* Chilean peso drops after voters reject new constitution
* Brazil stocks lead equity gains
* Argentina announces 'power sector emergency'
* Stocks up 0.2%, FX off 0.1%

By Siddarth S
       Dec 18 (Reuters) - Latin American stocks and currencies
made a steady start on Monday holding onto gains from last week
after the U.S. Federal Reserve's dovish tilt, while Argentina
stocks rose as the government announced a power sector
"emergency".
    MSCI's gauge for Latin American equities
edged up 0.2% by 1517 GMT, while the broader currencies index
 was slightly down 0.1%.
    Investor sentiment on risk assets gained an upper gear after
the Fed on Wednesday kept interest rates steady and struck a
dovish tone of likely rate-cuts next year.
    The broader stocks had logged weekly gains of 3.7%, while
the currencies index edged up 0.2% last week.
    Argentina's Merval index climbed 1.6%, after having
lost 1.7% last week, as the new libertarian President Javier
Milei announced a power sector "emergency", saying his
government would tighten control over the country's local gas
and electricity regulators.
    The official peso was down slightly at 802.60 per
dollar.
    Last week, Milei rolled out his economic "shock therapy"
plans that included a 50% devaluation of the official peso and
cut down on energy subsidies as he looks to tackle the South
American nation's worst crisis in decades.
    Market attention shifted to Chile, as its voters on Sunday
rejected a new conservative constitution to replace its current
text that dates back to the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship.
    The Andean nation's peso fell 0.4%, while lower
copper prices also weighed further on the currency of the
world's largest copper exporter. 
    However, Chilean shares inched up 0.2%. 
    "This is the second attempt to approve a new Constitution in
Chile but unlike the previous process, this time the two options
did not imply a binary scenario in terms of the macro and
institutional framework of the country," JPMorgan said in a
note.
    "This has been one of the main reasons why we have been
flagging that from an equity market point of view this event
should not affect fundamentals materially," JPMorgan added.
    The country's central bank will also give its monetary
policy verdict on Tuesday, where it is expected to lower its
benchmark interest rate by another 50 basis points to 8.5%.
    Boosting broader equities, Brazil's Bovespa index
gained 0.5%, as the country's lower house approved a major
consumption tax overhaul on Friday, seen as capable of boosting
the country's potential growth.
    The real was steady.
    The Mexican peso dipped 0.4% , while the country's
central bank could weigh a rate cut in the first quarter of
2024, the bank board's governor said in an interview published
on Monday.
    Mexican private spending rose 1.2% during the third quarter
compared with the previous three-month period, while aggregate
demand remained unchanged, data showed.
    
    
    Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1517 GMT:
    

                      Latest   Daily
                                 %
                               change
 MSCI Emerging         996.27   -0.46
 Markets                       
 MSCI LatAm           2575.80    0.17
                               
 Brazil Bovespa      130814.6    0.47
                            3  
 Mexico IPC          56822.03   -0.54
                               
 Chile IPSA           6146.84    0.14
                               
 Argentina MerVal    939271.4   1.471
                            3  
 Colombia COLCAP      1167.96    0.46
                               
                                     
    Currencies        Latest   Daily
                                 %
                               change
 Brazil real           4.9390   -0.05
                               
 Mexico peso          17.2756   -0.53
                               
 Chile peso             873.7   -0.21
                               
 Colombia peso         3921.6    0.44
                               
 Peru sol              3.7505   -0.09
                               
 Argentina peso      802.6000   -0.19
 (interbank)                   
                               
 Argentina peso           945    2.65
 (parallel)                    
                               
 

 (Reporting by Siddarth S in Bengaluru; editing by David Evans)