Chile stocks fall on raw materials, peso slips
(Adds analyst comments, closing stock figures)
SANTIAGO, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Chilean stocks closed lower in light trade on Tuesday, led by falling commodities issues as investors eyed volatile Wall Street gains, while the peso fell against the dollar.
The blue-chip IPSA index .IPSA fell 0.70 percent to close at 2,317.95 after falling nearly 3 percent on Monday, while the all-market IGPA .IGPA dipped 0.59 percent to 11,165.05, preliminary closing figures showed.
In U.S. markets, the S&P 500 index .SPX rose nearly 4 percent, following Monday's 7.7 percent slide, as investors sought bargains in energy and defensive shares.
"Wall Street gains were very volatile today," said Agustin Alvarez, an analyst with the BICE brokerage. "While trade volumes in Chile were very low and declines were concentrated in commodities."
Forestry sector losses were led by wood pulp producers, with industrial conglomerate Copec COP.SN, down 1.82 percent and CMPC CAR.SN, falling 2.53 percent.
Percentage loss leaders included fertilizer exporter Soquimich SQM_pb.SN, also the world's leading iodine and lithium producer, down 3.17 percent, and iron ore exporter CAP CAP.SN, slumping 5.22 percent.
Shares of leading bank Santander Chile STG.SN led its sector with a loss of 4.08 percent to 20.00 pesos.
Endesa Spain (ELE.MC) regional electric utilities Enersis ENE.SN (ENI.N) and Endesa Chile END.SN (EOC.N) helped offset losses with advances of 1.47 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively. The two companies account for about 20 percent of capitalization on the IPSA.
Of Chile's 40 blue-chip issues, 16 closed lower, 12 higher, and the remaining 12 were unchanged.
The peso CHILJCLP=CL weakened 0.78 percent to close at 670.50/671.00 per dollar from Monday's close at 665.30/665.80.
"The peso opened with a gain because markets were positive, but fell gradually on demand for dollars to renew forward operations and as foreign markets became more volatile," said one trader. "Market instability makes investors nervous and that works against emerging currencies."
Emerging currencies and commodities have taken a beating as global investors have shed volatile assets in favor of bonds. (Reporting by Lisa Yulkowski and Froilan Romero; Editing by James Dalgleish)
