THE CENTRAL BANK RENEWED ITS SWAP WITH CHINA, extending the term from three to five years and keeping the activated tranche at around USD 5,000 M. Despite the news, the market traded with a defensive tone: dollar bonds tracked a mild emerging-market pullback, the peso curve closed with yields higher, and the Merval fell 1.0%, dragged down by the financial sector.
PESO CURVES TRADED WEAK, in a session where overnight rates continued to push higher, with caución at 24% NAR and TAMAR at 23.1% NAR. Fixed-rate paper eased 0.1%, with yields that have been climbing in recent sessions and the short end now yielding between 1.9% and 2.1% EMR. CER-linked bonds gave up 0.2%, with the long end falling around 0.7% against a short end that was practically unchanged. Duals fell 0.3% and dollar-linked notes closed unchanged.
HARD-DOLLAR SOVEREIGNS EASED 0.4% ON AVERAGE, tracking a marginal decline in emerging-market debt. Globals fell 0.4% and Bonares 0.4%, with somewhat more pressure on the long end: GD35 dropped 0.7% and AL35 0.5%, while short-dated issues like AO27 held practically unchanged. Country risk rose to 426 bps. MEP-dollar Bopreal notes eased 0.2%.
THE OFFICIAL EXCHANGE RATE CLOSED AT $1,496.3, practically unchanged on the day and up 0.5% month-to-date. The MEP dollar traded at $1,520.4 (+0.1%) and the CCL dollar at $1,571.4, stable. The spread stood at 3.4%. On the reserves front, the central bank bought USD 8 M in the MULC, bringing accumulated purchases to USD 54 M in August and USD 13,391 M year-to-date. Gross reserves climbed to USD 50,059 M (+USD 417 M), partly boosted by the revaluation of gold holdings.
THE MERVAL FELL 1.0% IN PESOS (ALSO 1.0% IN CCL-DOLLAR TERMS), closing at USD 2,002. Energy and financials led the declines, while materials was the only sector in positive territory. Within the local panel, Ternium (+5.7%), Holcim (+3.9%) and Transener (+1.4%) led the gains, while Banco Macro (-2.4%), BBVA (-2.4%) and Transportadora Gas del Norte (-2.0%) led the losses. New York-listed ADRs closed down 0.3% on average, led by Ternium (+7.0%), Meli (+2.0%) and AdecoAgro (+1.2%), against declines in Vista Energy (-3.0%), Corporación América (-2.2%) and Bioceres (-2.2%).
