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BUENOS AIRES, Jan 18 (Reuters) – The Argentine stock market traded lower in the first deals on Monday amid investor caution given doubts about the local economic future, in a reduced trading session given a holiday in the US markets.
Investment attention remains focused on the country’s negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and progress in the vaccination campaign against COVID-19 at a time when there is an increase in cases of the disease.
“Paradoxically, a rise in (international prices of) soybeans that air to the reserves (of the central bank) makes an agreement with the IMF less likely in the short term,” said Roberto Geretto, an economist at Banco CMF.
The leading S&P Merval index of Buenos Aires lost 0.88%, to 50,053.70 units, at 11:15 local time (1415 GMT), after accumulating a drop of 2.27% last week.
The YPF Ad Hoc Group of Bondholders said it seeks to block the bond exchange offer launched by Argentine state oil company YPF in order to avoid unnecessary and unacceptable destruction of the value of the securities.
YPF seeks to renegotiate at least 6.2 billion dollars in interest and principal maturities between 2021 and 2022 and will offer, in exchange, three new titles.
(Reporting by Walter Bianchi, Edited by Maximilian Heath)