(Updated at 1458 GMT)

*

Peru's central bank expected to leave interest rates

unchanged

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Brazil's retail sales unexpectedly rise to record high in

May

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Latam stocks up 0.4%, FX off 0.1%

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Kenyan president sacks cabinet, bowing to pressure from

protests

By Johann M Cherian

July 11 (Reuters) - Currencies across most Latin

American economies see-sawed not far away from the unchanged

mark on Thursday, with investors cautious ahead of Banxico's

monetary policy minutes and an interest rate decision in Peru.

MSCI's index tracking regional currencies

was hovering near the flat mark against a weakening dollar,

despite data showing that headline U.S. consumer prices

unexpectedly fell in June.

However, the dollar's slip saw the Japanese yen

jump nearly 3%, its biggest daily surge since late 2022, raising

questions about official buying of the Asian currency.

Back in resources-rich Latin America, Brazil's real

slipped 0.1%, with traders assessing retail sales data that

showed an unexpected rise to record highs, a day after data

signaled moderating price pressures for consumers.

Markets also assessed the implications of a tax overhaul

that the country's lower house approved, which aims to boost

productivity by streamlining a tax system critics blame for

burdening businesses with excessive costs.

"It is a good thing because in the past ... it was a web of

taxes and it was so complicated that it discouraged a lot of

economic activity," said Eduardo Ordonez Bueso, an emerging

markets debt portfolio manager at BankInvest.

Separately, the country's Senate Committee postponed voting

on a constitutional amendment proposal granting the central bank

greater financial autonomy from the executive.

Concerns around Brazil's fiscal standing along with central

bank independence have been among top reasons for the real

trading near two-year lows following a recent plunge in value.

The Mexican peso edged up 0.1%, with investors

stepping to the sidelines in the run-up to the release of

minutes from Banxico's most recent policy meeting at which it

left interest rates unchanged.

Chile's peso and Peru's sol ticked up 0.3% and

0.8% respectively, with the currencies of both copper exporting

countries hovering near one-month highs.

Focus was on an interest rate decision by the Peruvian

central bank later in the day, where economists polled by

Reuters see borrowing costs being held at 5.75%.

MSCI's index tracking regional equity indexes

climbed 0.4%, with Brazil's Bovespa

adding 0.5%, helped by industrial-related stocks.

Bourses in Mexico, Chile and Argentina

rose between 0.4% and 1%.

Elsewhere, the yield on Kenyan dollar bonds

slipped over 14 basis points and the shilling weakened

nearly 1% against the euro. President William Ruto fired his

entire cabinet apart from the foreign minister, bowing to

pressure from nationwide protests that have created the biggest

crisis of his two-year presidency.

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies:

Latin American market

prices from Reuters

Stock indexes Latest Daily %

change

MSCI Emerging Markets 1126.50 1.38

MSCI LatAm 2309.93 0.36

Brazil Bovespa 127931.88 0.56

Mexico IPC 54449.87 0.31

Chile IPSA 6501.63 0.53

Argentina MerVal 1708173.89 1.075

Colombia COLCAP 1367.45 0.11

Currencies Latest Daily %

change

Brazil real 5.4237 -0.21

Mexico peso 17.8150 0.00

Chile peso 908.2 0.78

Colombia peso 3964.31 0.02

Peru sol 3.769 0.03

Argentina peso 919.0000 0.00

(interbank)

Argentina peso 1435 1.05

(parallel)