Mexico City. The peso and the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) culminated this Friday a week of losses due to growing concerns about an escalation of tensions in the Middle East and the persistent fear that the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) will maintain its interest rates higher for longer.
The last session of the week was marked by an attack by Israel on Iranian territory in the first minutes of Friday, which fueled a wave of sales of risk assets, including the Mexican peso, which plummeted more than 5 percent. cent to 17.9040 units.
At the close of interbank operations, the peso managed to reduce losses, closing at 17.11 units per dollar. However, it lost 6 cents (0.35 percent) compared to Thursday’s close and 46 cents (2.77 percent) compared to Friday of the previous week, marking its worst weekly performance since October of last year and analysts agreed. that in the short term investors will continue to be very attentive to the conflict in the Middle East.
“Uncertainty will predominate until there is conclusive evidence that there will be no escalation of tensions,” said Masari Casa de Bolsa, in a note to its clients. “The exchange rate will be influenced by the news that comes out of the region,” he added.
The Actinver firm pointed out that a worsening of the conflict would exacerbate volatility and the search for security in instruments such as the dollar and Treasury bonds. On the contrary, if the situation does not escalate, the peso would stabilize at levels around 17.00-17.30 units.
At the local level, the Mexican currency found support in a report that showed that retail sales grew in February after three months of declines, supporting the argument that the progress of the economy could allow the Bank of Mexico to maintain its restrictive monetary policy. one of the factors behind the strength of the peso.
For now, in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, speculative positions in favor of an appreciation of the peso were reduced this week for the first time since mid-March, reflecting the uncertainty that prevails in the markets.
For its part, the BMV rose 0.22 percent to 55,862.85 points, but accumulated a weekly decline of 1.24 percent. The session highlighted a fall of 4.13 percent to 36.25 pesos in Kimberly-Clark de México securities, its worst session since August 2022, after reporting its quarterly report the day before.
“Wall Street Fear Indicator at Six-Month Highs
The New York Stock Exchange closed unevenly, weighed down by the big names in the technology sector, which were dragged down by the disappointing prospects of Netflix.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average remained afloat and gained 0.56 percent, closing at 37,986.40 points. But the Nasdaq, mostly technological, fell 2.05 percent to 15,282.01 units and the expanded Standard and Poor’s (S&P) 500, which lost for the sixth consecutive session, lost 0.88 percent and fell to 4,067.2 points. This last index, the most representative of the US market, was below the symbolic barrier of 5 thousand points for the first time since February.
A cocktail of interest rate anxiety and geopolitical tensions kept U.S. stock investors on the defensive and pushed Wall Street’s most closely watched volatility gauge to its highest level in half a year.
After the S&P 500 lost nearly 5 percent from its all-time high in late March, the Cboe Volatility Index surged above 20 points overnight as tensions escalated between Iran and Israel, hitting its highest level since the end of October. (With editorial information)
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– 2024-04-22 04:08:21
