Chile stocks end mixed

23 Oct, 2005

Chilean stocks closed narrowly mixed on Friday, as gains by dominant carrier LAN Airlines and the country's main telephone company Telefonica CTC helped the market reverse early losses.
The blue chip IPSA index edged up 0.07 percent to 2,100.32 points while the broader IGPA index fell 0.31 percent at 9,987.69, preliminary closing figures showed.
LAN Airlines saw its stock rise 1.79 percent to 3,420 pesos a share, while shares in CTC jumped 2.33 percent to 1,385 pesos a share.
"In negative sessions like today, investors sometimes start buying attractively-priced issues, like LAN and CTC," said Cesar Perez-Novoa, research manager with the Celfin brokerage.
Analysts said the market was also jittery over quarterly earnings reports which are due out next week. Both LAN and CTC are seen reporting higher third-quarter sales compared with the same quarter a year ago, but lower net profit.
A company that benefited from a flurry of late-session trade was diversified retailer Cencosud, which ended the session up 0.57 percent at 1,138 pesos after having fallen as much as 5 percent earlier in the day.

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