BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)—Argentina’s stocks and bonds rallied with overseas markets Tuesday, as investors cheered economic data in the U.S. and Europe.
The Merval benchmark stock index rose 1.8% to close at 2442.27 on volume of 55.6 million pesos ($13 million).
Shares of banking concern Grupo Financiero Galicia SA (GGAL, GGAL.BA) rose 1.8% to ARS2.91, Banco Macro SA (BMA,M BMA.BA) rose 1.6% to ARS9.50, and steel tube maker Tenaris SA (TS, TS.BA) closed 4.9% higher at ARS86.00.
Among declining issues, shares of phone company Telecom Argentina SA (TECO2.BA, TEO) fell 3.5% to ARS16.40. The thinly traded shares of media group Grupo Clarin SA (GCLA.BA) plunged 11% after federal law enforcement agents raided the office of its cable TV subsidiary on the order of a judge who ruled against the company in a competition case.
Turnover on the local bond market totaled ARS671.7 million, accounting for 65% of the total volume of securities traded on the exchange during the session.
The Bonar X rose 1.2% in price terms to close at ARS390.00, yielding 9.78%. The Bogar 2018 rose 0.8% to close at ARS210.60, to yield 13.26%.
The 2033 Discount bond rose 1.5% to ARS125.90, to yield 13.01%.
The Boden 2015 rose 1.3% to ARS430.00, yielding 7.57%.
The 2035 peso-denominated GDP warrant rose 3.9% to ARS11.05.
The peso closed little changed at ARS4.2925 to the U.S. dollar on the MAE local foreign-exchange wholesale market, compared with ARS4.2920 at Monday’s close.
Puente brokerage said in a note that $456 million changed hands on the foreign exchange market during the session, with the central bank buying $120 million.
The central bank has become an active buyer of dollars in recent sessions as new foreign exchange controls limit the public’s access to dollars and force oil, gas and mining companies to repatriate the proceeds of their sales abroad. At the same time, grain exports are starting to bring greenbacks into the country.
After running down its international reserves for months to defend the peso against heavy dollar outflows in the run-up to October’s general election, the central bank has taken advantage of the currency controls and a greater supply of dollars from exporters to rebuild its reserves.
Reserves totalled $45.40 billion on Tuesday, up from $45.22 billion in the previous session.
-By Ken Parks, Dow Jones Newswires; 54-11-4103-6740, ken.parks@dowjones.com
Source: online.wsj.com