MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile stocks edge back from record high, peso gains

Chile stocks edged down from record highs in sluggish Monday afternoon trade as investors awaited economic growth and inflation data, while the peso rose against the dollar.

The all-market IGPA index inched down 0.07 percent to 11,703 points, while the blue-chip IPSA index fell 0.26 percent to 2,554.

"Volumes are low and there's no clear trend," one trader said. "Everybody is watching and waiting to see what kind of inflation and especially, economic growth figures we get."

The government is scheduled to report November inflation and October economic growth figures early on Tuesday.

Trade was led by No. 1 supermarket chain D&S (with a gain of 0.83 percent to 180.49 pesos a share, and dominant air carrier LAN Airlines up 1.05 percent to 5,210 pesos a share.

Gains were offset by diversified retailer Cencosud the most heavily weighted stock on the trade-weighted IPSA index, with a retreat of .93 percent to 1,595 pesos a share.

Local press reported on Monday that the national consumer protection agency decided to file suit against Cencosud for raising its in-store credit card maintenance fees by 530 pesos (about $1) per month last February without giving prior notice to more than 400,000 affected clients.

Forestry products and paper company CMPC also helped pull indexes down as its stock fell 1.06 percent to 17,800 pesos a share.

The Chilean peso rose 0.10 percent to close at 525.50/525.80 per dollar compared with Friday's close at 526.00/526.30.