Buenos Aires, January 8 (NA) – The Buenos Aires stock exchange had one of the worst performances in 2025 compared to other international exchanges. However, the market sees growth potential for Argentine stocks in 2026, anticipating progress from the government on structural reforms in labor and tax matters that will allow for business improvement, according to the Outlier consultancy. In the last 12 months, the stock exchange that rose the most in the world is Peru's, boosted by the gold rally, according to the report cited by the Argentine News Agency. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in Peru gained 90% in the last year, followed by Spain, which advanced 73%, and Chile (also thanks to gold and the electoral result that led to the election of right-wing candidate José Kast to the presidency), with a 69% rally. Below are the stock exchanges of Colombia (+57%), Italy (+51%), Mexico (+46%), Brazil (+44%), and emerging markets (+37%). Below them are China, Canada, Germany, France, Taiwan, and Japan, with returns between 34% and 24%. Among the markets with the lowest returns are Wall Street, with the Nasdaq, S&P 500, and Dow Jones posting more modest returns of 21%, 17%, and 16%, respectively. Among the worst-performing markets are India, which rose 5% in the last year, Argentina, which gained 6%, and Australia, which advanced 8%. For clarification, Argentina's ETF is not very representative of the local stock exchange, as the stocks that compose it do not reflect the economy or the local market. Taking the S&P Merval in dollars, it is 5% below the values of a year ago. This makes the local stock exchange the worst in the world in the last 12 months. In contrast, when analyzing a longer period, for example, 3 years, the local stock exchange is the one that has risen the most in the world. Argentina's ETF rose 162%, and the S&P Merval in dollars almost tripled in that period. Also among the top 10 stock exchanges with the highest gains are Peru, the Nasdaq, Spain, Italy, Colombia, the S&P 500, Germany, Canada, and Chile, with increases between 56% and 151% in the last 3 years. Outlier analysts highlighted that 2025 again left a strong dispersion of returns between regions and markets, in which the local market was left behind. 'Asian markets led the rises in dollars, Europe surprised positively leveraged by the movement of the euro, and the United States showing more moderate but consistent returns. In contrast, Argentine equity lagged when analyzed in hard currency,' they said. However, they also emphasized that it is necessary to remember the excellent 2024 that it had (+122.6% measured at CCL).
