Only the assets of Vista Oil & Gas (-2.7%); Bioceres (-1.5%); Globant (-0.5%); Irsa Commercial Properties (-0.4%); and Tenaris (-0.3%).
“Banking and energy stocks continue to be the most used vehicles for tactical bets and correlated to external swings”, a market source commented.
Investors were expectant about the final approval of the IMF agreement with the country, which will refinance the debt of 45,000 million dollars taken by the government of Mauricio Macri in 2018.
In Washington, the perspective of analysts is that The IMF board will give its endorsement to the understanding reached by the staff with the Argentine officials headed by the Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán, after parliamentary approval of the bill sent by the Executive Power.
On Tuesday, ahead of this Friday’s meeting, the head of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, kept a zoom with the president Alberto Fernández and with the Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán. Board approval will allow triggering a first disbursement of 9,800 million dollars immediatelywhich will serve to pay very short-term maturities and to strengthen the reserves of the Central Bank.
In this sense, the IMF extended until Thursday, March 31, the term for Argentina to pay the interest and principal that were originally due on Monday, March 21 and Tuesday, March 22, for a total amount close to 2,800 million dollars.
Beyond all this, Argentine assets were fundamentally supported by the great performance shown by emerging markets, and also by Wall Street.
In Brazil, the Bovespa index gained 1.4%, while the Brazilian ETF (EWZ) rose 1.8%. In turn, the Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) advanced 0.5%.
On the New York Stock Exchange, meanwhile, US shares closed sharply higher, prolonging a market rebound, as Investors snapped up shares of chipmakers and large growth companies that had been hit recently.
The S&P 500 gained 1.4% to 4,520.18, while the Nasdaq rose 1.9% to 14,193.05 and the Dow rose 1% to 34,703.46.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index, which has suffered a sharp drop for the year, advanced strongly in the session, while the Apple shares (+2.3%) rose for the eighth consecutive day after being beaten earlier this month. Nvidia and Intel shares rose 9.8% and 6.9%, respectively, and helped boost the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
“The bear market was the time to buy,” said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive of Longbow Asset Management, which has about $50 million in assets under management. “People have finally said, hey, this is a good entry point.” “They are seeing more value in technology for the first time in a long time,” he said.
Investors kept an eye on upcoming events in Ukraine. Western leaders agreed to increase military aid to Ukraine and tighten sanctions on Russia, whose invasion of its neighbor entered a second month.
In the fixed income segment, Argentine bonds went from low to high during the day and ended with increases of between 0.6% and 1.3%, led by Global 2041 and 2046.
Consequently, the argentine country risk showed a decrease of 1.1% until located in the 1,817 basis points. At the beginning of the round, he reached 1,838 points, a maximum in two weeks.
“Beyond the rebound, dollar bonds have been heavy for some time, as investors have been responding cautiously and selectively to internal political noise”, said the economist Gustavo Ber.
And expanded: “The differences in the ruling coalition undoubtedly accentuate caution within a climate of uncertainty, which the agreement with the IMF failed to clear up, due to its implications in the management of the government and the implementation of the agreed strategies, through measures that will have costs and this increases the risk of short circuits”.