Chilean stocks closed mixed on Friday but blue chip stocks posted their biggest monthly gain in 15 years, traders said, while the peso closed firmer. The blue chip IPSA index closed 0.05 percent weaker at 3,100.42 points, preliminary closing data showed, giving up intra-day gains in late trade.
The all-market IGPA index rose 0.54 percent to 14,684.06 points. The IPSA, which is up 30.5 percent year-to-date, rose around 16 percent in May, its biggest gain in a single month since January 1994. Chile's bourse has risen sharply in the past few weeks, led by sectors such as construction, retail and commodities. "The electrical companies have risen a lot and that is the sector that has pushed the market today," said Felipe Cruz, a trader at the CorpCapital brokerage.
Shares in industrial conglomerate Copec, the most heavily weighted company on the bourse, rose 1.36 percent to 7,091.90 pesos a share. Regional energy group Enersis rose 2.27 percent to 190.29 pesos a share, while electricity generator Endesa Chile rose 0.64 percent to 824.89 pesos. Power generator AES Gener rose 2.24 percent to 255.57 pesos. Retailers also posted strong gains.
Shares of Cencosud, one of Latin America's largest retailers, rose 2.01 percent to 1,463.60 pesos a share, while fellow retail chain Ripley rose 5.54 percent to 417.07 pesos a share. Shares in retail chain La Polar fell 0.86 percent to 1,928.80 pesos, after surging more than 15 percent on Thursday on an offer to merge with a supermarket affiliate of private equity fund Southern Cross Latin America.
The Chilean peso closed 0.5 percent firmer at 561.00/561.50 per dollar compared with Thursday's close of 563.80564.10. "The weakness of the dollar in foreign markets against other important currencies, namely the Euro, is favouring the peso," said one currency dealer. The peso is up 14.3 percent against the dollar year-to-date after slumping 22.3 percent in 2008.
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