Argentina’s Peso Holds The Line As Funding Jitters Hit Stocks
Argentina woke up on Friday with an unusually calm currency screen. The wholesale dollar hovered around 1,424 pesos, the Nación retail rate reached 1,450, and the blue dollar traded near 1,425 – a rare moment when the parallel market is cheaper than the official counter.
Financial dollars stayed slightly higher, with MEP just above 1,450 and CCL near 1,490, while a firm U.S. Dollar Index around the 100 mark reminded traders that global money is still flowing into the greenback, not into risky pesos.
Behind that fragile calm sits a nervous story. The Central Bank has been letting the wholesale rate slip only millimetres each day while cutting reserve requirements to revive credit.
At the same time, the government’s much-trailed 20-billion-dollar syndicated loan has effectively collapsed, forcing Economy Minister Luis Caputo to chase a far smaller repo to cover roughly 4 billion in January debt.
Country risk is back above 600 points, and one Buenos Aires desk summed up the mood: the deal might come, but “the market wants reserves first.”
Equities spent Thursday on a roller coaster. Early in the session, the rally that followed President Javier Milei’s pro-market agenda was still alive: among local leaders, Aluar gained about 2.7%, Telecom 1.1%, Loma Negra 1.0% and Grupo Financiero Galicia 0.9%, while Edenor’s ADR in New York climbed just over 3%.
Later, global risk aversion and a stronger dollar flipped the board. The S&P Merval ended roughly flat to slightly negative around 2.85 million points after intraday gains of more than 2%.
The biggest losers included Sociedad Comercial del Plata (around –5%), Telecom and Aluar (about –3.5% each), BBVA (–2.7%) and, among ADRs, names like YPF and Grupo Supervielle with drops in the 3–4% range.
Technically, the four-hour USD/ARS chart shows a fresh bullish jolt: price has broken above short-term averages, MACD has turned up and the fast RSI pushes into overbought territory.
On the daily chart, though, the pair is still locked in a tight consolidation band, with momentum indicators flattening after months of one-way depreciation.
Taken together, the almost nonexistent gap between official and blue rates and a stock market pausing after a huge October rally suggest something unusual for Argentina.
The market is orderly but skeptical, willing to give a reformist government time — as long as it delivers discipline rather than another round of interventionist experiments.
Live Market IntelligenceArgentina — Live Market Board
Rio Times · Live Market Intelligence
Argentina — Live Market Board
-0.59%
167,830.27
+0.90%
64,193.66
+0.41%
11,241.32
+0.49%
2,874,493
-0.59%
2,453.87
-0.30%
57,612.45
+1.33%
| Instrument | Last | Change | YoY | Prev. | High | Low | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MERVAL | 2,874,493 | -0.59% | +30.51% | 3,022,485 | 3,042,365 | 2,991,150 | — |
| USD/ARS | 1,493 | +0.10% | +12.96% | 1,491 | 1,494 | 1,480 | — |
| YPF | 7,810 | +0.26% | +72.84% | 7,790 | 7,850 | 7,600 | 1,763,858 |
| GGAL | 6,980 | -0.78% | +1.82% | 7,035 | 7,115 | 6,920 | 1,564,062 |
| PAMPA | 5,115 | +0.69% | +26.70% | 5,080 | 5,140 | 5,000 | 721,190 |
| TXAR | 747.50 | -2.35% | +18.67% | 765.50 | 770.00 | 742.50 | 771,892 |
| ALUAR | 938.00 | -1.21% | +29.83% | 949.50 | 951.00 | 932.50 | 135,426 |
| TGS | 8,870 | -0.17% | +15.05% | 8,885 | 9,075 | 8,720 | 143,546 |
| CEPU | 2,156 | +1.84% | +28.36% | 2,117 | 2,165 | 2,086 | 404,146 |
| MIRGOR | 1,650 | -1.20% | -92.90% | 1,670 | 1,670 | 1,635 | 20,877 |
| COME | 40.93 | -0.73% | -30.47% | 41.23 | 41.60 | 40.50 | 4,258,884 |
| LOMA NEGRA | 3,130 | +0.08% | +5.80% | 3,128 | 3,205 | 3,090 | 182,992 |
| BYMA | 275.00 | -1.70% | +35.14% | 279.75 | 282.50 | 272.00 | 1,409,575 |
| TELECOM ARG | 4,233 | -0.70% | +55.19% | 4,263 | 4,335 | 4,160 | 31,896 |
| GLOBANT | 38.10 | -2.26% | -49.65% | 38.98 | 38.70 | 36.77 | 793,552 |
| MERCADOLIBRE | 1,870 | -3.59% | -20.71% | 1,940 | 1,927 | 1,870 | 329,640 |
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