EMERGING MARKETS-Colombian peso gains on oil amid Middle East tension

    BRASILIA, April 11 (Reuters) - Colombia's peso led Latin
American currency gains as oil prices surged over tensions in
the Middle East, but responses in other markets were muted amid
broader caution as the United States threatened military action
in Syria.
    The Colombian peso, already near a three-year high,
rose 1.47 percent to 2731.45 to the dollar as oil prices climbed
after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to fire missiles at
Syria in response to a suspected chemical attack.
    Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it intercepted missiles over
its capital, Riyadh, as Yemen's Houthis have stepped up missile
attacks on the kingdom, bolstering the oil rally.
    Colombia's stock market mirrored the gains with the IGBC
index rising 1.48 percent.
    Amid otherwise flat regional markets, Brazil's Bovespa index
 rose 0.78 percent after the country's Supreme Court put
off consideration of a petition that could potentially free
former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was jailed on
Saturday on a corruption conviction. 
    Lula leads opinion polls for the October presidential
election but is seen by markets as potentially derailing the
country's austerity efforts.
    Planemaker Embraer SA rose sharply for a second
day, gaining 4.20 percent, on a report that it was closer to a
tie-up with Boeing cO after presenting the government
with a proposed business model.
    Kroton Educacional SA gained more than 3 percent
following its first acquisition in the basic education segment.
    Meanwhile, ordinary shares in Eletrobras fell
2.21 percent on a newspaper report that an auction of six of its
power distributors would not go ahead on May 21, a move seen as
a prerequisite for the company's privatization.
     
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1539 GMT:
    
 Stock indexes                            Daily %    YTD %
                            Latest         change   change
 MSCI Emerging Markets         1175.45       0.01     1.46
                                                   
 MSCI LatAm                    3051.33       1.08     6.74
                                                   
 Brazil Bovespa               85162.26       0.77    11.47
                                                   
 Mexico IPC                   48397.59       0.14    -1.94
                                                   
 Chile IPSA                    5607.12       0.02     0.76
                                                   
 Chile IGPA                   28058.22      -0.02     0.28
                                                   
 Argentina MerVal             32246.71       0.08     7.25
                                                   
 Colombia IGBC                12297.13       1.52     8.15
                                                   
                                                          
 Currencies                               Daily %    YTD %
                                           change   change
                                Latest             
 Brazil real                    3.3944       0.48    -2.39
                                                   
 Mexico peso                   18.1945       0.36     8.27
                                                   
 Chile peso                     597.25       0.45     2.91
                                                   
 Colombia peso                 2733.02       1.41     9.11
 Peru sol                        3.235       0.12     0.06
                                                   
 Argentina peso                20.1500       0.06    -7.69
 (interbank)                                       
                                                   
 Argentina peso                  20.42      -0.10    -5.83
 (parallel)                                        
                                                   
 


 (Reporting by Jake Spring; editing by Jonathan Oatis)