The Invesco Perpetual Latin American Fund aims to achieve capital growth in Latin America. The fund intends to invest primarily in shares of companies in South and Central America (including Mexico) and the Caribbean, although it may include other Latin American related investments.
The crisis in global credit markets and the corporate failures of prominent financial institutions in the US and Europe during the month had an adverse impact on Latin American equities. With global events overriding country-specific issues, the MSCI Emerging Markets Latin America index fell by 17.7% in sterling terms.Brazil was the weakest performer in the region as a backdrop of softer commodity prices and higher interest rates soured investor sentiment. The Reuters CRB (US$) index, a benchmark for commodity prices, fell by 11.8% on concerns that a slowdown in global economic growth next year would result in reduced demand for natural resources.In the first non-unanimous vote since July 2007, the Brazilian central bank voted 5-3 to increase interest rates to 13.75% from 13.0%. Brazilian economic data releases were generally upbeat and gave no indication that the economy was slowing. Record job creation pushed unemployment levels down to 7.6% in August and helped maintain upward momentum in retail sales.
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