FX PRESSURE DOMINATED THE SESSION AHEAD OF TODAY'S AUCTION, as markets awaited the Treasury's tender. The Treasury is offering a deliberately short menu, aiming to absorb pesos without validating the high rates seen in the long end of the curve. Dollar sovereigns closed with no relevant changes, with Globals holding steady and Bonares easing at the margin, in a session where emerging market debt also pulled back slightly and country risk rose again. The peso curve ended mixed, led by duals, with the fixed-rate segment steepening, while repo (caución) traded around 20% NAR throughout the session. The exchange rate remained under pressure following yesterday's D31G6 fixing and with official presence in the futures market, while local equities managed to close higher.
THE TREASURY DEFINES TODAY'S AUCTION, in which it faces maturities of roughly ARS 13.9 trillion, including the USD 2,595 M dollar-linked D31G6, whose fixing took place yesterday. The menu is markedly short: a reopening of the November 2026 Lecap, a new January 2027 Lecap, the reopening of the January 2027 Lecer and the October 2026 Lelink, with the sole exception of a May 2027 Boncap. The choice of short instruments aims to avoid overloading a long end that has been trading at fairly high rates, so the Treasury may release some pesos into the market, though only in a limited way and mainly to avoid adding further pressure on the spot rate.
DOLLAR BONDS CLOSED VIRTUALLY UNCHANGED ON AVERAGE, with Globals up 0.1% and Bonares down 0.1%. Performance was mixed within each legislation: among Globals, the push came from the long end, which gained up to 0.4%, while among Bonares only the short end managed to advance, with declines of up to 0.5% across the rest of the curve. The performance was in line with emerging market debt, which fell at the margin. Country risk closed at 515 bps, three points above the previous session. Bopreal bonds, measured in MEP dollars, rose 0.1%.
PESO CURVES CLOSED MIXED IN USD TERMS, with a buying bias among inflation-linked instruments. Duals led the way, with TAMAR-linked CER up 0.1% and TAMAR fixed rate down 0.1%, followed by CER down 0.2%, while dollar-linked bonds fell 0.3% and the fixed-rate segment also closed in the red. Within fixed rate, steepening intensified, with the short end down 0.2% against declines of up to 0.6% in 2027 maturities. Among inflation-linked bonds, the long end led with gains of up to 0.4%. Repo (caución) traded around 20%-21% NAR throughout the session.
THE OFFICIAL EXCHANGE RATE ROSE 0.2% and closed at $1,514.16, accumulating a 1.7% gain so far this month, with yesterday's D31G6 fixing set around that same level and the dollar under pressure throughout the session. Financial rates followed suit: the MEP dollar advanced 0.3% to $1,545.06 and the CCL rose 0.3% to close at $1,605.97, with the exchange spread at 3.9%. Separately, the BCRA bought USD 61 M during the session, accumulating USD 548 M in August and USD 13,885 M so far this year. Meanwhile, gross reserves fell USD 129 M to close at USD 50,783 M.
THE MERVAL ROSE 0.5% IN PESOS AND 0.1% IN CCL TERMS, closing at USD 1,887. Leadership came from consumer discretionary, followed by utilities and industrials, while materials, real estate and consumer staples lagged behind. On the local panel, the top gainers were Transener with 4.4%, Sociedad Comercial del Plata with 2.3% and Telecom Argentina with 1.7%, while Aluar fell 2.6%, Banco de Valores 1.2% and Holcim 1.1%. New York-listed shares fell 0.4% on average, led by Central Puerto with 1.5%, followed by Pampa Energía with 1.2% and BBVA with 0.8%, while Globant posted the biggest decline at 3.2%, followed by MercadoLibre with 2.3% and Telecom Argentina with 1.2%.
