Argentina’s markets are starting December in an uneasy but orderly balance: the peso is sliding in a controlled way while equities pause after an explosive rally.
On Tuesday the wholesale dollar closed near 1,456.5 pesos, with the official retail rate around 1,480 and the blue market slightly cheaper at about 1,425–1,445.
Financial dollars stayed only a few points above the official band, with MEP close to 1,479 and cash-with-settlement near 1,521, while the global dollar index hovered around 99.2 after another soft session for the greenback.
The almost flat gap between the blue and official rates is striking in a country used to parallel markets trading far above the government screen.
It signals that, for now, savers are not scrambling for physical dollars and that tighter controls, plus U.S.-backed reserve support, are keeping speculation contained.
The cost is a heavier reliance on market discipline and spending restraint, after years in which state-heavy experiments and loose fiscal policy helped to break confidence in the peso.
On the S&P Merval, that mixture of calm currency and fragile trust produced a classic consolidation day. The index slipped 0.6% in pesos to about 3,042,000 points after gaining almost 11% in dollars over the previous week, leaving country risk around 647 basis points.
Internationally, the main Argentina ETF has seen roughly $8.6 million of net inflows over five days and about $50 million over a month, evidence that global money has not abandoned the reform story, even as some funds lock in quick profits.
Within the local panel, energy and infrastructure names dominated the leaderboard. Among the stronger performers were Metrogas, up about 1.5%, Telecom with gains a little above 1%, and smaller advances in Loma Negra, BYMA and Transportadora de Gas del Norte.
On the losing side, Edenor and Cresud both fell around 2.4%, Banco Supervielle dropped just over 2%, while YPF and Transportadora de Gas del Sur also closed in the red.
Technically, the four-hour USD/ARS chart is stretched: the pair rides the upper Bollinger band with an overbought RSI, hinting at short-term fatigue.
The daily chart, however, still shows a firm uptrend with a fresh bullish MACD crossover, and the weekly structure points to gradual, not chaotic, depreciation.
The Merval tells a similar story: weekly indicators remain strongly positive, while daily and intraday signals show a market catching its breath rather than fleeing.
For investors who prefer rules, stable money and limited state interference, that combination still looks more like a fragile opportunity than a lost cause.