Saturday, November 22, 2008

LATIN AMERICAN MARKETS: Argentina OKs Pensions Takeover; Brazil, Mexico Mixed

By Carla Mozee

Argentine stocks fell Friday following a widely expected decision by the government to nationalize pension funds, and Brazilian stocks dropped more than 6%, with commodity stocks driving the decline.

Meanwhile, Mexican shares finished slightly higher after a better-than- expected report about quarterly economic growth and a rally on Wall Street on news that President-elect Barack Obama has made his choice for the nominee for Treasury Secretary.

Latin American markets finished lower for the week, led by a 5.8% fall by Brazil's Bovespa index.

"Unfortunately events this past week were once again driven by these words: credit crunch, recession, deflation, stagnation, demand slump, etc.," said analysts at Saxo Bank in a weekly commodity update.

Argentina's Merval equity index fell 4% to 828.94 in the wake of Thursday night's vote in the Senate that gives the Kirchner administration control of $24 billion in assets that had been managed by 10 private pension funds, ending a 14-year run of the system

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