By Ken Parks
BUENOS AIRES--Argentina's bonds and stocks fell in the last
trading day of July as investors waited to see if the U.S. Federal
Reserve and European Central Bank will announce further stimulus
measures later this week.
Turnover on the local fixed-income market was 598.7 million
pesos ($130.6 million) on Tuesday, accounting for about 71% of the
total volume of securities traded on the exchange.
"Events abroad hit us [Tuesday]. There weren't any local data
that hit the [Argentine] markets," said trader Francisco Marra at
Bull Market Brokers, who sees value in U.S. dollar-denominated GDP
warrants and bank stocks.
European and U.S. stock markets closed lower as investors
fretted that central banks might not deliver enough stimulus to
boost the global economy.
The Bonar X closed 0.5% lower in price terms at ARS508.00,
yielding 4.91%.
The Bocon 2014 fell 0.5% to ARS92.00, yielding 19.10%.
The Bonar 2015 closed 0.5% higher at ARS128.20, yielding 17.17%,
while the Boden 2015 fell 0.5% to ARS572.75.
The 2035 peso-denominated GDP warrant closed 1.5% higher at
ARS12.45.
The peso weakened to close at ARS4.5850 to the U.S. dollar on
the MAE foreign-exchange wholesale market, compared with ARS4.5750
Monday.
The Central Bank of Argentina regularly intervenes in the
foreign-exchange market, buying dollars to build its international
reserves and keeping the peso on a slow path of depreciation
against the dollar.
The peso lost about 9.6% of its value against the dollar in the
last 12 months as the central bank allowed the currency to
depreciate at a swifter pace to help exporters struggling with
annual inflation that is thought to be running above 20%.
In comparison, the peso weakened 7.6% versus the dollar last
year.
Local brokerage Puente said in a note to clients the central
bank was absent during the session in the face of limited movements
in the exchange rate and volume of just $210 million on the local
foreign-exchange rate market.
Since early May, the authorities have blocked most requests to
buy dollars, which has caused the gap between the regulated
spot-market and black-market rates to widen.
According to the newspaper El Cronista, the dollar was selling
for between ARS6.36 and ARS6.45 on the black market Tuesday.
Argentina's benchmark Merval stock index closed 0.6% lower at
2420.41 on volume of ARS30.9 million. The Merval rose 2.3% this
month, helping to trim its year-to-date loss to 2.5%.
State-controlled oil-and-gas company YPF SA (YPFD.BA, YPF) fell
4.2% to ARS77.50; steelmaker Siderar SAIC (ERAR.BA) fell 1.3% to
ARS1.54; and steel-tube maker Tenaris SA (TS, TS.BA) closed 1.5%
lower at ARS128.00.
Among gainers, banking concern Banco Macro SA (BMA, BMA.BA) rose
1.1% to ARS8.14 and phone company Telecom Argentina SA (TEO,
TECO2.BA) closed 3.9% higher at ARS16.10.
Telecom reported second-quarter net profit of ARS586 million,
down 8% from a year ago.
Write to Ken Parks at ken.parks@dowjones.com
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