Chile market ends flat, peso continues skid

SANTIAGO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Chile's bourse closed flat on Monday, influenced by profit-taking on Wall Street and low trading volumes, while the peso extended its skid against the greenback, traders said.

Chile's blue-chip IPSA stock index .IPSA closed down 0.14 percent to 3,276.45 points, while the all-market index .IGPA fell 0.1 percent to 15,502.47 points. Share prices dropped for companies ranging from iron ore producer CAP CAP.SN to brewer CCU (CCU.SN).

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI closed down 0.34 percent to 9,337.95 as investors booked profits ahead of a Federal Reserve Board meeting and earnings from top U.S. retailers.

"Volumes today were very thin throughout the day, and that comes as a bit of a surprise based on the performance of last week in which volumes were up," said Allan Becker, a trader with CorpResearch.

Last week, the IPSA surged to a 21-month high, but ended the week slightly down amid profit-taking and a series of negative economic data.

Among the economic indicators last week was a 0.4 percent dip in July consumer prices and a greater-than-expected decline in the IMACEC, the economic activity index, of 4.0 percent for June compared with a year earlier.

Becker said trading volumes could remain low in the short term as no key economic data is expected to be released this week.

Shares of CMPC CAR.SN, one of the nation's largest producers of pulp, had their biggest drop in seven weeks following weak second-quarter earnings, ending 3.57 percent lower at 16,699 pesos.

Shares of Integrated steel and iron ore producer CAP fell 0.48 percent to 13,479 pesos, while brewer CCU fell 0.43 percent to 3,827.30 pesos.

Highly traded Endesa END.SN, Chile's largest power generator in terms of installed capacity, was up 1.09 percent to 877.99 pesos a share.

The peso CLP=CL fell for the fourth consecutive day on Monday, dropping 0.77 percent as the dollar gained ground against the euro.

The peso closed the session at 547.00/547.30 per U.S. dollar compared with Friday's close of 542.80/543.30.

The peso has gained 17.18 percent against the dollar so far this year after slumping 22.3 percent in 2008.

Earlier in the day Chile's central bank sold $40 million at an average price of 546.40 pesos as part of a government program to sell $4 billion to close its fiscal growing deficit. (Reporting by Aaron Nelsen; Editing by Leslie Adler)