Buenos Aires, November 19 (NA) – Sovereign bonds continued to rise on Wednesday, with the country risk premium falling below the 600-point mark. Analysts believe that if this key indicator were to drop below 500 points, the economic team would decisively consider seeking debt on international markets at a rate below 8 percent. This week, the City of Buenos Aires raised USD 600 million in a placement at 7.8 percent. In this context, bonds issued under foreign law are up by 0.6%, supporting the country risk premium. "The possible implementation of a new credit repo, the expectation of an upcoming announcement for the repurchase of 29s and 30s bonds, and official currency purchases could act as drivers to continue compressing the country risk premium, in the short term with a scale towards ~500 bps., and on the way to trying to reach rates starting with ~8% by the first quarter, a level where corporate and provincial issuances reflect a broad appetite from external investors," it was added. On the stock side, Argentine companies listed on Wall Street are up by up to 3%, in a global market attentive to the results that Nvidia may present this afternoon. Locally, the Merval index shows a 0.5% decline measured in dollars. "Global stocks, which trade at a valuation discount to U.S. stocks, while their performance in corporate profit generation is similar," it was indicated. For his part, economist Gustavo Berdijo said that "it opens positive expectations, the solid demand that the wave of corporate placements and now also of provinces has been showing, signaling - and acting as a prelude - to a possible return of the sovereign to the markets". The JP Morgan bank indicator fell from the 614 it reached on Tuesday to 599 units. For Nicolás Max, director of Asset Management at Criteria, "as we approach the end of the year, we have observed a sustained depreciation of the dollar, which boosted the performance measured in dollars of different asset classes outside the United States". "We maintain a positive view on hard currency and local currency emerging market debt, and a neutral position in equities, with a preference for the high-growth sector in the U.S."
