Mexico peso firms after last week's intervention

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MEXICO CITY, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The peso firmed on Monday following last week's landmark intervention in currency markets by the central bank and ahead of a report on consumer prices that is expected to show inflation slowed in January.

The peso MXN= firmed 0.92 percent to 14.08 per dollar, gaining along with other major emerging market currencies.

Mexico's central bank sold dollars directly to banks last week for the first time in a decade, which helped pull the peso from its weakest level since new pesos were introduced in 1993.

Mexico's peso has lost around a quarter of its value since last August as investors dumped emerging market assets and Mexico's economy slowed due to falling demand in its chief export market, the United States.

"One would expect further intervention to keep the peso from losing its momentum," wrote Francisco Diez, director of emerging market trading at RBC Capital Markets in New York, in a note to clients.

The weak local currency could keep the central bank from lowering borrowing costs as quickly as it would like in order to boost the economy, which economists think is being dragged into recession by the U.S. downturn.

The central bank will report consumer price data for January on Monday at 9 a.m. local time (1500 GMT), and the data will likely show that inflation slowed from December, according to a Reuters poll. (Reporting by Michael O'Boyle in Mexico City; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)