Latam stocks open higher after Monday meltdown
Tuesday September 30, 11:08 am ET
By Alan Clendenning, AP Business Writer
Latam stocks open higher after biggest loss in nearly a decade


SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Latin American stocks opened higher Tuesday after steep losses the day before on fears that the United States' failure to bail out key financial institutions will cause a global recession and hurt commodities-based economies.
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The gains didn't come close to erasing Monday's markets carnage.

Sao Paulo's Ibovespa index rose 2.7 percent Tuesday morning to 47,271 after falling 9.4 percent a day earlier, its steepest fall since 1999. Brazil's currency, the real, regained some ground against the U.S. dollar after hitting a one-year low on Monday.

Mexico's main IPC index was up 1.3 percent to 24,272 while Chile's Ipsa index opened 1.8 percent higher at 2,678 and Buenos Aires's benchmark Merval index was up 2.6 percent to 1,586.

The modest rebound came a day after investors battered shares throughout the region, dumping emerging market positions that are seen as especially risky amid the current financial turmoil.

Tuesday's gains were being driven by large-scale investors shopping for bargains, said Marcos Crivelaro, a finance professor at Sao Paulo's FIAP university.

"They are seeing this as an opportunity," Crivelaro told Brazil's Globo TV.

Still, he warned that markets could turn lower at any time, depending on the status of the United States' stalled US$700 billion plan to bail out leading financial institutions and restore tightening global credit.

"It will continue to be very volatile if there is no agreement," said Isaac Coca, a financial advisor for the Mexican bank, Banca Patrimonial.