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      Brazil inflation likely high in March- poll
    

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      Chile's copper exports rise in March
    

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      Latam FX off 0.3%; stocks up 0.4%
    

  
    By Amruta Khandekar
       April 10 (Reuters) - Latin American currencies fell on
Monday as the dollar firmed on data showing resilience in the
U.S. labor market that raised bets of another interest rate hike
by the Federal Reserve.
    Employers in the United States maintained a strong pace of
hiring in March, a closely watched report showed on Friday, when
the U.S. and most Latin American markets were closed for the
Good Friday holiday.
    The data bolstered expectations of a 25 basis point rate
hike from the Fed in May, dampening hopes of a pause in
tightening that was driven by a slew of weak economic data
preceding the jobs report.
    MSCI's Latin American currencies index was
down 0.3% by 14:28 GMT.
   "I think they (the Fed) will go 25 bps, but things are very
data dependent and we will continue to see huge moves off the
back of data releases," said Christian Lawrence, senior cross
asset strategist at Rabobank.
    Investor focus this week will be on U.S. inflation data, as
well as World Bank and International Monetary Fund's spring
meetings in Washington.
    The Brazilian real fell 0.5% against the greenback, a
day ahead of an inflation reading that will come amid President
Luiz Inacio Lula's criticism of its central bank's hawkish
stance. 
    Brazil's inflation likely stayed high in March on rising
gasoline bills and resurging cost of living problems in the
country's stagnant economy, a Reuters poll showed.
    The country's government expects monetary policy next year
not to be as restrictive as in 2023, an economy ministry
official said on Monday, stressing that a new fiscal framework
proposed by the administration would help bring interest rates
down.
     Mexico's peso dipped 0.7%, snapping two straight
sessions of gains. The country's automotive production and
exports rose in March from a year earlier, data showed on
Monday.
    The Chilean peso slipped 0.3% against the dollar. The
world's top copper producer saw exports of the metal reach $4.59
billion in March, up 9.9% from a year earlier, the central bank
said on Monday.
    Bucking the trend, the Colombian peso rose 0.4%. 
    Latam stocks rose 0.4%, helped by a 0.8%
rise in Brazil's Bovespa index with materials stocks
among the biggest boosts.
    Equities in Chile and Mexico also rose 0.2%
and 0.5%, respectively.
    Elsewhere in emerging markets, Egypt's annual urban consumer
inflation rate in March rose 32.7% year-on-year, just shy of an
all-time record of 31.9% in February, according to data on
Monday.   
    
    Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1428 GMT:
    
    
    Stock indexes             Latest    Daily % change
 MSCI Emerging Markets          987.55             0.05
                                        
 MSCI LatAm                    2173.71             0.34
                                        
 Brazil Bovespa              101732.08              0.9
                                        
 Mexico IPC                   53770.85             0.51
                                        
 Chile IPSA                    5285.10             0.21
                                        
 Argentina MerVal                 0.00                0
                                        
 Colombia COLCAP               1189.25            -0.36
                                        
                                                       
       Currencies             Latest    Daily % change
 Brazil real                    5.0865            -0.57
                                        
 Mexico peso                   18.2407            -0.69
                                        
 Chile peso                      820.8            -0.28
                                        
 Colombia peso                  4553.3             0.26
 Peru sol                       3.7486             0.02
                                        
 Argentina peso               213.2800            -0.96
 (interbank)                            
                                        
 Argentina peso                    387             1.29
 (parallel)                             
                                        
 

 (Reporting by Amruta Khandekar; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)