Argentine stocks climbed on Friday on weak US jobs data which eased fears of more aggressive interest rate hikes in the United States, traders said. The benchmark MerVal index gained 1.7 percent to finish at 1,424.31 points, accumulating a gain of 3.56 percent so far this year. As of Friday and during the second quarter, the MerVal will be comprised of 11 leading stocks instead of 12. The index is made up of all the same companies with the exclusion of Transportadora de Gas del Sur.
"The rise in the MerVal is due to global forces, given the rise in foreign markets after the lower-than-expected US employment data," said Freddy Vieytes, trader with Puente Hermanos brokerage.
US employers added only half the number of new jobs last month than were expected, the weakest job gains figure in eight months.
Hernan Labrone, analyst with Fenix Compania Financiera, warned that the upswing in the Buenos Aires bourse could be dampened by a US court case against Argentina still playing itself out in New York.
The biggest gainers were Telecom, up 3.25 percent to 7.30 pesos, followed by steelmaker Acindar, which jumped 2.57 percent to 5.97 pesos.
Trade volume was 71.3 million pesos ($24.3 million).
In the foreign exchange market, the peso weakened slightly on heavy dollar by investors adjusting their portfolios at the end of the month, traders said.
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