Argentina’s Peso Holds The Line As Equities Catch Their Breath

Argentina’s markets opened Thursday with the peso still holding its post-election gains and equities pausing after a sharp breakout, as investors test whether President Javier Milei’s market-friendly experiment can endure after years of heavy state intervention.

On the wholesale market the official dollar trades around 1,410 pesos, while the blue-market rate hovers near 1,430, leaving only a modest gap after episodes this year when the parallel quote raced far ahead of the regulated rate.

The narrow spread suggests capital-flight fears have eased for now, even if nobody pretends Argentina’s inflation problem is solved.

Officials argue that the current trading bands are “well calibrated” and that this is not the moment for another shock devaluation, a line that reassures traders who remember previous abrupt currency resets.

Technically, the daily USD/ARS chart shows the dollar backing off late-October highs above 1,450 and moving sideways around the 20-day moving average, with Bollinger Bands beginning to contract.

On the four-hour chart momentum has cooled: MACD remains negative but is flattening, and RSI has crawled out of oversold territory.

With the U.S. Dollar Index parked near the upper 90s after recent weakness, the setup points more to consolidation than to a fresh peso panic, though any new dollar surge could quickly reopen old wounds.

Equities tell a similar story of cautious optimism. The S&P Merval climbed about 0.9 percent on Wednesday to just under three million points, recouping most of last week’s pullback.

Local desks say buying is strongest in companies seen as beneficiaries of deregulation and tighter fiscal discipline, while investors show less enthusiasm for firms that relied most on past interventionist policies.

Markets steady for now but confidence hinges on reform momentum

Top gainers in the session included Sociedad Comercial del Plata, up roughly 14 percent, Transener with a jump of about 5.5 percent, Transportadora de Gas del Sur at plus 3.9 percent, Cresud at plus 3.1 percent and Metrogas at plus 2.8 percent.

Laggards were Bolsas y Mercados Argentinos, down around 3 percent, followed by Grupo Supervielle, Central Puerto, Ternium Argentina and Edenor, which all slipped between 1 and 2 percent on profit-taking and rotation.

For now, markets are offering a wary vote of confidence: the peso is stable, stocks are higher and the parallel market is no longer screaming crisis.

But with inflation still high, financing needs heavy and reforms facing a fragmented Congress, that verdict could change quickly if the government’s pro-market roadmap starts to wobble.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error