By Susan Mathew Dec 12 (Reuters) - Latin American stocks and currencies sold off on Monday, with Brazil's main stocks index down almost 3% as investors braced for a slew of central bank meetings this week that could set he tone for the year ahead. Weighing on Brazil's Bovespa stock index were banks, state oil firm Petrobras and miner Vale with analysts citing reports of leadership changes at Petrobras and the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) as sowing uncertainty. Petrobras shares slumped 5%, while the Brazilian real tumbled 2% against the dollar. While several emerging market central banks look to wind up their interest rate hiking cycles after starting early and going big, continued hikes by other major central banks such as the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Europe Central Bank could pose a threat to risk sentiment and interest rate differentials that make riskier currencies appealing. Uncertainty looms as markets keenly wait to see if the Fed will indeed opt for smaller hikes after four straight 75 basis point hikes, while the ECB and the Bank of England are both expected to strike a hawkish stance. Central bank decisions from Mexico and Colombia are awaited in Latin America. Declines in Mexico's peso were capped by data showing Mexican industrial output rose 0.4% in October from September and was 3.1% higher year-on-year, while Colombia's peso dropped 0.5%. MSCI's index of emerging market currencies is down 0.4% after three days of gains against a weaker dollar, with South Africa's and China's yuan also down 1.3% and 0.2%, respectively. Peru's sol outperformed, jumping 0.6% after Peru's new President Dina Boluarte on Saturday named a Cabinet with pro-market Deputy Finance Minister Alex Contreras appointed as finance minister. Strategists at Citigroup said the appointment of Contreras "is technocratic, and thus should reduce perceived risks of strong changes in macro management." With Contreras as finance minister and Julio Velarde heading the central bank, "both fiscal and monetary policy remains under market friendly leadership, despite the political noise," they said. On Monday Boluarte said she would submit a bill to Congress to bring general elections forward two years to April 2024, amid protests in the Andean nation following the ouster of former leader Pedro Castillo. Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1540 GMT: Stock indexes Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging Markets 962.78 -1.58 MSCI LatAm 2075.41 -3.27 Brazil Bovespa 104520.71 -2.79 Mexico IPC 50466.25 -1.2 Chile IPSA 5226.10 0.64 Argentina MerVal 166748.61 -2.588 Colombia COLCAP 1231.87 -0.35 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 5.3431 -1.83 Mexico peso 19.8143 -0.26 Chile peso 860.7 0.02 Colombia peso 4823.26 -0.36 Peru sol 3.8125 0.51 Argentina peso (interbank) 171.4300 -0.89 Argentina peso (parallel) 309 2.27 (Reporting by Susan Mathew and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; editing by Grant McCool)