Argentine stocks slumped in light trading on Friday, falling along with regional markets. The MerVal index of 12 leading shares fell 1.11 percent to 1,620.45 points, racking up a loss of 5.3 percent so far in June but 5.3 percent gain in the year-to-date. Volume was a lowly 34.6 million pesos ($11.1 million).
"We had a static market from the opener," said Diego Zabaletta, a trader at the Besfamiglie brokerage. "There's still a shortage of buyers and the market simply followed the tendency of regional markets."
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.55 percent, led by a drop in technology shares, while Brazil's Bovespa was off 2.55 percent as investors pocketed profits following a rally on Thursday.
Banking conglomerate Group Financiero Galicia led losers on the MerVal, shedding 2.79 percent to close at 1.74 pesos. Tenaris, the world's biggest supplier of steel tubes to the oil industry, slid 1.75 percent to 56.10 pesos.
On the foreign exchange market, the Argentine peso strengthened slightly, rising 0.08 percent to 3.105/3.1075 to the US dollar as the central bank intervened to offset exporters selling greenbacks, traders said.