Mexico stocks jump as Cemex surges on debt optimism

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MEXICO CITY, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Mexican stocks rallied on Wednesday as shares in the world's No. 3 cement maker, Cemex, surged nearly 25 percent on optimism it would refinance its massive debt payments due next year.

The benchmark IPC stock index .MXX closed up 3.77 percent at 20,025.79 points.

The peso <MXN=>MEX01 firmed for its third straight session, gaining 0.6 percent to 13.195 per dollar.

Shares in Cemex which has big U.S. operations, surged 24.86 percent to 8.64 pesos, its biggest one-day percentage gain since 1992, according to Reuters data.

On Wall Street, Cemex stock) soared 29.67 percent to $6.60.

Analysts said investors were more optimistic that the Monterrey-based company may be nearing a deal to refinance part of the payments on $6.6 billion in debt due by the end of next year.

"There is no specific news, but we all know that they are working on the restructuring," said Gonzalo Fernandez, an analyst at Santander in Mexico City.

By last Friday, the stock had lost about 40 percent since the end of October, hitting its lowest price since early 1999. 

"Its stock had been destroyed," said Eduardo Saenger, head of equity trading at BullTick Capital Markets in Mexico City.

Despite more bleak U.S. economic data released on Wednesday, U.S. stocks rose sharply as investors went bargain-hunting in the technology and telecom sectors.

That helped lift shares in America Movil Latin America's top cell phone supplier, which gained 3.47 percent to 20.25 pesos while its New York-traded stock added 3.8 percent to $30.83.

Latin America's biggest bottler and brewer, FEMSA gained 4.83 percent to 37.15 pesos while its Wall Street shares gained 6.17 percent to $28.41.

The IPC is down more than 32 percent from the beginning of the year and has been hammered in recent months by increasing signs of a recession in the United States, Mexico's top trading partner.

Mexican markets brushed off the latest stream of bad economic news, including a sharp drop in U.S. durable goods orders, as analysts said peso-denominated assets have already priced in the possibility of a deep economic downturn.

The yield on the government's benchmark 10-year peso bond <MX10YT=RR> fell 12 basis points to 9.19 percent.

Mexico's central bank is widely expected to keep its key interest rate steady at its monthly policy meeting on Friday while inflation continues to climb even as the economy slows. (Reporting by Michael O'Boyle; Editing by Dan Grebler)