SANTIAGO, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Chile's peso surged to a 15-month high on Monday, boosted as investors unwound carry trades and by a weaker dollar, while shares tracked gains on global bourses, traders said.

The peso firmed 1.76 percent to close at 512.20/512.70 per dollar compared with Friday's close of 521.20/521.70. It was the peso's highest close since August 2008.

The peso has gained more than 25 percent so far this year after sliding 22.3 percent in 2008 amid the worst of the financial crisis.

"The unraveling of carry trades means that capital taken out of the country in previous months is now starting to come back into the market, which is generating excess dollar liquidity," said a local foreign exchange dealer at the session's close.

Carry trades involve investors borrowing in countries where financing costs are cheap to invest in higher-yielding currencies. In recent sessions these positions have been unwound and U.S. dollars flowed into local markets, boosting the peso.

Chile's blue-chip IPSA share index .IPSA moved higher, led by increased demand for commodity and utility stocks.

The blue-chip IPSA rose 1.16 percent to close at 3,403.41 points and the all-market IGPA .IGPA closed 0.89 percent higher at 15,967.81 points.

"The IPSA moved 1 percent higher, mostly following the party on global markets, but it hasn't continued gaining, mostly due to the dollar's hard fall," said Roberto Guzman, head of investment for FIT Corredores de Bolsa brokerage.

Chile steel and iron ore producer CAP CAP.SN surged nearly 3 percent to 14,000 pesos a share, while Chile's leading electrcity generator Endesa END.SN, rose 1.9 percent to 835.10 pesos a share.