Markets in Argentina fall due to investor disinterest in plaza chica due to US holiday

FILE PHOTO: An Argentine flag flies over the Casa Rosada presidential palace in Buenos Aires, Argentina, October 29, 2019.

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 18 (Reuters) – Argentina’s shares traded lower on Monday amid an investor hold on doubts about the future of the economy, as the peso continued a gradual central bank-controlled slide in a session without genuine operations for a US holiday.

The negotiations of the southern country with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a credit of extended facilities, in the midst of a recessive economy and with increases in the cases of COVID-19, are the points that focus the market’s attention.

“The government assumes that the IMF will be motivated to reach some kind of agreement given its great exposure to the country; but this would not be certain on a large international scale. If it is not achieved, it would be a possible breaking point towards a more radical economic and financial regime, “said the consulting firm VatNet Research.

* The leading Merval stock index lost 0.49%, to 50,275.66 units at 12:40 local time (1540 GMT), after accumulating a decline of 2.27% last week and growing 22.93% in 2020, a ratio substantially lower than inflationary growth in the same period.

* The Ad Hoc Group of Bondholders YPF said that it seeks to block the bond exchange offer launched by the Argentine state oil company YPF for some 6.2 billion dollars with the aim of avoiding unnecessary and unacceptable destruction of the value of the securities.

* In the wholesale exchange market, the peso depreciated a controlled 0.39%, to a historical low of 86.06 / 86.08 per dollar in a market regulated by the central bank since the opening.

* “The dollar is contained,” said Roberto Geretto, an economist at Banco CMF, adding that “the Government has more air with soybeans at maximum values ​​since 2014, and also the latest measures to impede imports show that in an electoral year there is much more political will to prevent a jump in the official dollar at all costs “.

* Last week the monetary authority managed to buy from the market one adding about 470 million dollars for its battered reserves, traders commented.

* The weight in the alternative markets fell to 147.60 units per dollar in the ‘Cash with Liquidation’ stock market (CCL) and to 146.3 in the ‘MEP dollar’ of the Electronic Open Market (MAE).

* For its part, the currency in the reduced marginal exchange circuit operated stable at 159 per dollar.