EMERGING MARKETS-Latam assets gain as trade war tensions ease; Trump's Gulf tour on radar

By Nikhil Sharma, Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal

May 13 (Reuters) - Most Latin American assets gained on Tuesday, with higher commodity prices providing a boost after a temporary reprieve in Sino-U.S. trade tensions, while investors monitored developments from U.S. President Donald Trump's tour of the Gulf region.

MSCI's index for regional currencies .MILA00000CUS jumped 1.2% to a near one-year high against the dollar, as the greenback USD= eased following strong gains on Monday.

Data showing that U.S. consumer inflation rose moderately in April also weighed on the dollar.

Global financial markets started the week on a firm note after the U.S. and China reached an agreement to temporarily slash tariffs. The U.S. said it would cut "de minimis" tariff for low-value items imported from China.

Trade uncertainty lingered because tariffs remain higher than last year, but optimism from the deal boosted commodity prices, helping export-heavy Latam economies.

Brazil's real BRL= jumped 1.3%, tracking prices of top export item iron ore. Minutes from the latest meeting of the country's central bank's showed policymakers were inclined to keep borrowing costs elevated for an extended period.

Mexico's peso MXN= rose 1.3%, trading at its highest since mid-October, while Colombia's currency COP= rose 0.1% — both tracking higher crude prices, which climbed more than $1 a barrel. O/R

Meanwhile, Trump announced that the U.S. will lift long-standing sanctions on Syria, and secured a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the U.S. on his Gulf trip.

The Saudi Arabian stock index .TASI closed up 0.4%.

Peru's sol PEN= edged 0.2% lower. The country's economic minister Jose Salardi was stepping down.

Commodity-linked companies in the region such as Brazil's Vale VALE3.SA, Colombia's Ecopetrol ECO.CN and Argentina's YPF YPFDm.BA gained on surging commodity prices.

Petrobras PETR4.SA was 1.7% higher after the Brazilian state-run oil company posted a higher quarterly net profit and announced about $2.1 billion in dividends.

Brazil's Bovespa .BVSP hit a record high in the day, helping MSCI's gauge of LatAm stocks .MILA00000PUS gain 2.8% — its highest since September.

"Latam will see greater demand for commodities and commodity exports to China (if EMs in Asia see strong currencies and lower rates) and that will help Brazil, Argentina, Chile the most," said Brad Bechtel, global head of FX at Jefferies.

"We are likely to see currency strength in Latam as well, which should provide further scope for rate reductions in the region."

Fitch upgraded Argentina's long-term foreign-currency and local-currency issuer default rating to "CCC+" from "CCC", but bonds remained steady and the currency ARS=RASL rose with peers.

The deputy governor of Argentina's central bank said he expected a slowdown in prices in April to continue into May.

Traders were also monitoring a Community of Latin American and Caribbean States' forum, where China's President Xi Jinping vowed to disburse 66 billion yuan ($9.18 billion) in credit to boost China's footprint in Latin America.

Elsewhere, India's rupee INR= dipped after slowing inflation data paved the way for more interest rate cuts, while South Africa's rand ZAR= was lower after data showed a jump in unemployment.