SAO PAULO, Sept 17 The Brazilian real plunged
nearly 2 percent on Thursday as investors saw no end to a
domestic political crisis that is hampering President Dilma
Rousseff's ability to approve crucial austerity measures.
    The real weakened to as much as 3.91 per dollar
earlier in the session, nearing a 13-year low, while other Latin
American currencies were steady or slightly weaker ahead of a
key monetary policy decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve at 1800
GMT.
    Uncertainty about whether the Fed would raise interest rates
now or later this year kept some investors in the sidelines.
    In Brazil, however, investors were fast to sell the real as
they feared lack of political consensus about crucial fiscal
measures would soon lead other ratings agencies to follow
Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade the country to junk.
    Unnerving investors were media reports that Rousseff was
under heavy pressure to make large concessions in the fiscal
savings plan, or even to return to spending more to stimulate
the economy. 
    "There is a lot of noise in the local market," said
Reginaldo Galhardo, head of currency trading at brokerage
Treviso in Sao Paulo. "That is destroying market fundamentals."
    The real has lost nearly one-third of its value so far this
year, the third-worst performer among the 152 currencies tracked
by Reuters. It was last 1.2 percent weaker at 3.88 per dollar.
    Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1505 GMT:
    
 Stock indexes                               daily %    YTD %
                                              change   change
                                  Latest              
 MSCI Emerging Markets               827.43     0.57   -13.97
 MSCI LatAm                          2038.2    -0.46   -24.93
 Brazil Bovespa                    48430.41    -0.25    -3.15
 Mexico IPC                        43435.19     0.38     0.67
 Chile IPSA                         3813.19     0.16    -0.98
 Chile IGPA                        18602.49     0.22    -1.42
 Argentina MerVal                 10747.649     0.42    25.28
 Colombia IGBC                      9692.77     0.15   -16.69
 Venezuela IBC                     13298.91        0   244.64
                                                             
 Currencies                                  daily %    YTD %
                                              change   change
                                     Latest           
 Brazil real                         3.8780    -1.16   -31.47
 Mexico peso                        16.5447    -0.02   -10.88
 Chile peso                           677.3    -0.08   -10.47
 Colombia peso                      2978.25    -0.44   -19.82
 Peru sol                            3.1911     0.22    -6.65
 Argentina peso (interbank)          9.3700     0.00    -8.75