Ana Clara Pedotti
07/27/2021 8:47 PM
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 07/27/2021 8:47 PM
Due to a greater demand in the official market, the
Central Bank used its firepower and sold US $ 70 million
to maintain the exchange rate, which closed at $ 96.57 cents, three cents above Monday's closing.
It was
the first time in almost three months
that the body chaired by Miguel Pesce had to intervene to contain the price of the official dollar.
Today they paid a fee to the Paris Club and
the reserves fell by US $ 190 million
to total US $ 42,837 million.
Since the beginning of July, they have increased almost US $ 400 million.
You have to go back
to the end of April
to find another round in which the BCRA has had to end up with a selling balance.
On the 30th of that month, the monetary authority
had disbursed US $ 99 million
in the exchange market.
Despite the fact that on Monday the financial day had ended without being able to buy foreign currency and this time it had to get rid of some, in the Central
they do not believe that there is a change in trends.
"It is simply about
normal end-of-month operations
, such as payment of imports and closing of positions," said sources from the agency.
Market analyst Gustavo Quintana, from PR Corredores de Cambios, agreed with the official explanation: "The authorized demand dominated the development of the wheel, absorbing all the available supply and also requiring official assistance," he said.
With this result, the amount collected by the monetary authority so far this month is now less than US $ 1 billion.
With three wheels missing for the end of July, operators have doubts about whether the Central
will be able to maintain the level of purchases registered in recent weeks.
Although the inflow of foreign currency is usually lower since the second half of the year, the monetary authority has already been able to obtain more than US $ 970 million so far this month.
In the financial market, where the BCRA also intervenes strongly by selling bonds to keep the gap stable,
both the cash with settlement and the MEP dollar ended up with increases, of 0.3%
in both cases, although as in all trading sessions. the last weeks at the beginning had started with jumps that came to exceed 2.3%.
Despite the restrictions in this segment, the demand for dollarization remains high.
Operators reported this Tuesday a
new record in the volume traded in the AL30 bond in dollars,
which is the most used to carry out these exchange operations and the one that the Central Bank has in its portfolio and goes out to sell to avoid a surge of these types exchange.
For its part,
the blue posted a second consecutive low this week, ending at $ 183.
In the City they link this decline in the free dollar, which had ended last Friday at $ 185, to the sale of "helping hands" that could make it go back even further in the coming days.
Beyond the fact that in the official market the usual dynamics means that during the first part of the month, due to more supply of agriculture, the monetary authority manages to make purchases of foreign currency,
going forward the expectation is that the Central Bank should appeal more often to its firepower.
Martín Polo, from Cohen S. A, explained: "In the remainder of the year, the liquidation of agriculture that in the first seven months was so strong, due to a combination of greater liquidation of stocks and the boom in international prices, will It will slow down and that lower supply will impact the interventions of
the Central Bank, which will be a little more selling until the end of the year
. "
Polo warned that even though the agency must intervene more often in the exchange market, it has the necessary firepower to avoid a sharp jump in the dollar, combined with the restrictions on the exchange rate.
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