SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Major Latin American markets rose Wednesday, joining a global rally in equities after investors took comfort in the Federal Reserve's comments on Tuesday about the U.S. economic growth.
Brazil's Bovespa climbed 2.7% to end at 55,241.37 and Mexico's IPC rose 1.2% to 30,595.07 for a third straight day of gains.
Chile's benchmark IPSA index closed up 1% at 3,287.87 and Argentina's Merval rose 1.7% to 2,158.44.
Stock advances in Asia and Europe set the positive tone after the Fed acknowledged the recent turmoil in credit and financial markets, but said it still expects moderate growth in the economy. The central bank kept the interest rate at 5.25%, as expected.
A volatile day of trading on Wall Street left the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.19% up 154 points at 13,657, led by automaker General Motors GM, -0.11% The S&P 500 Index SPX, +0.24% picked up 20 points and Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.57% closed up 51 points at 2,613.
"The fact that the Federal Reserve mentioned the credit markets' problems in its statement is reassuring to the market," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co. See Market Snapshot .
In Brazil, the market received a boost from the electricity sector following results from CPFL Energia CPL, +0.17% Its shares surged 4.7% after the utility posted a 21% rise in second-quarter net earnings to 369 million reals ($195.7 million) on an 18% rise in net operating revenue to 2.22 billion reals.
In the group, CESP rose 2.3%, Copel ELP, +0.10% advanced 3.8%, and Eletrobras rose 4.3%.
Market players also digested a government report that said consumer prices, as measured by the IPCA index, rose 0.24% in July, slightly above market expectations of 0.23%, and below June's reading of 0.28%. Annualized inflation now stands at 3.74%, below the government's inflation target of 4.5% for the year.
"This still gives the central bank some more room for further [interest rate] cuts in order to let the economy expand at its natural capacity," Alfredo Coutino at Moody's Economy.com wrote in a research note.
Mexican stocks were higher across the board. TV Azteca surged 4.3% and rival Televisa TV, +0.27% closed up 0.4%.
Walmex's shares rose 1% and retailer Comerci edged up 0.3%.