Stocks Set Record Ahead of Data
April 28, 2011
The market's key IPC index jumped 49.67, or 1.5%, to 3361.39, breaking the previous record of 3352.88 set February 01, 2011 IPC gained 46.51 Thursday. Volume totaled a strong 1.8 billion pesos on 139 million shares traded. The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wall Street added 23.67 to 5689.45. The gross domestic product figures are expected to confirm Mexico's economic recovery and are predicted to far exceed the government's initial 5% estimate. Traders said established investors added to their portfolios while new buyers came into the market, switching from other Latin American markets into Mexico. Also helping buoy investor confidence was a growing conviction that the U.S. Federal Reserve will not raise short-term interest rates at its policy meeting next week. Higher U.S. rates tend to draw funds out of emerging markets and back to the U.S. Traders said the growth expectations boosted stocks that have been depressed because of their dependence on the domestic economy. There was strong buying of consumer stocks such as Cifra and Soriana and construction stocks like Grupo ICA amid the idea that consumption is going to grow. Soriana's class B shares rose 10 centavos to 13 pesos, Cifra's class B shares climbed 32 centavos to 12.20 pesos and ICA's nominal shares rose 3.10 pesos to 117.60 pesos. Leading gainers Friday were Class L shares of shipping giant TMM, up 9 pesos, or 18%, to 59 pesos. TMM's Class A shares also rose, adding 4 pesos to 53 pesos. Losers were led by Invermexico's BCP shares, which slid 7 centavos to 1 peso. Other losers included Class B shares of financial group Bancrecer, which lost 6 centavos to 1.32 pesos, and nominal shares of glassmaker Vitro, which slipped 62 centavos to 15.98 pesos. Bellwether Telefonos de Mexico's Class L shares gained 20 centavos to 12.20 pesos locally, while its American depositary receipts rose 5/8 to 32 5/8 in New York trading.
