La Jornada: Escalation in the Persian Gulf affects the Mexican peso and stock market; lower NY

The Mexican peso and the stock market fell this Wednesday, pressured by a global wave of caution in the face of an escalation of hostilities in the Persian Gulf, which hit the appetite for risk assets and strengthened the dollar.

The market mood was also conditioned by Washington’s proposal to impose new tariffs on imports from 60 countries, including Mexico, a factor that revived uncertainty about foreign trade and its possible effects on economic activity.

In this context, in wholesale operations, the most representative of the market, the peso fell five cents (0.30 percent), closing at 17.33 units per dollar, according to the price of the Bank of Mexico.

In the session, the dollar was favored by the caution of investors in risk markets and also by private employment figures in the United States that were better than expected. The data comes ahead of a long-awaited report on the U.S. unemployment rate and nonfarm payrolls due out on Friday.

For its part, the benchmark index of the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV), the S&P/BMV IPC, closed with a drop of 0.88 percent, to 68,285.82 points, in line with the defensive tone that predominated in other markets.

The titles of Gentera, specialized in credit services, led the losses, with a decrease of 3.41 percent, to 43.06 pesos. They were followed by those of the mining company Grupo México, which lost 3.04 percent, to 214.03 pesos.

The New York Stock Exchange closed in the red after several consecutive records, as growing geopolitical tensions and rising oil prices stoked inflation concerns and convinced investors to take profits.

The Dow Jones lost 1.21 percent, the Nasdaq index fell 0.89 percent, while the expanded S&P 500 index lost 0.73 percent.

With information from Reuters and AFP