EMERGING MARKETS-Latam FX near nine-month high; Argentine markets recover

By Purvi Agarwal

Feb 18 (Reuters) - Latin American currencies firmed on Tuesday, with MSCI's index tracking them set for a sixth session of gains, while investors monitored developments in the U.S.-Russia talks in Riyadh aimed at ending Moscow's war in Ukraine.

MSCI's gauge of LatAm currencies .MILA00000CUS was 0.4% higher on the day, at levels last seen in late May, while the equities index .MILA00000PUS was 0.2% higher.

Market focus remained on Riyadh, where the United States and Russia agreed to establish a process for settling the Ukraine conflict and to remove barriers for diplomatic missions.

Ukraine, which did not attend the talks, said no peace deal can be made on its behalf.

Ukraine's bond prices dipped broadly, with the one maturing in 2035 XS2895056369=TE down 1.31 cents to be bid at 58.05 cents on the dollar.

In Latin America, Brazil's real BRL= jumped 0.6%. Brazil's Treasury announced a new 10-year dollar-denominated sovereign bond, the so-called Global 2035, aiming to further its strategy of enhancing liquidity in the country's external yield curve.

Argentina's peso ARS= gained 0.1% while its international bonds recovered from early losses, a day after an investigation was launched into President Javier Milei's role in promoting a cryptocurrency that crashed.

Mexico's peso MXN= was 0.1% higher, after a preliminary estimate showed the economy likely grew 1.8% in January.

The Colombian peso COP= was up 0.6%. Chile's peso CLP= was the only exception, slipping 0.3%.

"If you look at the bigger picture and the trend of the past few weeks, you're seeing tailwinds for the region in the sense of the decompression that we had up until the end of last year," said Alejandro Cuadrado, managing director and global head of FX and LatAm strategy at BBVA.

Stocks in the region were mixed. Chile's IPSA index .SPIPSA was up 0.1%, Brazil's Bovespa .BVSP lost 0.4%, while Mexican stocks .MXX were 0.2% lower.

Argentina's Merval .MERV was an outlier, bouncing back with a 2.0% gain, and so was Colombia's COLCAP .COLCAP that was up 0.2%.

Chilean copper miner Antofagasta ANTO.L posted an 11% jump in annual core profit, helped by higher prices for the metal.

Meanwhile, a Reuters report said that Lebanon's new government will negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for a new programme and will work to deal with the country's financial default and public debt.

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1522 GMT: