Mexican stocks ended solidly higher on Friday as construction group ICA, cement maker Cemex and a handful of home builders gained and the peso strengthened 0.55 percent against the dollar.
The IPC benchmark stock index closed 1.22 percent higher at 10,790.53 points, within striking distance of its historic intraday peak of 10,894 points hit on April 13 this year.
The index has gained almost 11 percent since beginning a rally in mid-August.
ICA ended 2.83 percent higher at 3.64 pesos after state oil monopoly Pemex awarded a $648 million refinery upgrade project at Minatitlan to ICA Fluor, an engineering firm jointly owned by ICA and Fluor Corp of the United States.
"The market is following the upward tendency of the last five weeks and today it heated up with high volumes in ICA after it won the Minatitlan project," said Jose Gomez, analyst at Value brokerage.
"ICA dragged the market up very strongly and home builders benefited from the advance, too, "Gomez said. "The sector was infected by ICA's rise."
Shares in Mexican home builders rose for a second consecutive session as positive market sentiment toward companies such as Hogar, Urbi and Sare continued. Building more homes in Mexico is a cornerstone of the government of President Vicente Fox, something that has benefited the stock of home building companies.
Hogar was among the top gainers on the bourse, up 4.29 percent to 3.65 pesos. Urbi advanced 3.21 percent to 40.25 pesos and Sare ended up 3.19 percent at 6.80 pesos.
Cemex, the world's No 3 cement maker, bounced back from profit-taking on Wednesday. Mexican markets were closed on Thursday for Independence Day.
Shares of Cemex, the fourth most heavily weighted stock on the market, rose 2.79 percent to 70.30 pesos. On Wednesday its stock slipped 2.04 percent.
Cemex last week raised its 2004 earnings outlook on stronger third-quarter cement sales in its top three markets - Mexico, the United States and Spain.