Argentine stocks sag

Argentine stocks closed lower on Friday as investors pocketed profits in heavyweight Tenaris a day after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings.
The MerVal index of 12 leading shares slid 1.86 percent to 1,683.90 points, with Tenaris falling 3.88 percent to close at 59.45 points.
Trade volume was moderate at 48.6 million pesos ($15.7 million), with more than half in the steel tube maker.
""Profit-taking in Tenaris hit the market hard," said Claudio Szlaien, an analyst at Marlon Financial Resources.
Tenaris, the world's largest manufacturer of seamless pipes for the oil industry, said on Thursday its second-quarter net profit rose more than 45 percent to $495.8 million.
On the foreign exchange market, the Argentine peso strengthened 0.08 percent to close at 3.0975/3.10 to the dollar as the central bank kept up its usual regular intervention, traders said.