RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The price of the dollar in Argentina’s informal market reached this Monday its highest value so far this year, while the values of the U.S. currency in the different formal markets also closed higher.
The so-called “blue dollar” (informal retail market) rose this Monday by one peso and closed at 180 pesos for sale, a value not registered since last October, when the currency reached a historical record of 195 pesos per unit.
The price of the dollar in the formal retail market, where operations are limited due to several restrictions imposed by the Argentine authorities, also closed higher.
At the state-owned Banco Nación, the dollar rose 25 cents to 101.50 pesos per unit.
Meanwhile, in the official wholesale market, the currency rose eleven cents, to 96.31 pesos per unit.
Likewise, the value of the dollar in the financial mechanisms for more sophisticated investors traded higher again on Monday, after having shown a downward trend last week.
The so-called “cash with liquidation” dollar (CCL, which consists of buying shares or bonds locally with Argentine pesos and selling them in dollars on Wall Street) rose 0.6% to 167.22 pesos per unit.
Meanwhile, the “stock exchange dollar” or “MEP dollar” -which is obtained by buying assets that are quoted in both pesos and dollars, paid in pesos upon purchase and sold in dollars- advanced 0.8%, to 166.78 pesos per unit.
Market analysts observe that the upward pressures in Argentina’s exchange market tend to grow as next September’s primary elections and the legislative elections scheduled for November draw nearer, as investors’ uncertainty about the course of the local economy increases and therefore seek hedging in the US currency.