| | |  Business News | February 2009 
Mexico Companies' Debt Manageable - Govt
 Jason Lange & Alistair Bell - Reuters
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Mexico City - Mexican companies are not facing substantial problems in making external debt payments this year, the finance ministry's head of debt operations said on Friday.
"We think that Mexico's private sector has a very manageable situation," Gerardo Rodriguez told Reuters TV.
The global credit crisis has made it more difficult for companies around the world to raise cash to roll over debt that is denominated in dollars.
Mexican companies with debt in dollars have been badly hit by a devaluation of the peso of about 25 percent since September.
Cemex, the world's No. 3 cement maker, said this month it would pay $3.6 billion in debt this year despite tumbling U.S. and European volumes, as it slashes costs amid the global economic slump.
Mexico is mostly finished for this year with a program of refinancing external debt, Rodriguez said.
(Reporting by Jason Lange and Alistair Bell; Editing by Dan Grebler)
Mexico Cenbank Halts Peso Slide; Bonds, Stocks Dive
Michael O'Boyle - Reuters
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Mexico City - Mexico's peso pared losses on Friday after the central bank intervened in markets to support the currency, which hit a record low, while bonds sank after policymakers cut interest rates less than expected.
Mexican stocks sank to a three-month low as worries about top U.S. and European banks pummeled global markets.
The peso MEX01 ended 1.22 percent weaker at 14.80 per dollar at the central bank's final reference rate after having approached 15 pesos per dollar.
The 14.80 per dollar rate was still the lowest closing level registered for the currency since new pesos were introduced in 1993.
The deepening worries about global banks hit the peso, which was further undermined after the central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points, when the market was expecting a half-percentage point cut. [ID:nN20260763] and [ID:nN20359486]
The peso had weakened more than 2 percent during the session and traded as low as 14.9983 per dollar on Friday, prompting the central bank to sell $400 million under its daily dollar auction policy.
But traders said the central bank then began calling up banks to directly offer dollars, as it did earlier this month for the first time in more than 10 years.
Earlier, the central bank said it was increasingly concerned about the sliding domestic economy but it also cautioned that the recent deterioration of the peso could lead to higher consumer prices.
The central bank has sold more than $18.3 billion through its dollar auctions and direct interventions to support the peso.
"The Bank of Mexico has to take a more aggressive position," said Rogelio Gallegos, a portfolio manager at Actinver in Mexico City.
The peso has lost around one-third of its value from an August high, raising concerns that higher import prices will push up inflation and keep the central bank from cutting interest rates quickly to help the flagging economy.
The government's benchmark 10-year peso bond fell 2.6 points, pushing its yield up 38 basis points to 8.32, its biggest one-day jump since late October.
Mexican stocks sank as worries about top U.S. and European banks pummeled global markets. The IPC stock index .MXX closed down 1.92 percent at 18,324.23, its lowest level since late November.
Shares in America Movil (AMXL.MX), Latin America's biggest cell phone operator, shed 3.5 percent to 19.86 pesos while its shares on Wall Street (AMX.N) fell 3.62 percent to $26.86.
(Editing by Kenneth Barry) |
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