EMERGING MARKETS-Latam equities leap following Trump's Davos comments with Brazil's BVSP at record high

By Twesha Dikshit and Ragini Mathur

Jan 21 (Reuters) - Latin American assets advanced on Wednesday as some investor concerns were allayed by U.S. President Donald Trump's speech at Davos, and Brazil's benchmark stock index hit a fresh record high.

Trump touched on multiple issues involving Greenland and Venezuela, stating that no nation except the U.S. could secure Greenland while taking back his earlier threats to use military force to achieve his goals.

The U.S. Greenland strategy has proved contentious, with NATO leaders warning it could cause a rift in the alliance. Global markets have been in a risk-off mood this week, with geopolitical headlines dominating.

"Markets have stabilized following the recent rates-led shock ... while EM and APAC assets are seeing renewed inflows," said Bob Savage, head of markets macro strategy at BNY. "Currency and policy credibility – rather than yield alone – remain central to positioning amid ongoing geopolitical and macro risk."

JPMorgan data showed that the flow of money into EM assets for 2026 was already half of the total recorded flows in 2025, pointing to a strong start after EM outperformed Wall Street last year.

MSCI's Latin American stocks gauge .MILA00000PUS rose 2.2%, posting its biggest one-day gain since November. A corresponding gauge for FX .MILA00000CUS added 0.7%.

STOCKS SHINE, FX BROADLY HIGHER

Brazil's benchmark index .BVSP rose 2.2%, surpassing 169,000 points for the first time. A poll showed President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the lead ahead of October's election, while Senator Flavio Bolsonaro gained support.

The country's central bank ordered the liquidation of Will Financeira SA, a unit of troubled lender Banco Master, a day after Mastercard MA.N said it had suspended Will Bank cards due to non-compliance under a payments agreement.

Mexico's economy likely expanded 2.3% in December year-on-year, according to a preliminary estimate from the national statistics agency. The benchmark stock index .MXX added 1% with data showing retail sales rose 1% in November from the prior month.

Peru's shares .MXNUAMPESCPGPE were up 0.4%. Colombia's index .COLCAP rose 0.7%, while those in Chile .SPIPSA and Argentina .MERV also moved higher.

Currencies were broadly higher with the Mexican peso MXN= strengthening 0.8% against the greenback. Chile's peso CLP= and Brazil's real both rose 1%.

Venezuela's private sector said economic measures taken by the interim government, including freshly injected foreign currency, could help stabilize the exchange market and prices.

The volume of Venezuelan oil exported as part of a $2 billion supply deal with the U.S. stood at 7.8 million barrels, vessel monitoring data and documents from PDVSA showed.

In other news, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, and Ukrainian officials later in an attempt to negotiate a peace deal.

Some Ukrainian international bonds rose nearly 1 cent, according to TradeWeb data.