| | |  Business News | August 2008 
US Dollar's Rally Hurts Mexico Peso; Stocks Rise
 Michael O'Boyle & Inaki Maillard - Reuters
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| | A dealer counts US dollar notes at his money changer booth. (AFP) | | |
Mexico City - Mexico's peso weakened sharply on Friday as the dollar rallied against global currencies on growing fears the rest of the world will be affected by the economic slowdown hitting the United States.
The peso MEX01 weakened 1.42 percent to 10.1321 per dollar, while the IPC stock index .MXX was up 0.54 percent to 27,131 points in low-volume trading.
Most major currencies fell 1 percent or more against the greenback, following news of economic weakness in Europe and Japan.
A weak U.S. economy has already been priced into the value of the dollar, but other countries likely to be hit by the slowdown have not yet seen their currencies suffer, experts said.
Mexican growth has begun to show signs of slowing, following the downturn in the economy of the United States, Mexico's chief trading partner.
"Mexico is certainly going to feel the impact of the U.S. slowdown and to a certain extent growth expectations (in Mexico) have been overly optimistic," said Nick Chamie, head of emerging markets research at RBC in Toronto.
In debt trading, the government's 10-year peso bond fell 0.181 of a point in price to 93.451, pushing its yield up 3 basis points to 8.78 percent.
In the equities market, traders said falling oil prices eased fears that high fuel costs would further undermine the economy in the United States, the destination for around 80 percent of Mexican exports.
"Commodity prices, especially oil, are falling. This favors developed markets and favors, to a lesser degree, developing markets. That's why the rise in Mexico is less than in developed countries," said Jaime Aguilera, an analyst at HSBC in Mexico City.
Shares of America Movil (AMXL.MX), the largest cell phone operator in Latin America, gained 0.88 percent to 25.38 pesos.
Retailer Elektra (ELEKTRA.MX) gained 3.95 percent to 437.79 pesos.
Cement maker Cemex (CMXCPO.MX), the world's No. 3 cement maker, rose 2.36 percent to 21.68 pesos.
(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) |
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