SAO PAULO, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Equities markets across Latin America fell on Thursday amid light Thanksgiving trading, led by the blue-chip IPSA index in Chile, where investors are still jittery over a weak performance by conservatives in elections over the weekend.
On Thursday, leftist Chilean presidential candidate Alejandro Guillier - who is competing in a tight runoff after coming in second in first-round elections on Sunday - said he was open to eliminating Chile's quasi-private pension fund system in favor of a state-run model.
Additionally, workers at BHP Billiton Ltd's BLT.L BHP.AX Escondida copper mine in Chile, the world's biggest, walked off the job temporarily, spooking investors in the mining-dependent country. The IPSA .IPSA was off 1.27 percent in midafternoon trading.
Brazil's Bovespa .BVSP was down 0.72 percent as President Michel Temer continues to face difficulties pushing through a pension reform seen as key to shoring up the nation's fiscal health.
On Wednesday night, the congressman in charge of drafting the reform presented a new version in an event at Temer's official residence. However, attendance was poorer that expected, which some analysts interpreted as a sign of relatively weak support for the measure.
Among the poorly performing major constituents of the index was steelmaker Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA USIM5.SA , which was off 1.2 percent.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1601 GMT: Stock indexes
daily %
YTD %
Latest
change
change MSCI Emerging Markets
1152.44
-0.37
34.14 .MSCIEF
MSCI LatAm .MILA00000PUS
2811.31
-0.14
20.27
Brazil Bovespa
73979.88
-0.72
22.83
Mexico S&P/BVM IPC
48219.39
0.05
5.64 .MXX
Chile IPSA
5063.67
-1.27
21.98
Chile IGPA
25504.43
-1.19
23.01
Argentina MerVal
27092.33
-0.86
60.14
Colombia IGBC
10868.33
-0.09
7.31
Venezuela IBC
698.32
0.25
-97.80
Currencies
daily %
YTD %
change
change
Latest
Brazil real
3.2333
0.02
0.49
Mexico peso
MXN=D2
18.6030
0.22
11.51
Chile peso
CLP=CL
635
-0.28
5.62
Colombia peso COP=
2975.32
-0.08
0.88 Peru sol
PEN=PE
3.236
0.00
5.50
Argentina peso (interbank)
17.4000
0.23
-8.76 ARS=RASL
Argentina peso (parallel)
18.1
0.22
-7.07 ARSB=