Argentine stocks rose slightly in heavy trade on Friday, pushed higher by gains on Wall Street as investors continued to eye the US economy. The MerVal index of 25 leading stocks climbed 0.65 percent to close at 2,336.7 points, accumulating a 0.41 percent gain this week.
Leopoldo Olivari, a trader at Baque Sociedad brokerage, said investor interest in the MerVal's top shares was holding despite recent turbulence on Wall Street brought on by the US credit crisis. "The market is slightly firmer because any weakness in the (US) financial system has limited impact on our market," he said.
A late rally helped US stocks eke out a gain of 0.2 percent. Trade volume in Buenos Aires was a brisk 183.4 million pesos ($57.8 million). Of active shares, 50 advanced, 28 declined and 13 were unchanged. Real Estate Company Irsa rose 5.31 percent to 5.75 pesos, while entertainment group Commercial del Plata climbed 5.17 percent to 0.794 pesos.
Argentine bonds closed lower as investors pocketed profits from recent gains. Argentine debt slipped a slight 0.5 percent on average, with Boden 2014 dollar-denominated paper falling 1.0 percent. The peso currency strengthened 0.47 percent to 3.1675/3.17 per US dollar in informal trade between foreign-exchange houses, as measured by Reuters. In formal interbank trade, where the central bank regularly intervenes to keep the peso steady, the currency also rose 0.16 percent to 3.1275/3.13 per dollar.
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