ARGENTINA: Merval Falls 2.48% Amid Rumors Of Pension Fund Repositioning

(RTTNews) - Merval, the main index of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, fell 2.48% to 31,747.35 points Monday amid rumors that the Argentinean Social Security Administration (ANSES) could close its positions in local equity funds. The international stock markets decline also weighed on Merval.

"It was an awful day for the local equity segment. None of the 31 Merval constituents were safe, given that all ended the day in the negative," said Eduardo Fern?ndez, an analyst at Rava Burstil.

Agrometal (-4.18%), Endesa Costanera (-3.87%), Distribuidora de Gas Cuyana (-3.84%), and Banco Franc?s (-3.82%) recorded the worst losses.

Meanwhile, the locally traded U.S. dollar fell slightly (-0.04%), quoted at 20.20 Argentinean pesos, due to a new intervention by the Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA) in the market to avoid the greenback to keep on rising.

According to Fernando Izzo, an analyst at ABC Mercado de Cambios, "the foreign exchange market is already taking the pulse of the BCRA interventions, which today lowered a little more the oscillation of the North American currency against the peso."