LOCAL MARKETS CLOSED SLIGHTLY LOWER, with sovereign dollar bonds unchanged and equities retreating. Financial dollars fell while the official rate rose slightly, with the BCRA buying USD 25 M, and gross reserves increased on the change in reserve requirements. In peso bonds, Lecaps, CER and Duals advanced, while dollar-linked bonds were little changed.

PESO DEBT ROSE ON WEDNESDAY, with overnight rates stable around 20% NAR as liquidity normalized. Duals led with a 0.3% gain, in a context where the Tamar rate has been rising gradually and stands at 22.7% NAR, followed by the fixed-rate curve which advanced 0.2%. Dollar-linked and CER bonds edged up 0.1%.

DOLLAR DEBT HAD A MIXED SESSION, led by Globales which advanced 0.2%, with the GD46 standing out (+0.9%), while Bonares closed with a broad 0.1% decline, though the AN29 stood out with a 1.7% gain. With this performance, country risk compressed to 424 bps despite weak emerging-market debt. Separately, Bopreales rose 0.1%.

THE OFFICIAL EXCHANGE RATE OPENED THE MONTH HIGHER, up 0.3% to $1,487.77. Financial dollars, which traded under more pressure during the session, ended moderating: the MEP eased 0.2% to $1,512.9 and the CCL slipped 0.1% to $1,560.9. The FX spread stood at 3.2%. In this context, the BCRA slowed its pace of purchases and bought USD 25 M, accumulating close to USD 11,200 M this year. Gross reserves rose USD 2,183 M, mainly explained by the seasonal rebuilding of reserve requirements at the start of the month.

THE MERVAL FELL 1.4% IN DOLLAR TERMS, closing at USD 1,999, in a broadly lower session. Utilities, banks and communications led the losses. Among local stocks, Banco Macro (-2.8%), Supervielle (-2.5%) and TGS (-2.5%) led the declines; Holcim (+2.4%), Aluar (+0.6%) and Ternium (+0.5%) were the only gainers. Among ADRs, Supervielle (-4.2%), TGS (-3.6%) and Cresud (-3.3%) led the losses; Globant (+8.5%) and MercadoLibre (+2.6%) were the positive exception.