THE SESSION WAS DOMINATED BY THE TREASURY AUCTION, which comfortably rolled over the day’s maturities and secured net financing, though it had to concede some premium to sustain demand. Most bids flowed into FX-hedged instruments, with the new TAMAR/dollar-linked dual bond and Lecaps absorbing the bulk of the allotment. In the dollar segment, sovereigns traded lower in line with weak emerging-market debt and a renewed rise in country risk. Peso curves closed mixed in local terms but gained ground in USD terms as the official and financial exchange rates retreated and the central bank went back to buying dollars. On the equity side, the Merval fell in both peso and dollar terms, led lower by the banks.
IN TODAY’S AUCTION THE TREASURY ALLOTTED $12.21 TRILLION OUT OF $13.98 TRILLION IN BIDS, against maturities of about $8.4 trillion, implying a rollover of 144.5% and net financing of around $3.8 trillion. As anticipated, the Treasury rolled over more than 100% of maturities but had a harder time sustaining the rates from the previous placement. Demand concentrated in FX-hedged instruments: the new TAMAR/dollar-linked dual bond TMVE8, placed at a devaluation rate of +6.64%, took 38.7% of the allotment and, together with the dollar-linked bonds D30S6 and D15E7, accounted for 55.1% of the total. The Lecap S16O6 contributed another 37.8% and was where the Treasury conceded some premium, with a placement EMR of 2.05% (27.57% TIREA), while the rest of the instruments cut through the curve. The CER/TAMAR placement TXMD8 completed the remaining 7.1%. The weighted average term shortened to 325 days from 358 days at the previous auction. Outside the peso segment, USD 309 million of the Bonar AO29 was awarded at 8.33% TIREA, with a second round scheduled for tomorrow for up to an additional USD 150 million.
DOLLAR BONDS TRADED LOWER, closing with an average decline of 0.3%. Bonares (-0.5%) lagged somewhat behind Globales (-0.2%), though the GD29 held up with a 0.2% gain and the AE38 was the panel’s worst performer, down 0.9%. The move tracked broader emerging-market debt, which also closed in the red. Country risk added about 9 bps to around 450 bps. Bopreal bonds closed practically unchanged.
PESO CURVES ROSE ACROSS THE BOARD IN USD TERMS, with Lecaps leading the segment, up 0.4%, CER-linked debt up 0.2%, and dollar-linked notes up 0.1%. Dual and TAMAR-rate instruments gained 0.3%.
THE OFFICIAL EXCHANGE RATE FELL 0.3% TO CLOSE AT $1,496.35, up 0.9% so far this month. The MEP dollar eased 0.3% to $1,524.96 and the CCL dollar retreated another 0.3% to $1,586.68, with the CCL spread over the official rate at 6.0% and the MEP-CCL swap spread at 4.0%. Meanwhile, the BCRA bought USD 36 million on the day, bringing its July total to USD 2,000 million and its year-to-date total to USD 13,174 million. Gross reserves rose USD 269 million to close at USD 49,200 million.
THE MERVAL FELL 0.6% IN PESOS AND 0.2% IN CCL DOLLAR TERMS, closing at USD 2,035.8. The session was dominated by the banks, with financials leading the declines (-0.7%), followed by utilities (-0.5%) and real estate (-0.5%), while energy (+1.0%) and construction (+0.6%) were among the few sectors higher. Within the local board, Transportadora de Gas del Sur (+1.6%), YPF (+1.5%) and Sociedad Comercial del Plata (+1.1%) led the gainers, while Mirgor (-6.0%), Holcim (-3.0%) and Banco Supervielle (-1.8%) led the losses. New York-listed ADRs closed on average little changed, led by Globant (+9.0%) and Vista Energy (+2.7%), against declines in Bioceres (-4.0%), AdecoAgro (-3.3%) and Grupo Supervielle (-2.5%).
