Chilean stocks closed weaker for a second day on Friday, following external markets on concerns a US plan to relieve banks of money-losing assets might be delayed, while the peso weakened against the dollar. Chile's blue chip IPSA index ended down 0.58 percent at 2,549.46 points after falling 0.31 percent on Thursday.
While the all-market IGPA index fell 0.46 percent at the close to 12,114.47 points after losing 0.24 percent in the previous session, preliminary closing figures showed. Analysts said Chilean markets were also affected by some profit-taking after a good yield month in January.
Among shares losing value were the bigger issues in the retail sector. D&S, Chile's largest supermarket chain and as of this month a unit of global retail leader Wal Mart Stores Inc, closed down 3.07 percent. Shares in rival Falabella, which last year tried to buy D&S, fell 1.93 percent in the day.
Shares in retailer Cencosud fell 1.0 percent, after a similar fall on Thursday, after announcing it was putting the brakes on a $500 million mega-mall project in the capital, Santiago, due to uncertainty amid the global crisis. And Banco Santander, Chile's leading bank and a unit of Spain's Santander, lost 0.19 percent after posting earnings this week that showed a 30.7 percent drop in December's net profit from levels seen in November before adjustment for inflation.
Chile's peso closed down 0.76 percent after deeper losses earlier in the day. The peso closed at 616.50/617.00 pesos to the dollar, compared with Thursday's close at 611.80/612.30. The peso lost ground after weaker-than-expected December industrial output data.
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