USD-DENOMINATED BONDS TRADED WITHOUT CLEAR DIRECTION, closing flat on average across the hard-dollar complex. Bonares rose 0.1% while Globales slipped 0.1%, with no meaningful difference between the short and long end. The move came on a session in which emerging market debt closed higher, with country risk compressing to 421 bps. Bopreal bonds tracked the firmer tone, rising 0.4% measured in MEP dollars.
PESO CURVES EDGED HIGHER IN USD TERMS ACROSS ALL TENORS. Fixed-rate paper and CER-linked debt gained around 0.5%, dollar-linked notes also added about 0.5%, and duals rose roughly 0.4%, with the only differentiating signal in the long CER segment, which traded slightly softer than the rest. Repo rates (caución), meanwhile, traded around 24% NAR and continue to show an upward trend.
THE OFFICIAL EXCHANGE RATE ROSE 0.2% to close at $1,496.45, up 0.5% on the month. The MEP dollar fell 0.4% to $1,518.88, and the CCL led the decline, dropping 0.5% to $1,570.67, leaving the MEP-CCL spread at around 3.4%. Separately, the BCRA bought USD 28 M during the session, bringing its August total to USD 46 M and USD 13,383 M year-to-date. Meanwhile, gross reserves rose USD 266 M to close at USD 49,642 M.
THE MERVAL FELL 2.5% IN USD (CCL) TERMS, closing at USD 2,023 (down 2.6% in pesos). The session showed broad-based selling, led by the energy, construction and materials sectors, while defensives such as consumer and communication names declined by less. Among local board stocks, losses were widespread, led by Transportadora de Gas del Sur down about 4.0%, Edenor down 3.4% and Banco BBVA down 3.3%, with YPF slipping 2.2%, and very few exceptions in the green such as Ternium, Transener and Telecom. New York-listed ADRs fell 1.6% on average, though with dispersion: Corporación América rose 3.3%, Globant 2.7% and Bioceres 2.4%, while BBVA, Edenor and Transportadora de Gas del Sur tracked the local decline.
