* Chilean peso falls as much as 800 against the dollar
* Most Latam currencies fall as dollar firms
* Planemaker Embraer hits one-month low after results
* Mexican central bank meeting on Thursday
(Updates prices; adds news items)
By Medha Singh
Nov 12 (Reuters) - Chile's peso plunged to a record low on
Tuesday as massive anti-government protests showed little signs
of abating, while Latin American stocks tumbled, led by losses
in Brazil as some corporate earnings disappointed.
The Chilean peso dropped as much 800 against the
dollar, while stocks slumped to a two-and-a-half-year
low.
State workers and some unionized miners launched a nationwide
walk-off, saying they were not satisfied with the government's
decision to rewrite the country's constitution.
"It's probably long overdue, but markets fear that with all
these protests the government is just going to bow to the
populist pressures," said Win Thin, global head of emerging
market currency strategy at Brown Brother Harriman.
Chile's currency has tumbled about 10% in nearly a month as
the South American country reels from protests over inequality
and social injustice that has wreaked billions of dollars of
damage to public infrastructure and private businesses.
"It's not unique to Chile. We are having political
uncertainty in Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, but because it's
coming together at the same time it's making markets nervous,"
said Thin.
MSCI's index tracking Latin American currencies
fell for a seventh straight session. Brazil's
real lost 0.4% and Mexico's peso shed 1% against a
firm dollar.
Later this week the Mexican central bank is widely expected
to cut its benchmark lending rate for the third time this year
as the economy shows signs of stagnating, a Reuters poll showed.
MSCI's index of Latin American stocks
suffered its steepest fall in three months led by Sao
Paulo-listed shares, which fell nearly 1.7% to a
two-week low, weighed down by losses in financial stocks.
The top decliner on the Bovespa was planemaker Embraer
, down nearly 6% as it signaled it may issue a smaller
dividend as it burns through cash before finalizing a $4.2
billion commercial passenger jet deal with Boeing.
Shares of Petrobras Distribuidora dropped over 4%
after the fuel distribution company reported a fall in
third-quarter revenue.
Markets showed little reaction to U.S. President Donald
Trump's highly anticipated remarks to the Economic Club of New
York, which offered no fresh details on his administration's
long-running trade war with China.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1935 GMT:
Stock indexes daily % change
Latest
MSCI Emerging Markets 1054.28 0.13
MSCI LatAm 2685.70 -2.01
Brazil Bovespa 106706.10 -1.53
Mexico IPC 43278.55 -0.73
Chile IPSA 4546.96 -1.57
Argentina MerVal 33308.02 -1.049
Colombia IGBC 13307.91 -0.1
Currencies daily % change
Latest
Brazil real 4.1627 -0.50
Mexico peso 19.3273 -1.14
Chile peso 781.2 -3.42
Colombia peso 3406.45 -2.13
Peru sol 3.381 -0.59
Argentina peso 59.6950 0.01
(interbank)
(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru
Additional reporting by Sagarika Jaisinghani and Susan Mathew in
Bengaluru
Editing by Leslie Adler)
