*

MSCI Latam stocks index up 6%, FX up 1.8%

*

Trump suspends some tariffs for 90 days

*

IMF reaches $20 billion staff-level agreement with

Argentina

*

Brazil retail sales rise 0.5% in February to hit record

*

Mexico annual inflation accelerates in March

(Updates through later afternoon trade)

By Johann M Cherian and Lisa Pauline Mattackal

April 9 (Reuters) - Latin American stocks and currencies

leapt on Wednesday, reversing sharp declines after U.S.

President Donald Trump's announcement that he would temporarily

lower new tariffs on many countries provided some relief to

markets battered by worries about how his trade policies would

hit economic growth.

Trump said he would temporarily lower new tariffs less than

24 hours after they went into effect, though he further hiked

levies on Chinese imports to 125% from 104%. He also suspended

targeted tariffs on other countries for 90 days to allow time

for negotiations.

An index of Latin American currencies jumped 1.8%

, while an index of regional equities

soared 6%, its biggest one-day gain since

October 2022.

Before the announcement, global markets had seen a steep

selloff in both stocks and safe-haven government bonds

throughout the day.

"We didn't even have a whole day of reciprocal tariffs

before they got rolled back...this is the disciplining effect of

financial markets in evidence today," said Shaun Osborne, Chief

FX Strategist, Scotiabank.

The news was a welcome relief for markets, which have been

roiled by a constant back and forth on U.S. tariff policy and

retaliatory actions by other countries, though uncertainty,

particularly about the impact of tariffs on China, remained.

An index of global emerging market stocks has

dropped over 10% since Trump's initial "Liberation Day"

reciprocal tariff announcement.

The latest announcement comes after Beijing retaliated with

sharp levies against the U.S. earlier in the day.

"Tariffs haven't gone away - we've still got two global

trade heavyweights (the U.S. and China) slugging it out in the

middle of the ring," said Osborne.

Most emerging market sovereign dollar bonds remained broadly

lower across the board, particularly those from smaller and

riskier issuers, which has raised concerns about their

governments' ability to borrow money in the future.

The White House said a 10% blanket duty on almost all U.S.

imports will remain in place, and it appears that Trump's

announcement would not affect existing duties on autos, steel

and aluminum.

Mexico's peso jumped 2.9%, rebounding from a slump it

hit earlier in the session as it fell under the psychological

mark of 21 to the dollar. Chile's peso jumped 1.9%, while

Colombia's peso and Brazil's real leapt nearly 3%

each.

Stock markets across the region rose broadly.

Argentina's Merval index soared 9.7% in its best day

since November 2023, also lifted after the International

Monetary Fund was set to approve a $20 billion loan deal with

the country on Friday, its government said.

A White House official also said the 25% tariffs on Canadian

and Mexican imports not covered by existing free trade

agreements remained in effect.

Data showed Mexico's annual inflation in March remained

within the central bank's target range.

Further on the data front, Brazil retail sales rose 0.5% on

a monthly basis in February.

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 2010 GMT:

Equities Latest Daily %

change

MSCI Emerging Markets 1001.1 -0.15

MSCI LatAm 2015.24 5.98

Brazil Bovespa 127797.34 3.12

Mexico IPC 52609.45 4.56

Argentina Merval 2184917.0 9.761

6

Chile IPSA 7473.43 4.33

Colombia COLCAP 1601.6 3.15

Currencies Latest Daily %

change

Brazil real 5.839 2.86

Mexico peso 20.2357 2.9

Chile peso 980.18 1.94

Colombia peso 4297.5 2.8

Peru sol 3.715 0.77

Argentina peso (interbank) 1076.25 -0.02

Argentina peso (parallel) 1335 1.87

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Lisa Mattackal in Bengaluru;

Editing by Matthew Lewis and Shinjini Ganguli)