ARGENTINA: Merval Gives Up On Profits And Falls 1.21%

Merval, the main index of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, gave up its early gains to fall 1.21%, closing at 27,131.89 points Monday amid high volatility in the local financial market.

Analysts said that investors are closely following the progress of the tax, pension and labor reform bills in Congress to gauge how broad the changes will be.

"The local market had no volume to sustain the initial rise and ended with a decline of 1.21%," said analysts at Bull Market Brokers.

PGR posted a significant rebound that led it to rise 8.21%, while Banco Macro earned 0.98% on the day that its chairman - now on leave - Jorge Brito testified in a corruption case.

The sharpest falls of the day were Comercial del Plata (-5.22%), Edenor (-2.91%), TGS (-2.80%), and Petrobras (-2.57%).

The locally traded U.S. dollar closed down 0.15%, at 17.32 Argentinean pesos, while the local currency continues to appreciate against the greenback.

"With the drop today, the U.S. dollar returned to levels at the end of last September and moved away again from its annual peak," said Gustavo Quintana, an analyst at PR Corredores.

News are provided by InstaForex