La Jornada: US and Mexican financial markets close with declines

The Mexican peso reversed its initial gains and ended the session and the week with losses, despite a decline in the dollar, in a market in which investors remained attentive to renewed confrontations in the Middle East.

In wholesale operations, the exchange rate closed at 17.50 pesos per dollar, a decline of two cents (0.12 percent) for the Mexican currency compared to the previous session and 17 cents (0.98 percent) compared to Friday, June 19.

Investors remained cautious about risky trading after the United States blamed Iran for an attack on a ship near Oman. However, the peso found support in expectations that the Bank of Mexico will maintain a restrictive monetary stance for longer.

Moments after the regular closing of the markets, the US military bombed Iran in response to the drone attack on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz. Despite the increase in tensions, the exchange rate remained without major movements in operations outside regular hours. The dollar lost strength against its main crosses, at a time when attention ended up shifting to the geopolitical panorama.

Down week

Meanwhile, the benchmark index of the Mexican Stock Exchange, the S&P BMV IPC, closed with a drop of 0.28 percent to 67,226.01 points; During the week it fell 0.70 percent. On Wall Street, the main indices also ended with losses, dragged down by a sharp drop in the shares of chip makers related to artificial intelligence.

The Nasdaq, with a technology component, lost 0.24 percent, while the Dow Jones lost 0.09 percent and the Standard and Poor’s (S&P) 500 declined 0.05 percent.

The microprocessor giants, essential for building the data centers where artificial intelligence (AI) models are trained, suffered losses again yesterday, after a particularly tough week for the sector.