Chile's stocks slipped in listless trade on Friday, the first buffeted by a bumpy rebound in the US dollar and the latter shadowing Wall Street indexes. Chile's blue chip IPSA index closed down 0.37 percent at 2,342.45 points, while the all-market IGPA slipped 0.25 percent to 11,208.15 points, according to preliminary closing figures.
Chilean indexes shadowed gains and losses on Wall Street, falling in early trade, rising midday and then wilting again in the afternoon. "In the morning US stock futures were down and so were we, then Wall Street opened with gains and we got more optimistic," said Ivan Ortuzar, a trader with the CorpCapital brokerage.
Gains were led by wood pulp exporter Copec as its shares advanced 1.46 percent, while department store chain Ripley saw its shares jump 5.96 percent. Loss leaders included Endesa Spain regional electric utilities Endesa Chile and Enersis, down 1.47 percent and 1.83 percent respectively.
Chile's stock market regulator (SVS) suspended trade on Friday of leading supermarket operator D&S, after its stock rose nearly 8 percent in the prior session. Earlier this year Chile's anti-trust tribunal nixed a proposed take-over of D&S by regional retail giant Falabella. Traders said the sharp rise was likely due to speculation of other merger possibilities. The peso weakened 0.39 percent to close at 635.50/636.00 per dollar, compared with Thursday's close at 633.00/633.50.
"The peso fell because of the dollar's strength versus the euro," a trader said. The euro began sliding against the dollar on Thursday as investors booked profits on the recent advance that pushed the euro to two-and-a-half month highs versus the greenback. The peso has weakened about 22 percent against the dollar since the beginning of the year.