Latin American Currencies Strengthen Against Greenback, Monday, June 18, 2007 9:42:48 AM

Latin American currencies strengthened against the American dollar Monday morning in New York. The Brazilian real and Mexican peso both moved higher versus the American counterpart. Trading took place amid data showing that the Brazilian central bank had raised its forecast for the country`s 2007 GDP growth.

The Mexican peso edged higher against the greenback Monday morning in New York. After choppy trading dominated the early-to-mid morning, the Mexican currency began to advance just before 7 am ET. At 8:40 am, the Mexican currency reached an intraday high of 10.7464. The peso pulled back from some of its gains to trade at a mark of 10.7568 at 9:16 am. This is compared to an intraday low of 10.7813 at 5:30 am.

The Brazilian real gained ground versus the American dollar Monday morning in New York. The Brazilian currency advanced sharply around 8 am ET, reaching a mark of 1.9018 at 9:25 am. This is compared to an intraday high of about 1.9000 at 8:30 am and an intraday low of about 1.9110 at 8 am. Traders considered a report from the Brazilian central bank`s weekly survey stating that it was raising its forecast for the country`s 2007 GDP growth.

Analysts raised their 2007 GDP expansion estimate to 4.25% from 4.2% in its previous survey. In 2006, Brazil`s GDP grew 3.7%. For the first quarter, Brazil`s GDP grew 4.3% from last year, as falling domestic interest rates and expanding credit led to a strong performance in the services sector.

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