Mexican stocks rallied 1.07 percent to close at a record high on Friday, bolstered by recent strong corporate earnings from companies like cell phone operator America Movil.
The IPC benchmark stock index climbed 121.90 points to finish at 11,564.35 points, a day after the third-quarter earnings reporting season ended with good news.
"Results were extraordinarily strong, and that is what is driving the market," said Arturo Espinosa, an analyst at Santander Serfin in Mexico City.
America Movil, Latin America's largest mobile telephone operator and the most heavily weighted stock in the IPC index, shot up 3.03 percent to a record closing high of 25.47 pesos. Its American Depositary Receipt (ADR) climbed 2.64 percent to $44.00.
America Movil said this week it tripled its quarterly profit on subscriber growth.
Conglomerate Group Carso which on Thursday said its third-quarter net profit increased by 610 percent, saw its stock gain 2.58 percent to end at 54.88 pesos.
Mexico's IPC index has gained 31 percent in 2004, with more than half of that rise chalked up since mid-August.
Some analysts cautioned that the market might not rise much further in the near term.
"We believe the market is going to end the year at about this level," predicted Ricardo del Valle, a director at Investra investment advisors in the northern city of Monterrey.
He pointed to possible complications arising from the US presidential election as reason for caution, as well as Mexican lawmakers' refusal to approve tax and energy reforms.
Copper miner Group Mexico rose 0.48 percent to 47.66 pesos, bolstered by news of improved earnings the day before.
Banorte, Mexico's fourth-largest bank, rose 0.50 percent to 54.20 pesos. Late on Thursday the company reported an 11 percent drop in third-quarter profits that were crimped by a one-time charge associated with big job cuts.
Analysts said the earnings report was much better than expected.
The peso was flat at 11.5340 per dollar.
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