LATIN AMERICAN MARKETS: Brazilian Stocks Turn Lower; Mexican Shares Up

By Carla Mozee

Major Latin American markets closed mixed Friday, with Brazilian stocks ending lower as resource heavweights came under pressure.

Brazil's Bovespa fell 0.2% to 55,850.13, but finished off its lowest levels. The benchmark index closed up 3% for the week.

Shares of Petrobras (PBR) ended 0.3% lower but fell as much as 2.7% as crude- oil prices dropped, by more than $6 to $114 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as the dollar strengthened against its major competitors. The dollar index (DXY), which measures the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of currencies, rose 0.7% to 76.74.

Metals stocks weighed, with miner Vale (RIO) down 1.8%, and Usiminas off 1.5% as prices for silver, copper, gold and other metals slumped.

The market had moved slightly higher earlier in the session after inflation through mid-August eased back more than had been anticipated by economists.

UPDATE: Typhoon Nuri Lashes Hong Kong, Markets Shut

By Chris Oliver

HONG KONG (Dow Jones) -- Typhoon Nuri bore down on Hong Kong at midday Friday, lashing the city with heavy rain and gale-force winds, forcing the closure of financial markets, businesses, schools and nonessential government agencies.

The city was in lockdown mode, with ferry services suspended, after the local weather authority hoisted the level 8 storm warning signal at 7.40 a.m., warning the storm was on track for a direct hit.

Local market operator Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing suspended morning trading as the storm advanced. It said trading would be cancelled for the full session if the storm signal was still in effect at midday.

At 12 a.m. eastern Typhoon Nuri was about 50 miles southeast of Hong Kong and forecast to move northwest or west-northwest at about 8.8 miles per hour, according to the Hong Kong Observatory. The signal no. 8 is issued in the expectation of gale-force storms, those with a sustained speed of 39 to 73 miles per hour.