EMERGING MARKETS — LatAm FX mixed as investors eye polls on Brazil elections

IMF urges LatAm to cut debt, lift productivity while tailwinds last Bolsonaro's lead over Lula narrows, polls this week show World Bank sees up to $5 bln in possible loans to Venezuela, report says By Sudeshna Ghoshal and Johann M Cherian Oct 16 (Reuters) — Most Latin American currencies were mixed on Friday, with the focus on Brazil as new polls showed both presidential candidates in a tight race, while investors also parsed index operator MSCI's warnings about Indonesia and Turkey's status as "emerging markets". New polls this week showed the lead achieved by right-wing candidate Senator Flávio Bolsonaro during the first-round vote appeared to be dwindling into a technical tie with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ahead of the presidential race on October 25. The latest was a survey by CNT/MDA. The real struggled to make strong gains and was last up 0.2% at 5 reals to the dollar, while the Bovespa index managed a 0.3% rise. However, both the assets were on course for weekly declines, with the currency and the equities benchmark set for their biggest weekly drop since mid-August. Analysts also noted the significance of the government passing legislation that would reduce the co