Chile stocks fell slightly on Friday in a high-volume session marked by profit taking in companies with recent gains, while the peso closed at a nine-month high shadowing the euro's gains against the US dollar. The IPSA blue chip index slipped 0.07 percent to 1,806.77 points while the broader IGPA index fell 0.09 percent at 9,040.48, according to preliminary closing figures.
"Although the main index closed flat, it was a session with a fair amount of action linked to selective operations such as the announcement of a secondary offer, and profit taking," said Rodrigo Cristi, an analyst with Alfa brokerage in Santiago.
"The next week the market is going to be paying attention to new economic data and the central bank monetary policy meeting," he added.
AntarChile, parent of industrial conglomerate Empresas Copec, jumped 1.18 percent to close at 6,450.00 pesos after announcing it plans to sell its 15 percent share of Sudamericana de Vapores, Chile's biggest shipping company. Sudamericana de Vapores dropped 6.90 percent to close at 1,350.00 pesos per share. It was the most heavily traded issue in terms of the value in pesos of shares traded.
Copper cable manufacturer Madeco fell 1.84 percent to close at 60.75 pesos per share.
Chile's peso currency gained 1.23 percent on Friday, to close at its strongest level in more than nine months, moving in concert with the euro and other currencies that strengthened against the greenback.
The peso closed at 579.50/580.00 per dollar, a level not seen since February 19, compared with Thursday's close of 586.00/586.50 per dollar.
"After the soft US jobs data the dollar began a big fall in international markets, especially against the euro, which gave a big push to the peso," said a trader, who asked not to be named.
A surprisingly soft 112,000 new US jobs were created in November, the Labour Department said on Friday.
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