* U.S. consumer data helps peso; Egypt worry lingers
* Brazil survey shows more rate hikes seen this year
* Chilean peso trades at nearly 1-month high
* Brazil real firms 0.71 pct, Mexican peso firms 0.54 pct (Recasts, updates prices; changes dateline, previous SAO PAULO)
By Sean Mattson and Silvio Cascione
MEXICO CITY/SAO PAULO, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Latin American currencies firmed on Monday and Chile's peso hit a nearly one-month high, helped by solid U.S. consumer spending and factory data that offset lingering fears about unrest in Egypt.
Monday's gains helped the Mexican peso cut some of its steep losses on Friday, when violent protests in Egypt rattled global financial markets. For details, see [ID:nLDE70O2DA]
"The market reacted very violently on Friday ... but the panic that was set off in emerging currencies and some emerging bonds was, for me, exaggerated," said Ramon Cordova, a currency trader at Base Internacional.
Data on Monday showed a measure of factory activity in the U.S. Midwest rose to a 22-1/2 year high in January while consumer spending ended 2010 on a firmer footing. [ID:nN31151915]
The United States is a major trading partner with Latin America and it is the top buyer of Mexico's exports.
Mexico's peso
The U.S. data helped push the price of copper, Chile's main export, toward a record high.
Chile's peso has recovered more than half of a 7 percent drop that followed the central bank's introduction of a $12 billion currency intervention program earlier in January.
Expectations that further intervention surprises are unlikely and bets that the central bank will resume hiking interest rates in February are boosting demand for the Chilean currency. [ID:nN31202514]
Brazil's currency strengthened as traders sought to boost the value of their month-end positions in the foreign exchange market amid concerns that the central bank could raise borrowing costs more than expected.
Investors stepped up their purchases of the Brazilian real
Adding to the real's strength, a central bank weekly survey
showed that year-end forecasts for the Selic
The real
Those gains could force the authorities to take even more aggressive action in the market to curb the currency's rise and protect exporters and local manufacturers.
"As the exchange rate approaches the threshold of 1.65 (per dollar), new measures should be announced," said Luciano Rostagno, chief strategist at CM Capital Markets.
The central bank will buy dollar forwards via three separate auctions on Monday, the latest in a series of steps to weaken the real from current levels. [ID:nN28245256]
It also called two auctions to buy dollars on the spot market as part of an effort to curb the currency's recent rally. The central bank has recently resumed holding two daily spot auctions.
The events in Egypt had a more significant impact on Brazil's real on Friday than earlier attempts by the central bank to tame the currency's gains. (Additional reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Editing by Dan Grebler)