EMERGING MARKETS-Latam FX weaken, Brazil shares fall after four sessions

 Feb 4 (Reuters) - Brazil's real was on course for the
sharpest daily fall in two weeks on Monday, while Mexico's peso
also weakened against a dollar strengthened by upbeat U.S. jobs
data. The real slipped 0.6 percent, extending declines on
Friday, when markets were watching the progress in elections of
the leadership of Brazil's Senate and lower house. While the candidates elected to head both houses support
President Jair Bolsonaro's reform agenda, the aspirant for
Senate leader favored by economy minister Paulo Guedes lost to
Davi Alcolumbre of the Democratas party. Markets now await the presentation of the pension reforms to
Congress. "Any hint seems superficial till the text of the pension
reform is sent to Congress for consideration," brokerage
H.Commcor said in a statement. Stocks in Brazil also fell, for the first time in
five sessions, on broad-based losses amid subdued movements in
shares globally. Shares of iron ore miner Vale
weighed the most on the index. Vale needs to change its behavior, cooperate more with
authorities and be more transparent, Brazil's solicitor general
said on Saturday, as the death toll of a deadly dam disaster
reached 121, with 226 still missing. The solicitor general's office said all of the costs
associated with tragedy incurred by the federal government would
be charged to Vale. The miner has already cut production
forecast as it shut dams. Declining copper prices added to the weakness in the Chilean
peso, while the Mexico's currency slipped 0.4
percent. Investors await Mexico's central bank's interest rate
meeting on Thursday. The bank had raised rates by 25 basis
points to 8.25 percent in December. Analysts at Santander expect the central bank to maintain
the benchmark rate unchanged at 8.25 pct but said its comments
on inflationary pressures and growth will be relevant. Stock markets in Mexico were closed for a local holiday. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1415 GMT: Stock indexes Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging Markets 1045.54 -0.44 MSCI LatAm 2917.99 -1.1 Brazil Bovespa 97204.32 -0.67 Chile IPSA 5441.58 -0.21 Argentina MerVal - - Colombia IGBC - - Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 3.6816 -0.58 Mexico peso 19.1647 -0.37 Chile peso 655.6 -0.27 Colombia peso - - Peru sol - - Argentina peso - - (interbank) (Reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru;Additional reporting by Javier Leira)