BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s alternative exchange market pared the day’s strong fall on Friday due to a withdrawal of the central bank (BCRA) from intervening with bonds to support their prices, along with a recovery of reserves. which minimizes shutdown. financial of the week
The monetary authority surprised the financial market on Thursday with a move aimed at cutting speculative exchange maneuvers where investors take advantage of the “loop” by buying dollars cheap and reselling their most expensive ones with little to no risk.
A bank agent explained, “The central bank cannot continue to lose dollars and that is why marking zones is good for the market, with surprise interventions and it is not necessary to know when and at what time it will act.” Is.”
He added that “there is an implication of risk in the financial market and anyone who invests is clear about it, although the crisis in Argentina almost always allows you to take a speculative slice without thinking about the output. Electoral dollarization always has existed, with the distinction that this 2023 is special because of the crisis we live in.”
Argentina, plagued by triple-digit annual inflation and continuing devaluation, will go to primary elections in August and general elections in October to elect a new president to replace Peronist Alberto Fernandez.
Meanwhile, the government is in talks with the IMF for a change in quarterly targets and is seeking advance disbursements to tame rising inflation to appease dollarization.
* The Argentine peso trading on the “CCL” stock exchange remained balanced at 479.5 units and the “MEP dollar” rose about 1.8% to 466.2, after registering a record floor in the region of 490 units a day earlier, while in In the marginal market, it ranked at 486 per dollar.
* BCRA bought $101 million in the wholesale market this Friday to make it 11 rounds with a positive balance, adding up to $150 million in favor in May.
* The wholesale currency fell 0.32% to 232.75/232.90 per dollar on tight liquidity from the BCRA, along with a special exchange rate of 300 pesos for agricultural exports, a sector that liquidated $151 million and added nearly 3,000 million since April. adds up.
* Over-the-counter sovereign bonds fell an average of 0.8%, hitting a negative 3.3% for the week, hit by an official decision to discourage speculative trading. JP.Morgan’s country exposure rose 16 basis points to 2,600 units around 2000 GMT.
* For its part, the stock market edged up 2.25% as provisional closing at 338,677.61 units in Buenos Aires’ benchmark S&P Merval, buoyed by inflation and devaluation to renew its intraday record at 339,352.51 points. After.
