ARGENTINA: Merval Falls On Friday But Ekes Out 1% Gain For The Week

(RTTNews) - Merval, the main index of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, fell 1.05% Friday to 32,774.83 points but still managed to eke out a 1% weekly gain.

Autopistas del Sol (+0.25%) reported that it extended its contracts with the oil company Axion Energy Argentina for two areas of fuel sales services in the General Paz Avenue.

Meanwhile, the Argentinean state-owned oil company YPF (-1.07%) acknowledged that it had hired Citibank "to explore strategic options" regarding its stake in gas distributor Metrogas.

The locally traded U.S. dollar rose 0.15%, closing at 19.98 Argentinean pesos, the highest price of the month.

"In the final half hour the market was quite balanced, after having increased demand and operated again at 20 pesos per dollar, although the rise lasted little and with a volume less than the previous days," said Fernando Izzo, an analyst at ABC Mercado de Cambios.