Chile stocks fell on Friday as investors punished companies with disappointing earnings, but rewarded a few that had shown good results. The IPSA index of 40 leading issues slipped 0.38 percent to 1,982.20 points while the broader IGPA index fell 0.22 percent at 9,351.91, according to preliminary closing figures. "The market is very focused on company results," said Roberto Guzman, an analyst with Euroamerica brokerage in Santiago.
"The market expected more from Telefonica CTC Chile. Colbun, until now has had a lot of losses because of the natural gas problems with Argentina. The outlook on its earnings isn't very good," he added.
Leading telephone company CTC Chile reported a net profit of 8.171 billion pesos, ($13.9 million) up 128 percent from the same quarter the year before but still lower than expected.
CTC fell 0.94 percent to 1,575 pesos per share.
Colbun, Chile's No 2 power generator, dropped 3.48 percent to 55.50 pesos per share. Recently the company had started to rebound from sharp drops it experienced earlier in the year when Argentina began cutting back on the natural gas it ships to Chile. Much of Colbun's power was being generated in natural gas-fuelled plants.
Industrial conglomerate Copec gained 2.02 percent to 4,550 pesos per share after its forestry arms reported as an appealing increase in earnings. The company's shares had fallen earlier in the week as one of its wood pulp plants faces environmental problems.