Chile's Peso Falls for a Second Straight Day as Price of Copper Declines

Chile’s peso slid for a second day as copper, the country’s main export, fell after a report showed U.S. business activity in August was the slowest this year.

The peso depreciated 0.6 percent to 503.32 per U.S. dollar at 11:21 a.m. New York time, from 500.48 yesterday. The drop pared the currency’s advance to 3.6 percent in August.

The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc. said today its business barometer dropped to 56.7 this month, the lowest since November, from 62.3 in July. Figures greater than 50 signal expansion. The MSCI Global stock index fell for a second day, and copper for December delivery dropped 1.3 percent in New York.

“The new information hasn’t dispelled the negative sentiment,” said Alejandro Araya, a currency trader at Banco Santander SA in Santiago. “The whole market is waiting for the U.S. jobs data on Friday, and the peso should trade between 500 and 505 per dollar until then.”

Chilean unemployment fell to 8.3 percent in the three months through July, from 8.5 percent a month earlier, the National Statistics Institute said today. Unemployment has declined from 11.6 percent a year earlier.

To contact the reporter responsible on this story: Sebastian Boyd in Santiago at sboyd9@bloomberg.net

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