Latin American stocks soared in midday trading Thursday, extending a recovery on the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to supply new lines of credit to Brazil and Mexico.Brazil's Ibovespa index was up 5 percent to 36,642, building on even stronger gains in the two previous sessions. Mexico's benchmark IPC index also jumped 5 percent to 20,119.
The Fed said it will provide up to $30 billion to the central banks of Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Singapore to help those countries deal with the global credit crisis. It is the latest in a series of "swap" arrangements where the Fed provides dollars in exchange for reserves of the other nations' currencies.
Argentina's Merval was up 5.1 percent at 965, Chile's IPSA rose 2.2 percent to 2,489, and Colombia's IGBC rose 3.2 percent to 7,179.
Big gains across the region this week reflect newfound optimism after a weeklong plunge in stock values and currencies. But Brazilian stocks are still down nearly 50 percent since May.
Also on Thursday, Brazil's Central Bank says it sold off nearly $1 billion in reserves to bolster the real's value against the U.S. dollar.
The Mexican peso was trading at 12.7 to the dollar.
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