Argentine stocks fell on Thursday, dragged down by market heavyweight steel maker Tenaris, in a low-volume day on the bourse as institutional investors stayed away, traders said.
The MerVal index of 42 leading stocks shed 1.39 percent to close at 2,011.07 points, with Tenaris, the biggest world producer of seamless steel tubes for the petroleum industry, plunging 3.15 percent to 59.95 pesos per share.
"The Tenaris fall is unjustified. The drop is a technical correction that I think will bounce back tomorrow," said Guillermo Curtchet, an analyst at Sudamericana de Finanzas. "Tenaris is falling abroad, and this influences the local market," said Claudio Szlaien, analyst at Marlon Recursos Financieros.
Tenaris is controlled by Argentina's Teching but is based in Luxembourg. Its New York-listed shares lost 2.3 percent to $37.30 on Thursday, but its Milan-listed shares rose 0.88 percent. Volume on the broad market was valued at $29.7 million, of which $9 million corresponded to transactions with Tenaris, with 18 issues advancing, 44 retreating and 15 unchanged.