Mexico's stocks fell on Friday after US consumer sentiment slipped this month, undermining confidence in the strength of the recovery in the United States, Mexico's top trading partner. The IPC stock index shed 2.92 percent to 28,397, putting the index on track to notch its first monthly decline since February. A separate report showed US consumers cut spending in September in the largest drop since December.
"What is being seen it that the economy could grow at very low rates," said Ricardo Aguilar, an analyst at Invex brokerage in Mexico City. Mexico is counting on a rebound in the United States, the destination for more than 80 percent of Mexican exports, to fuel its own recovery from a deep recession.
The government's benchmark 10-year peso bond bid up 4 basis points to yield 8.06 percent. Mexican Senate committees approved a watered-down version of President Felipe Calderon's proposal to raise consumption taxes in order to reduce Mexico's dependence on its waning oil industry. In stock trading, shares in cement maker Cemex, a major US supplier, tumbled 6.23 percent to 13.85 pesos. Copper miner Grupo Mexico shed 2.96 percent to 26.23 pesos while America Movil, Latin America's biggest cell phone operator, gave up 2.52 percent to 29.05 pesos.