Marks highest value in almost two years as ‘blue’ dollar drops 20 cents, closes at 14.89 pesos
A large amount of dollars brought in by agriculture exporters helped the Central Bank foreign-currency reserves grow US$65 million yesterday, closing at US$33.913 billion, its highest level since October 2013.
The record figure was followed by a 20 cents decrease in the value of the “blue” or illegal dollar, reversing the trend in recent days. The currency closed at 14.89 pesos, lowering the gap with the official dollar from 64 percent to 62.4 percent. The official dollar remained stable yesterday.
The monetary authority bought US$100 million in the market, the highest daily purchase since the end of June, which explained the growth. A total of US$37 million was used for energy import payments and US$1 million for international agencies payments. Reserves have grown for US$67 million growth so far this week and US$85 million so far this month.
Grain export firms grouped under the CIARA and CEC chambers — which represent a third of the sector — settled US$749 million last week, 30 percent more than the same period last year. So far this year, US$12.6 billion has been brought in by grain exporters, 15 percent less than the same period in 2014. The difference with last year was at 30 percent in May but has been shrinking since then.
Foreign-currency reserves rose US$9 million in January, US$18 million in February, US$5 million in March and US$2.419 billion in April, dropped US$644 million in May due to a scheduled US$683 million debt payment to the Paris Club and rose US$544 million in June, resulting in a US$2.43 billion increase so far this year.
The Central Bank saw a recent boost in its reserves due to the dollars brought in by mobile phone companies to pay for the licences to use the 4G spectrum.
Movistar, Claro, Personal and Arlink took part in an auction in November last year and had made offers worth US$2.2 billion but only around US$1 billion of that figure was paid because the government had only assigned a fraction of the frequencies. The remaining funds were paid weeks ago by the companies as the pending frequencies were assigned.
Reserves also rose US$684 million in April thanks to dollars brought in by energy company YPF after a bond issuance. Between US$800 and US$900 million from the US$1.5 billion raised by the company were deposited in YPF’s account at state-owned Banco Nación.
Meanwhile, the federal government raised US$1.4 billion also on April thanks to the Bonar 2024 debt issuance, exceeding the initial goal of US$500 million. It was the country’s most successful foray into dollar markets since its debt repayments were blocked by New York District Judge Thomas Griesa last year.
‘Blue’ dollar ends upward trend
The “blue” dollar lost 20 cents yesterday, putting an end to its recent upward trend, having accumulated an 84-cents increase in the first two days of the week amid high demand for dollars due to the winter holidays and growing speculation among currency peddlers.
At the same time, the blue-chip swap also fell 25 cents and closed at 13.33 pesos, while the official dollar remained stable and closed at 9.17 to the dollar in banks and exchange houses without any change on the day.
The demand for dollars for savings continued to rise yesterday after breaking the monthly record on Tuesday. A total US$26 million were sold through the scheme, 35 percent more than Tuesday’s figures. So far this month, US$570 million has been sold, a record figure despite the fact there’s still seven business days left before the end of the month.
The Merval benchmark stock index plunged 3.8 percent yesterday and closed at 11.682 basic points with 154 million pesos traded. Most of the energy companies and banks saw drops such as Petrobras (six percentage points), Banco Francés (4.9 percent), Pampa Energía (4.9 percent) and Banco Galicia (4.2 percent). YPF was the exception, remaining stable without any changes.
Most of the prices of public bonds fell yesterday for the second consecutive day. Among the most traded, Bonar 2024 decreased 2.2 percent, followed by Discount in dollars (1.6 percent), Bonar 2017 (1.3 percent) and Boden 2015 (0.9 percent).
Herald staff
Source: Buenos Aires Herald