BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--Argentina's stock market closed lower Friday while the peso weakened at an unusually quick pace to ARS3.9425 to the U.S. dollar. The Merval stock index fell 0.47% to 2,394.16. Volume totaled ARS25.7 million ($6.5 million).
Banco Macro led the declines by falling 3.04% to ARS14.35. It was followed by the power transmitter Transener (TRAN.BA), which fell 1.43% to ARS0.963.
The power distributor Empresa Distribuidora y Comercializadora Norte S.A, or Edenor (EDN.BA), led the gains by rising 0.71% to ARS1.41.
Meanwhile, the Argentine peso weakened to ARS3.9425 to the U.S. dollar from ARS3.9375.
It's somewhat unusual, though certainly not unprecedented, for the Argentine Central Bank to let the peso shift by half a centavo or more in a day of trading. But exporters didn't inject enough dollars into the market to meet the demand for them.
Banks and other companies needed to buy dollars to meet end-of-the-month obligations, which induced the central bank to sell dollars, the trading firm ABC Mercado de Cambios said in a report.
Volume in the market totaled $709 million, ABC said.
Bond prices rose as the comparatively high yields, and Argentina's seemingly solid ability to pay its debt, continued to attract investors.
The benchmark peso-denominated bond rose 0.08% in price terms to ARS116.50, yielding 11.74%.
The Boden 2015, considered a good proxy for measuring the appeal of newly issued government bonds or the government's ability to sell them, rose 0.14% in price terms to ARS344, yielding 11.09%.
The Global 2017 bond, issued in June during the government's recent debt swap, rose 0.79% to ARS380, yielding 10.01%.
Analysts say that once the bond's yield drops to 10% or lower, the government will likely try to issue new debt.
-By Taos Turner, Dow Jones Newswires; 5411-4103-6728; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100730-717809.html
