By Anthony Esposito MEXICO CITY, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Mexican shares posted their biggest gains in five years in 2017 as concerns about potential damage from U.S. Donald Trump's policies waned, while Chilean stocks had their best performance since 2010 following the election of a pro-business president.
Mexico's S&P/BMV IPC rose 1.01 percent on Friday, as strong corporate earnings helped the index increase 8.1 percent overall in 2017 despite concerns surrounding the ongoing talks to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a backbone of Mexico's economy.
Trading volume was low in the run-up to the New Years holiday.
The Mexican peso closed marginally higher on Friday, capping off its first year of gains since 2012. The peso pulled off the feat even after sinking 5.7 percent in December, its worst month since Trump was elected in November 2016.
For its part, Chile's benchmark IPSA stock index gained 0.25 percent on the last trading day of the year. It rose 34 percent for the year, boosted by the bigger-than-forecast electoral win of conservative Sebastian Pinera to the nation's highest office. Improved prices for Chile's top export copper also underpinned share prices.
Argentina's peso currency posted its sharpest single-day gain since August on Friday, after a loosening of government inflation targets the prior day sent it tumbling to historic lows against the U.S. dollar.
The peso closed up 3.2 percent at 18.65 per dollar, recovering most of the losses it suffered on Thursday after the government raised prospects of an interest rate cut by raising its 2018 inflation target to 15 percent, up from 10 percent previously.
Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 2050 GMT: Stock indexes daily % YTD % Latest change change MSCI Emerging Markets 1159.40 0.5 33.78 MSCI LatAm 2826.99 0.29 20.43 Brazil Bovespa 76402.08 0.43 26.86 Mexico IPC 49355.81 1.01 8.13 Chile IPSA 5564.60 0.25 34.04 Chile IGPA 27980.78 0.25 34.95 Argentina MerVal 30073.56 0.33 77.76 Colombia IGBC 11478.10 0.95 13.33 Venezuela IBC 1263.14 0.03 -96.02 Currencies daily % YTD % change change Latest Brazil real 3.3141 -0.02 -1.96 Mexico peso 19.6590 0.22 5.52 Chile peso 614.65 -0.02 9.12 Colombia peso 2981.79 -0.03 0.66 Peru sol 3.237 0.09 5.47 Argentina peso (interbank) 18.6000 3.49 -14.65 Argentina peso (parallel) 19.23 0.21 -12.53 (Reporting by Anthony Esposito; editing by Diane Craft)