Brazil, Colombia, Mexico: Latin American Currencies Preview

By Alex Lange
March 3 (Bloomberg) -- The following events and economic reports may influence trading in Latin American local bonds and currencies today. Bond yields and exchange rates are from the previous session.
Brazil: The national surplus probably swelled to $1.4 billion in February, up from the $944 surplus reported in the previous month, according to the median forecast of 16 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
The Trade Ministry will release the data today at 9:00 a.m. New York time.
The real fell 1.3 percent to 1.6905 per dollar.
The yield on the zero-coupon, real-denominated bond due in January 2009 fell 1 basis points or 0.01 percentage point, to 11.83 percent, according to Banco Votorantim SA.
Colombia: President George W. Bush signed a measure on Feb. 29 to extend trade benefits allowing Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia to send most exports to the U.S. duty-free.
The extension, through the end of 2008, was approved last week by both houses of Congress without objection. The trade preferences, which have been in place since the early 1990s, are meant to encourage poor farmers in those nations to switch from coca production to flowers, asparagus or other legal crops.
The peso was little changed at 1839.1 per dollar.
The yield on Colombia's benchmark 11 percent bond due July 2020 rose 18 basis points, to 11.56 percent according to Colombia's stock exchange.
Mexico: Futures traders increased their bets that the Mexican peso will gain against the U.S. dollar, figures from the Washington-based Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Feb. 29.
The difference in the number of wagers by hedge funds and other large speculators on an advance in the peso compared with those on a drop, known as net longs, rose to 125,334 on Feb. 26, from 116,507 a week earlier.
The peso fell 0.37 percent to 10.7136 per dollar.
The yield on Mexico's 10 percent bonds due in December 2024 fell 4 basis points, to 7.588 percent according to Banco Santander SA.