BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)–Argentina’s stock market curbed gains in the minutes following a decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve to keep its benchmark short-term interest rate near zero for at least another two years.
The Merval index fell was up 0.79% to 2,760.16 on Tuesday, after having been up by more than 2% before the announcement.
About half the stocks on the index were up.
The power distributor Edenor (EDN.BA) was leading the declines, falling 2.8% to ARS1.7. The bank Banco Macro SA (BMA, )led the gains by rising 4.8% to ARS13.
The Fed released a statement saying a weak U.S. justifies keeping rates low for the foreseeable future.
Among other things, Fed officials said economic growth has been «considerably lower than expected» and that household spending «has flattened out.»
On the upside, the statement said, «business investment in equipment and software continues to expand.»
-By Taos Turner, Dow Jones Newswires; 5411-4103-6728;
taos.turner@dowjones.com
Source: online.wsj.com