Argentina's Stocks Close Higher in Stable Trading

   By Taos Turner 
 

BUENOS AIRES--Argentine stocks closed higher Thursday as the top three most-typically bought and sold shares continued to take up most of the volume traded.

The Merval stock index rose 0.77% to 4,768.71 in volume totaling ARS105 million ($18 million).

Steel producer Tenaris SA (TEN.MI, TS) rose over 2% to ARS229, and Grupo Financiero Galicia SA (GGAL.BA, GGAL) rose over 1% to ARS8.15. Telecom Argentina SA (TECO2.BA, TEO) fell almost 2.5% to lead the declines.

Power company Pampa Energia SA (PAMP.BA, PAM) led the gains, rising almost 3% to ARS1.78. Pampa's electricity distributor, Edenor (EDN.BA), also gained, rising about 2% to ARS1.43. Both companies had surged Monday on speculation Argentina's government will raise utility rates sometime after a congressional election in late October.

GDP warrants, or securities whose performance is tied to economic growth, rose.

The TVPA GDP warrant rose 1.87% to ARS84.55, while the TVYO warrant rose 0.97% to ARS77.14.

The Argentine peso closed at ARS5.757 to the U.S. dollar on the regulated MAE foreign-exchange wholesale market.

The central bank intervenes in the exchange market daily to buy dollars and build its foreign currency reserves, while gradually weakening the peso to help exporters.

In the underground market, the peso strengthened a tad to ARS9.39 to the dollar versus ARS9.40 the previous day, according to the newspaper El Cronista, which publishes rates collected from black-market traders.

Strict capital controls that limit the amount of foreign currency Argentines can purchase legally have fueled a parallel illegal market for dollars where people pay a steep premium for the U.S. currency.

Write to Taos Turner at [e-mail]