The expectation for the possible approval of the Base Law in Congress and a new drop in rate reference set on Thursday by the Central Bank catapulted the share price this Friday Argentina, in the face of institutional purchases that seek to gain a few points on inflation and with the extra boost of increases of up to 2% in Wall Street indices.
In this framework of optimism, the stock market benchmark S&P Merval from Buenos Aires rose 6%, to a nominal record closing of 1,452,002 points. In 2024, the panel of leading stocks records a gain of 56.2% in pesos and 35.6% in dollars “counted with liquidation”.
Among the shares and ADRs of Argentine companies that are operated in dollars in New York, the profits of the banks stood out French (+9.3%), Galicia (+7.8%) and Macro (+7.3%). Mercado Libre rose 8.3% after presenting its balance sheet corresponding to the first quarter of the year.
Bonds in dollars gained 0.3% on average, while the Electronic Open Market (MAE) averaged a rise of 0.5% in pesos. He risk country of JP Morgan advanced seven basis points for Argentina, in the 1,243 units at 5:30 p.m.
The half sanction of the Bases Law in Congress achieved this week gives the Government a break and encourages speculation about a positive treatment in the Senate for the approval of a broad change in the rules of the game of the economy promoted by the ruling party through its promised deregulation.
The BCRA lowered the monetary policy rate to a nominal 50% annually, in the third consecutive retraction in less than a month and the fifth since the libertarian Javier Milei He assumed the presidency last December, when this performance was 133 percent.
“We consider that the main reason behind this new decline would be that the economic team would not feel comfortable with the amount of pesos that are in the economy to eliminate the stocks,” he reported. Personal Portfolio Investments. ”Given the strong inflationary slowdown, the BCRA seeks to keep the real rate in negative territory,” he estimated.
The interest rate paid by banks on Friday for fixed-term placements was reduced to an average nominal 40%, well below the annual inflation estimated by analysts.
The amount traded in the wholesale market remained weak this Friday, with USD 297.6 million in the cash segment, almost the same figure as Thursday, while the BCRA won USD 144 million for its exchange intervention, 48.4% of the total negotiated. On the other hand, the International reserves grew by USD 184 millionto 28,374 million of dollars.
“It is worth remembering that this accumulation is only possible while import payments of more than USD 11,000 million are delayed for the coming months,” they indicated from Adcap Financial Group.
He free dollar reversed a drop of five pesos in the morning and closed at $1,040 for sale for the third day in a row. With a wholesale dollar that advanced 3.50 pesos or 0.4% in the four operating wheels of the week, to $878.50, the exchange gap was reduced to 18.4 percent.
Analysts estimate that the lowering of rates confirms that the BCRA will maintain the current rate crawling peg or gradual devaluation despite a relative exchange rate delay pointed out by some specialists, because the official dollar and alternative quotes have risen less than 10% so far in 2024, against an inflation that exceeded 60 percent.
“Are we facing a case of exchange rate appreciation or a case of rearrangement of relative prices where Argentina is expensive in dollars given its fiscal and regulatory structure?” President Milei asked himself on his “X” social network account after speculation. of delay.
