Chile stocks up with Wall Street, peso dips

By Alexia Vlahos

SANTIAGO, April 3 (Reuters) - Chilean shares closed firmer on Friday, following gains on Wall Street, while the peso fell slightly, weighed down by worse-than-expected U.S. jobs data, traders said.

The IPSA .IPSA leading share index rose 0.62 percent to close at 2,551.26 points after firming 0.72 percent on Thursday, preliminary closing data showed.

Wall Street's Dow Jones industrial average .DJI gained 0.5 percent.

"It was predictable behavior considering what we've seen for some weeks," said Rodrigo Martin, head of research with the Banchile brokerage. "We saw a less explosive return this week than on the Dow Jones, but that is explained by the good return on the bourse since the beginning of the year."

Soquimich SQM_pb.SN, Chile's leading exporter of fertilizer and the world's biggest producer of iodine and lithium, rose 2.14 percent to 16,725 pesos, while steelmaker Cap CAP.SN rose 2.23 percent to 9,686 pesos each.

Shares of regional energy group Enersis ENE.SN fell 0.03 percent to 172.51 pesos a share, while electricity generator Endesa Chile END.SN fell 0.12 percent to 734.08 pesos.

Chile's dominant airline, LAN LAN.SN (LFL.N), rose 1.09 percent to 5,171.10 pesos each.

The peso CLP=CLCLP= closed 0.14 percent weaker at 578.30/578.80 per dollar, pulled down by losses on global stock markets earlier in the day.