Chile jobless survey drags on shares, peso falls

(Updates with bourse close)

By Alexia Vlahos

SANTIAGO, April 23 (Reuters) - Chilean shares closed slightly firmer on Thursday, as a study showing unemployment hit a more than 5-year high in the capital in March countered the pull of gains on a volatile Wall Street, traders said.

The peso closed slightly weaker, weighed down by weaker prices for No.1 export copper.

The IPSA .IPSA leading share index closed 0.16 percent firmer at 2,680.51 points, preliminary closing data showed, while the all-market IGPA index .IGPA closed 0.14 percent firmer at 12,770.18 points.

The bourse is now up 12.8 percent year-to-date.

"The economic outlook for this country is looking bad," said Felipe Cruz, a trader with CorpCapital Brokerage. "The stock market is going to remain volatile."

Unemployment in Santiago rose to 12.8 percent in March, or 363,900 people, according to the study, its highest rate since September 2003, underscoring a sharp slowdown in the economy as global crisis chokes demand at home and abroad.

The study showed a 24.3 percent fall in jobs in the construction sector and a 15.6 percent fall in industry jobs.

The government is due to publish national unemployment data for the January-to-March three month period next week. The jobless rate in the immediately preceding December-to-February period was 8.5 percent according to data published last month.

Soquimich SQM_pb.SN, Chile's leading exporter of fertilizer and the world's biggest producer of iodine and lithium, closed 0.96 percent higher at 17,860 pesos a share.

CCU CCU.SN, Chile's largest brewer, fell 1.70 percent to 3,479.80 pesos, while industrial conglomerate Copec COP.SN, the most heavily weighted share on the bourse, fell 0.19 percent to 5,836.30 pesos.

Banco de Chile CHI.SN, Chile's second biggest bank, rose 0.15 percent to 33.85 pesos, while leading private bank Santander Chile STG.SN rose 0.58 percent to 20.89 pesos a share.

Cencosud CEN.SN, one of Latin America's biggest retailers, fell 0.27 percent to 1,144.80 pesos a share.

Shares of regional energy group Enersis ENE.SN rose 0.98 percent to 178.46 pesos a share, while electricity generator Endesa Chile END.SN fell 0.58 percent to 737.73 pesos.

The peso CLP=CL closed 0.17 percent weaker at 584.80/585.30 per dollar compared with Wednesday's close at 583.80/584.10.