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LatAm follows Dow lower
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September 7, 2001: 6:37 p.m. ET
Mexico dips, U.S. jobs data adds to woes; Toronto tries to avoid U.S. slide
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Mexican stocks slipped for a fifth-straight day on Friday, tracking U.S. markets that were spooked by an unexpectedly weak U.S. jobless report that dashed hope for an early economic recovery.
Argentine stocks slumped as U.S. markets tumbled and European bourses fell to February 1999 levels.
Toronto stocks fell for the third straight session on Friday, but strength in the oil and gas sector helped the market avoid the tumble U.S. stock markets took on news of a surge in the U.S. jobless rate.
In Brazil, the Bovespa stock market was closed on Friday for Independence Day.
Mexico dips as U.S. jobs data absorbed
The benchmark IPC index of the 35 most liquid stocks on the Mexican stock exchange ended 31.26 points lower, or 0.53 percent, at 5,844.60 points, its lowest close since April 9 when the market ended at 5,756.36 points.
The IPC finished the week 7.39 percent weaker after a rash of negative data from the United States, which absorbs nearly 90 percent of Mexican exports.
Despite a moderate comeback during the session by the IPC after hitting an intraday low of 5,794.91 points, there were some notable casualties, such as No.1 retailer Wal-Mart de Mexico (Walmex). The stock shed 1.96 percent to 20.51 pesos, taking its loss for the week to 9.25 percent.
Walmex was due to release same-store sales figures for August later Friday or Monday.
The Mexican IPC was also feeling the effect of beleaguered U.S. markets.
The U.S. Labor Department said Friday the jobless rate rose to 4.9 percent in August from 4.5 percent in July, making the August rate the highest in four years.
The data depressed shares in Mexican cement company, Cemex, the third-biggest cement maker in the world, which fell 0.75 percent to end at 44.90 pesos, taking its decline on the week to 3.96 percent.
Shares of No. 1 Latin American cellular telephone company America Movil slipped 0.30 percent to 6.65 pesos, but registered a fall of 12.54 percent on the week.
Turnover on the Mexican bourse was 110 million shares worth 1.272 billion pesos, or $136 million.
Argentine stocks slump on foreign bourses
The blue-chip Merval stock index ended down 2.23 percent at 300.10 points in extremely thin volume of $7.8 million. The MerVal ended the week down 6.2 percent from its Aug. 31 close of 319.89 points.
Confirmation in the final minutes of stock trading that the International Monetary Fund's board of directors voted, as expected, to make $6.3 billion available immediately to the indebted nation pushed the bourse off its lows of the day.
"The market reflected losses on foreign exchanges. We're waiting for positive news. We did not have any large sellers. I expect the market to recover next week after this week's fall," said Mario Zawadzki of Schweber brokers.
The country-risk premium Argentina must pay to entice investors away from safe-haven U.S. Treasurys widened 13 basis points to 1,486 basis points – meaning Argentina is still perceived as a riskier bet than Russia, Turkey, or Brazil.
Argentina posted a revised trade surplus of $586 million in July, year-on-year, the Economy Ministry said on Friday. Exports in July totaled $2.355 billion, while imports were $1.769 billion.
In the first seven months of this year exports totaled $15.810 billion and imports were $13.225 billion yielding a trade surplus of $2.585 billion.
Central Bank total international reserves rose 0.1 percent to $19.132 billion between Sept. 4-5, while gold and currency reserves fell 0.9 percent to $14.072 billion.
Argentine aluminum producer Aluar posted a fiscal year net profit of $85.29 million.
Energy company Perez Companc, the most heavily weighted share on the MerVal index, fell 4 cents to $1.25, while Grupo Financiero Galicia, a holding company, whose main unit, Banco Galicia, is a major holder of Argentine bonds, closed down 1 cent at $0.95.
Toronto tries to avoid U.S. slide
The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index ended down 47.21 points, or 0.64 percent, at 7,368.77. Declining stocks beat advancers 557 to 460, with another 214 unchanged.
Overall in Toronto, seven of the TSE 300's 14 subindexes were lower, led by a 3.04 percent dip in the metals and minerals group, and a 2.29 percent fall in the merchandising group.
In the merchandising sector, retailer Sears Canada Inc. was down C$3.90 at C$17.80 after it warned of much weaker third-quarter results on Thursday, and said the outlook for the rest of the year was "highly guarded".
In the metals and minerals sector, Alcan Inc. was off C$2.51 at C$54.49 and Inco Ltd. was down 55 Canadian cents at C$25.55.
The oil and gas sector, which is the third heaviest weighted group on the TSE 300, climbed 0.69 percent after a week of takeover activity led investors to take another hard look at the stocks, analysts said.
In the sector, Alberta Energy rose C$1.14 to C$57.78, while Talisman Energy climbed C$1.03 to C$62.40.
-- from staff and wire reports 
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