Chilean stocks rose on Friday, bringing the week's cumulative gain to 1.9 percent as renewed risk appetite pushed regional stocks higher. The all-market IGPA index advanced 0.62 percent to 13,889.88 points, while the trade-weighted, blue chip IPSA index gained 0.60 percent to 3,083.89, preliminary closing figures showed.
Chilean stocks have posted gains in nine of the last 10 sessions, bringing the IGPA's two-week rise to over 4 percent amid renewed interest in emerging markets, lower prices for oil and higher prices for copper, Chile's leading export. "Recent lower oil prices have allowed a resurgence in risk appetite," said Lorena Pizarro, head of research with the Alfa brokerage in Santiago.
Blue chip gains were led by retailers as stock in No 1 department store chain Falabella jumped 3.81 percent to 2,450 pesos a share, while Ripley advanced 0.87 percent to 785 pesos. Other advancing shares included No 2 private bank, Banco de Chile, which rose 2.17 percent to 44.30 pesos a share and paper and forestry products company CMPC, with a gain of 1.62 percent to 18,800 pesos a share. Analysts said the local market will be paying attention next week to US economic indicators.
"Next week there will be a battery of key US economic indicators," Pizarro said. "We'll see if the moderate deceleration outlook is holding, if it's changing for the better or getting worse." The Chilean peso edged up 0.09 percent to close at 531.50/532.00 compared with Thursday's close at 532.00/532.30 per dollar.
"Despite the slight fall in copper prices yesterday and today, current high levels are supporting the peso. The Brazilian real is also rebounding, which also affects the local market," a trader said. This week, copper, a main driver of the local economy, traded at seven-month highs.
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