Updates with late-afternoon trading

By Twesha Dikshit and Purvi Agarwal

March 9 (Reuters) - Stocks in Latin America climbed back from early declines on Monday, following their steepest weekly fall in five years, as investors weighed the escalating conflict in the Middle East and the resulting surge in oil prices.

Iran named Mojtaba Khamenei as a successor to his father as supreme leader, signaling that hardliners remained firmly in charge and closing paths to a swift end to the 10-day conflict.

Oil prices soared to more than $119 a barrel as trade through the Strait of Hormuz remained halted, with some major producers cutting supplies and stoking investor worries over the global impact on inflation and interest rates.

They, however, settled at less than $100 per barrel, improving risk appetite slightly, partly aided by G7 nations saying they were prepared to implement "necessary measures" but stopped short of committing to release emergency oil reserves.

LatAm fared slightly better than other EM peers, with analysts pointing to its distance from the conflict and relatively lower reliance on oil imports that dragged down markets in Asia and emerging Europe.

"We are seeing some resilient positions in EM (and generally risk) as the base case for many is for this to be a temporary shock... the more the conflict extends, the more de-risking in markets we may see," said Alejandro Cuadrado, global head of FX and LatAm strategy at BBVA.

"Latin America still stands well positioned both from distance to conflict and its diversification. It is a net energy exporter, while EM Asia and parts of Europe/Africa can struggle with the fallout of triple-digit oil (prices)."

The MSCI index tracking Latin American equities .MILA00000PUS gained 1.1%. A similar gauge for currencies MILA00000CUS rose 1.5%.

STOCKS, FX MIXED ON OIL IMPACT

The Colombian peso COP= strengthened 0.3% against the greenback, while its benchmark index .COLCAP rose 2.4%.

Colombia's leftist ruling party and the main opposition were on track to win the largest number of seats in Congress in Sunday's legislative elections, according to a preliminary vote tally. Presidential elections will take place in May.

Brazil's real BRL= gained 0.9%, while shares of its state-run oil company Petrobras PETR3.SA added 4.5%. The blue-chip stock index .BVSP reversed declines to gain 0.3%.

Mexico's stocks .MXX fell 1.1%, with official data showing annual inflation accelerated more than estimated in February. Analysts expect that to delay further interest rate cuts.

Stock indexes in Peru .MXNUAMPESCPGPE fell 1%, but those in Chile .SPIPSA were last up 1%. Both countries are reliant on oil imports. The Chilean peso CLP= dropped 0.3%.

Meanwhile, dozens of U.S. and other investors planned to travel to Venezuela in the coming weeks with hopes of meeting the country's top leaders and scouting out investment opportunities, according to event organizers.

Elsewhere in emerging markets, bourses in the Middle East tumbled, with stocks in Israel .TA125, Dubai .DFMGI and Qatar .QSI falling between 2.6% and 2.9%.

The benchmark index in Turkey .XU100 closed 0.7% lower. The country, a neighbor of Iran, said NATO air defences shot down a second Iranian ballistic missile that had entered its airspace and warned it would retaliate against any such threats.

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies:

(Reporting by Twesha Dikshit and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Alistair Bell and Shilpi Majumdar)

((Twesha.Dikshit@thomsonreuters.com;))