BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)–Argentina’s Merval stock index rose after Wall Street reacted positively to a decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low through 2014.
The index rose 0.57% to 2914.93s in volume totaling ARS41.7 million ($9.6 million).
«Why did local stocks rise? Without a doubt it was the U.S. Federal Reserve statement. Even more so, the positive reaction that the statement generated on Wall Street had a positive impact locally,» the online brokerage Portfolio Personal said in its market commentary.
Sociedad Comercial del Plata (COME.BA) led the gains by rising about 4.4% to ARS0.647; Petrobras Argentina (PESA.BA) rose about 2.5% to ARS7.9; Edenor (EDN.BA) rose almost 2% to ARS1.54.
Tenaris (TS, TEN.MI) led the declines, falling about 0.7% to ARS92.25; Banco Hipotecario (BHIP.BA, BCOHY) rose 0.55% to ARS1.8; YPF SA (YPF, YPFD.BA) fell 0.53% to ARS187.
The Global X FTSE Argentina 20 ETF rose 1.35% to $12.
Bonds closed mostly lower.
So-called GDP warrants, with payouts indexed to economic growth, bucked the trend and rose sharply.
The 2025 peso-denominated bond, or TVPP, rose 2.64% in price terms to ARS12.05.
The peso weakened against the U.S. dollar to ARS4.3385 on the MAE local foreign-exchange wholesale market, compared with ARS4.3345 in the previous session.
Last year the peso weakened 7.6% against the dollar.
-By Taos Turner, Dow Jones Newswires; 5411-4103-6728; taos.turner@dowjones.com
Source: online.wsj.com