By Carla Mozee
Mexican blue-chips slipped Friday, giving up gains it had made
during the session as investors took in stride dismal figures about
home sales reported by its biggest trading partner.
In Mexico City, the IPC equity index closed down 14 points at
31,634.54, as losses among mining and industrial stocks outstripped
gains among consumer-discretionary and home-building issues.
Friday's loss marked the fifth straight decline for the index.
The IPC also had a five-session losing streak in January.
The IPC fell 1.5% for the week, its first loss in four weeks.
The index for the month, however, rose 4.1%, winning back the bulk
of its 5.4% decline in January.
Among decliners, shares of Televisa (TV) slumped 2% after the
Spanish-language broadcasting giant reported 58% drop in
fourth-quarter profit to 1.19 billion pesos ($93.3 million),
missing a Dow Jones Newswires consensus estimate for a profit of
$2.48 billion. Profit was hurt, in part, by foreign-exchange
losses.
Quarterly sales, however, rose to 15.16 billion pesos, better
than the forecast for 15.08 billion pesos.
Shares of rival TV Azteca slipped 0.2%.
Advancers included cement maker Cemex (CX), up 0.6%. Homex (HXM)
rose 2.4% and brewer Grupo Modelo (GPMCY) shares bounced 5.4%
higher.
But baked-goods maker Grupo Bimbo shares closed up fractionally,
stepping back from a climb of nearly 3%, and petrochemicals firm
Mexichem gave up earlier gains to finish with down 3.3%.
A report from the U.S. about sales of existing homes and condos
dropping 7.2% to a seven-month low in January appeared to have been
offset by the Commerce Department's report that growth in gross
domestic product for the fourth quarter was revised higher, to a
5.9% annualized rate from a previous reading of 5.7%.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 Index (SPX) edged up 0.1%.
Investors in Mexican assets keep close watch on U.S. economic
developments because of Mexico's heavy dependence upon the U.S. for
business. Mexico sends 80% of its products to its northerly
neighbor.
Earlier this week, Mexico reported a 2.03% rise in GDP for the
fourth quarter from the third quarter, showing that the local
economy continued to climb out of its worst recession since the
mid-1990s. For 2009, GDP shrank 6.5%.
In exchange-traded funds, the iShares MSCI Mexico Index (EWW)
ended flat at 48.64 and ended with a monthly gain of 5.7%, winning
back the bulk of its January losses.
Meanwhile, Brazilian stocks broke through seesaw trading to
leave the Bovespa index up 0.6% at 66,503, led by gains among
mining, finance, home building and transportation stocks. Shares of
air carrier TAM (TAM) was the best price performer of the day,
rising 7.5%.
Decliners included Fibria (FBR), shares of which fell 5.3%. The
paper and pulp supplier posted a narrower fourth-quarter loss of
150 million reals ($83.1 million) compared with a loss of 968
million reals. Sales rose to 1.7 billion reals.
Shares of Petrobras (PBR) rose 0.7% ahead of the state-run oil
firm's fourth-quarter results due late Friday.
The Bovespa ended the week with a 1.6% loss, its first loss in
three weeks. For the month, the index rose 1.7%. It fell 4.6% in
January.