Mexican stocks closed up on Friday, boosted by gains in heavyweight cell phone operator America Movil, miner Group Mexico and homebuilder Geo.The IPC stock index closed up 1.58 percent at 29,631.57 points. The peso edged down 0.08 percent to 10.932 per dollar.
"We saw a strong rebound at the end of the session in the most liquid stocks," said a trader. America Movil, the most heavily weighted stock in the IPC index, rose 2.5 percent to 32.84 pesos. Its New York-traded shares closed up 1.68 percent to $59.99.
Group Mexico, one of the world's leading copper producers, rose 4.47 percent to 78.03 pesos. Shares in Mexican homebuilder Geo rose 2.63 percent to 39.86 pesos. Geo said on Friday it expects 2008 revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) growth of between 12 percent and 14 percent.
Mexican stocks have been volatile in recent sessions, as investors wavered between optimism and pessimism about the likely extent of the US subprime lending crisis. If the crisis significantly slows the US economy, Mexico, which sends most of its exports to the United States, would also take a hit.
Shares of homebuilder Urbi gained 0.67 percent to 37.30 pesos each after the company said it sold new shares worth $280 million to local and foreign investors. Merrill Lynch upgraded Urbi to "buy" from "neutral." With Friday's gains, the IPC stock index has lost almost 6 percent so far in November.
But the index remains up around 12 percent year-to-date on optimism about Mexico's recent tax code overhaul and the outlook for more reforms as well as the country's economic stability and long-term outlook for corporate profits.
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