Argentina: ADRs Soared Up to 6% on Wall Street, IMF Official Replaced

Argentine Stocks Enjoy a Positive Thursday, Led by Loma Negra, Which Rose 6.5% in Buenos Aires and 5.8% on Wall Street. Inflation Data Took a Backseat After a Key IMF Official’s Departure Regarding Argentina’s Case.

Argentine stocks continued their upward momentum on Wall Street, closing with significant gains of up to nearly 6%. Meanwhile, dollar-denominated bonds also rose, bringing the country risk to its lowest level in almost three months after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) decided to remove Rodrigo Valdés from overseeing Argentina’s agreement negotiations.

The IMF’s decision to replace Valdés, following accusations by President Javier Milei that the official had “bad intentions” toward his government, was interpreted by investors as “one step closer to a new agreement between the IMF and Argentina.”

In this context, the top-performing Argentine stocks in New York were Loma Negra (+5.8%), Mercado Libre (+4.6%), Grupo Supervielle (+4.2%), and Cresud (+3.4%). The only stock that declined was IRSA (-0.9%).

On the local exchange, the S&P Merval index rose 1.5% to 1,790,058.18 points, marking a positive day for the domestic stock market. Leading the gains were Loma Negra (+6.5%), Supervielle (+5.9%), and Transener (+3.8%), while losses were recorded in Transportadora de Gas del Norte (-0.9%), Sociedad Comercial del Plata (-0.7%), and IRSA (-0.3%).

Sovereign bonds started the day in negative territory but turned around during the session, closing mostly higher following the IMF’s decision. The top performers were the Global 2046 (+1.7%), Bonar 2038 (+1.2%), and Global 2035 (+1.1%), while the only decliner was the Bonar 2030, which fell by 0.2%.

As a result, JP Morgan’s country risk index for Argentina fell 1.6% to 1,422 basis points, its lowest level since June 21, when it hit 1,420 points.