Mexico shares up; Brazil falls after 2-day gain

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) � Latin American markets closed mostly higher Thursday following gains in U.S. stocks on expectations for further government economic stimulus, but pressure from European debt problems remained.

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�Debt problems in Spain reflect on the economy of Latin America and bring trade pressure,� said Richard Hastings, macro strategist at Global Hunter Securities, �We have a good outlook on Mexico in general, they have good demand for transportation fuel, but we are worried about inflation.�

Mexico�s IPC index MX:IPC rose 0.8% to close at 37,440.48. The share price of Mexican supermarket chain operator Controladora Comercial Mexicana S.A.B. de C.V. MX:COMERCIUBC gained nearly 12%. Costco Wholesale Corp. COST �said subsidiaries will buy a 50% share interest in Costco de Mexico for about $760.4 million from the company.

Brazil�s Ibovespa BR:BVSP �fell 0.5% to 55,351.67 after gaining for two days. Energy-sector heavyweight Petrobras BR:PETR4 �lost 3.9%. The company�s five-year plan, featuring an investment-rate increase of 5.3%, was approved Thursday, media reported.

Petrobras reduced its output and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries did not change its output quota, said Hastings. �The oil organizations look at global demand with suspicion, they don�t want to overproduce.�

Home builder Gafisa S.A BR:GFSA3 �climbed 5.6% to rank among top gainers.

Also in Brazil, retail sales increased 0.8% in April from March, the government statistics agency IGBE reported Thursday. That fell short of the 1.5% expected by analysts polled by local news agency Estado, according to Dow Jones.

Chile�s IPSA equity index CL:IPSA �gained 0.4% to 4,274.41. Chile�s central bank will hold a monetary policy meeting later on Thursday and analysts expect the benchmark rate of 5% to remain.

�There is less need for Central Bank of Chile to post tightening rates,� said Bruce Zaro, Chief Technical Strategist at Delta Global Asset Management. Zaro said that many emerging markets and Latin America in particular were going to enter a cycle of rate cuts.

A view of the Brazilian financial capital Sao Paulo.

Argentina�s Merval AR:MERV was lifted by oil and financial industries stocks and advanced 1.8% to 2,190.82 after four days of losses.

The U.S. stock market jumped Thursday on media reports signaled possible European central-bank action and economic data added to the case for further moves by the Federal Reserve to bolster growth. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA �rose 1.2%, and the S&P 500 Index SPX �closed up 1.1%. Read more on U.S. stocks.