By Carla Mozee

Latin American stocks rose Friday and major benchmarks posted weekly advances, aided by bets that demand for regional products and services will strengthen as the pace of U.S. job losses begins to moderate.

Mexico's IPC rose 1.4% to close at 28,179.55, the highest level so far this year. Gains were bolstered by telecom, industrial and transportation issues. Shares of cement maker Cemex (CX) rose 2.2%, and fixed-line operator Axtel surged 7.8%.

Mineral miner Autlan shares jumped 5.2%. Copper miner Grupo Mexico picked up 2.1% and beverage maker Femsa (FMX) rose 0.6 %.

Brazil's Bovespa gained 1% to 56,329.51, paced by manufacturing, steel and transportation stocks. Shares of Vale (RIO), the world's largest provider of iron ore, rose 1%.

Gol (GOL) bounced 10% higher for its best close since early-September 2008. The air carrier reported a load factor of 71.5% in July, compared with 63.8% in June. Load factor, or the percentage of seats filled with paying passengers, rose for the second month in a row.

Argentina's Merval rose 1.3% to 1,799.55. Chile's IPSA pared gains and finished up 2 points at 3,281.18.

Investors snapped up regional equities after the U.S. Labor Department said the jobless rate in July unexpectedly fell to 9.4% and U.S. nonfarm payrolls fell by 247,000.

Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected the jobless rate to rise to 9.7%, and the economy to have lost 275,000 jobs.

Though the overall figures were "flattered" by gains in the auto sector, the report is another sign that the recession is nearing an end, said Sal Guatieri, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, in a note Friday.

"However, still-high joblessness and debt burdens will keep consumers in a funk for some time," he said.

The better-than-expected jobs report fueled a rally in Mexico's currency, which traded at 12.943 pesos per dollar from Thursday's close at 13.036.

Mexico's economy is closely linked with the U.S.' because it sends roughly 80% of its products to its neighbor.

Brazil's currency also gained ground, fetching 1.821 reals per greenback from a close at 1.836 in the previous session.

Among ETF, the iShares MSCI Mexico Investable Index (EWW) climbed 2.6%, and the iShares MSCI Brazil index (EWZ) rose 1.9%.

The Mexican ETF finished up 6.3% for the week and the Brazilian ETF rose 6%.

Inflation reports; weekly gains

Also on Friday, newly released reports from Brazil and Mexico showed annual and monthly inflation in each country eased in July.

Mexico's central bank said inflation on a 12-month basis rose 5.44% in July from a 5.74% rise in June. Inflation is at its lowest level since July 2008, but remains above the central's banks annual target of 3%, plus or minus one percentage point.

Core inflation was 5.3%, down from June's reading of 5.4%.

On a month-over-month basis, consumer prices rose 0.27%.

The IBGE statistics agency in Brazil said decreases in prices for food contributed to an annual inflation reading of 4.5%, down from 4.8% in the year-ago period.

The annual rate is now in line with Brazil's inflation target of 4.5%.

For the month, Brazilian consumer prices rose 0.24%, compared with a 0.36% rise in June. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected a rise of 0.27% in July.

Turning to equity benchmarks, the Merval, the IPC and the Bovespa recorded wins for the fourth week in a row.

The Merval rose 4.6%, the IPC gained 4.2% and the Bovespa finished 2.9% higher.

The IPSA's weekly advance was 1.6%. It lost 0.7% in the previous week.