Argentina's shares closed lower on Friday, dragged down in low volume with few buyers in the market after future options expired the previous session.
Argentina's MerVal index of leading shares fell 1.09 percent to 1.162.8 points on average volume of 50.4 million pesos ($17.8 million). It has ended the week down 1.65 percent.
Traders said a series of options expiries on Thursday led to a flurry of sales on Friday, with many shares below exercise prices.
Fears of a power crisis this winter in Argentina due to natural gas shortages led energy companies Gas Natural to fall 5.21 percent to 2.0 pesos and Transener to drop 3.40 percent to 1.42 pesos. But some traders were optimistic for next week.
"After so many sessions with falls, we could see next week a reaction to all this," said Ruben Pascuali, a trader at Mayoral brokerage.
Meanwhile the peso closed stable as the Central Bank continued to intervene to halt the appreciation of a currency that has neared eight-month highs amid strong exports.
The peso ended at 2.825/2.830 per dollar, up 1.41 percent this month and around 5.0 percent since the start of the year, due mainly to a boom in exports like grains.
The Central Bank said it bought $45 million on Friday, in line with daily purchases during the previous five trading sessions, to keep the peso steady.
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