By Walter Brandimarte 
    NEW YORK, July 16 (Reuters) - Latin American stock markets 
rose on Thursday as the Chinese economy grew more than expected 
in the second quarter and investors grew increasingly 
optimistic about the current earnings season. 
    China's annual gross domestic product growth accelerated in 
the second quarter to 7.9 percent from 6.1 percent in the first 
quarter. The news raised hopes the global economy, and 
especially Latin American countries that export raw materials 
to China, are pulling out of recession. 
    "That boosted commodity prices," said Bruno Lembi, partner 
with M2 Investimentos in Sao Paulo. 
    "The day was packed with positive economic and corporate 
news," he added. 
    Among the upbeat corporate news was a strong quarterly 
profit reported by JPMorgan Chase & Co <JPM.N>, which followed 
better-than-expected results from Intel <INTC.O> and Goldman 
Sachs <GS.N> earlier in the week. 
    The MSCI stock index for Latin America <.MILA00000PUS> 
ended 1.42 percent higher, with Chile's blue-chip IPSA index 
<.IPSA> gaining 1.74 percent. 
    The Mexican IPC index <.MXX> followed suit, climbing 1.58 
percent, while the Brazilian Bovespa index <.BVSP> rose 1.21 
percent. 
    Key Latin American currencies closed mixed, however. The 
Brazilian real <BRBY> gained 0.26 percent to 1.931 per U.S. 
dollar while the Colombian peso lost 0.25 percent to 2,024.00 
per greenback. 
    The Mexican peso <MXN=> was nearly flat early evening, at 
13.565 per dollar. 
  (Additional reporting by Aluisio Alves in Sao Paulo; Editing 
by Leslie Adler) 
   
    
Latin American market prices from Reuters            
            
Stock indexes                       Latest        % change 
---------------------------------------------------------- 
MSCI LatAm <.MILA00000PUS>        3,011.42            1.42 
Brazil Bovespa     <.BVSP>       51,918.20            1.21 
Mexico IPC          <.MXX>       25,735.56            1.58 
Chile IPSA         <.IPSA>        3,209.92            1.74 
Chile IGPA         <.IGPA>       15,220.07            1.5 
Argentina MerVal   <.MERV>        1,626.34            1.4 
Colombia IGBC      <.IGBC>        9,786.32            0.40 
Peru IGRA          <.IGRA>       13,071.30           -0.34 
            
Currencies                          Latest     Local forex 
                                                  % change 
---------------------------------------------------------- 
Brazil real       <BRBY>            1.9310            0.26 
Mexico peso       <MXN=>           13.5650            0.02 
Argentina peso*  <ARSB=>            3.8775           -0.45 
Chile peso      <CLP=CL>          537.2000            1.95 
Colombia peso   <COP=STFX>      2,024.0000           -0.25 
Peru sol        <PEN=PE>            3.0120            0.03 
* Argentine peso's rate between brokerages            
            
Global sovereign bonds         Bid price        Bid change 
---------------------------------------------------------- 
Brazil 2040    <BRAGLB40=RR>     130.688             0.188 
Mexico 2017    <MEXGLB17=RR>      101.875            0.437 
Argentina Disc <ARGGLB33=RR>      52.500             1.125 
Venezuela 2027 <VENGLB27=RR>      64.688            -0.250 
Ecuador 2015   <ECUGLB15=RR>      72.813             0.813 
            
Sovereign CDS-5 years            Latest        % pt change 
---------------------------------------------------------- 
Brazil    <BRGV5YUSAC=MG>        165.750            -2.972 
Mexico    <MXGV5YUSAC=MG>        212.060            -4.167 
Venezuela <VEGV5YUSAC=MG>      1,467.000            -50.047 
Keywords: MARKETS EMERGING/