Argentina’s peso fell 1.8% on Monday to 45.49 per U.S. dollar due to uncertainty over the country’s presidential election and the fallout from U.S.-China trade tensions, traders said.
The US dollar rose 22 cents against the Argentine peso and closed at a 1 US$/ AR$37.50 parity on Thursday. It was the second day in a row for an upward trend following seven straight slumps.
Argentina’s beleaguered peso stabilized on Friday as the central bank said it would auction a large amount of dollar reserves, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a strong statement of support for President Mauricio Macri’s government.
Argentina’s peso currency fell 1.42% to a record low close of 30.92 per dollar on Friday, weighed down by an economy slipping into recession, high inflation and uncertainty driven by corruption investigations.
The Argentine peso climbed on Tuesday after the Central bank implemented a raft of measures to stabilize the volatile currency on Monday, including increasing the benchmark interest rate to 45% from 40% previously, and announcing it was offering markets US$ 500 million.
Argentina’s peso closed down 3.86% on Friday and the stock market ended 1.44%, pressured by emerging markets turmoil, particularly in Turkey, and a corruption scandal that has touched some of the country’s top business leaders, traders said.
Argentine bonds touched their lowest levels of market-friendly President Mauricio Macri's term on Tuesday, but rebounded in a volatile trading session. Meanwhile the country risk (a measure of the difference between its bond yields and those issued by other countries) rose as much as 27 points to a 33-month peak.
Argentina asked the International Monetary Fund for financing to help stem a run from the Peso to the US dollar that is sparking a surge in interest rates and threatening to derail the country's economic recovery. The sum requested is estimated between 25 and 30bn dollars, 500% Argentina's IMF quota and could be disbursed in two forms, a flexible credit line or a precautionary credit line.