexico's finance ministry said in a statement posted on its website on Tuesday it would sell a 30-year inflation-linked bond with a coupon of 4 percent through a syndicate of banks.

RBC Capital Markets said in a note to clients that the ministry aimed to sell between 15 billion to 20 billion pesos of the bond either late this week or in the coming week.

The sale will mark Mexico's second bond sale through a syndicate of banks, rather than through the government's weekly debt auctions.

The finance ministry was not immediately able to comment.

The syndicated sales allow the government to place a large enough volume of new bonds so that the new issues quickly become benchmarks in the secondary market.

The issuance of new bonds in greater initial volumes is also needed for Mexico to be included in Citigroup's World Government Bond Index, analysts said.

In stock trading, America Movil (AMXL.MX), Latin America's top wireless operator, rose 1.43 percent to 30.43 pesos.

Shares in Telmex (TELMEXL.MX), Mexico's biggest fixed-line phone company, fell to a three-year low, losing 3.73 percent to 9.30 pesos after Morgan Stanley cut its price target on the company's U.S. traded shares to $16 from $19.

Telmex shares in New York TMX.N fell 2.57 percent to $14.80. Telmex shares have been sliding in recent months as it loses market share to smaller companies. (Reporting by Michael O'Boyle and Jean Luis Arce; Editing by Andrew Hay) ((michael.oboyle@thomsonreuters.com; +5255-5282-7153; Reuters Messaging: michael.oboyle.reuters.com@reuters.net))

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