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To: Art Baeckel who wrote (21238)	8/4/2000 8:34:09 AM
From: Art Baeckel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22640

Mexican stocks trim losses, end off 0.53 pct Reuters Company News - August 03, 2000 17:17 Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Jump to first matched term (Updates with preliminary closing prices) By Cyntia Barrera Diaz MEXICO CITY, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Mexican stocks closed down Thursday, but managed to pull away from their lows, helped by a late afternoon comeback on Wall Street, traders said. The IPC index of 35 most-liquid shares ended 34.76 points, or 0.53 percent, down at 6509.17 points after earlier bottoming out at 6452.61 points. Volume on the broad Mexican market totalled a poor 33.06 million shares, below Wednesday's already lukewarm 41.9 million. Of 64 active issues, declines outnumbered gains 37 to 12, while 15 issues closed unchanged. In early trading, the bolsa received a blow from sharp losses in U.S. equities. But as the two key U.S. stock indexes returned to positive ground, local shares managed to pare their losses. "We were headed for further losses a few hours ago, but Wall Street's bounce put a stop to that," said one trader from a local brokerage. "We still closed above 6500 points, which indeed suggests good support." The tech-heavy NASDAQ closed up 2.77 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial average gained a more modest 0.18 percent. Feather-light turnover in recent session reflects poor investor participation due to the summer holidays and the fact there are no major domestic indicators or company-specific news expected in the near-term, traders said. Trading in telephone group Telefonos de Mexico, industrial conglomerate Alfa and Grupo Financiero Bancomer accounted for 36.10 percent of the daily volume. Telmex L shares managed to recover most of the intraday losses that sent the stock to a low of 23.55 pesos. The company's stock finished 0.20 peso lower at 23.95 pesos Thursday. The ADRs , or American Depositary Receipts, finished off 3/16 at 51-1/8. Traders were awaiting news of a meeting between the press and Telmex head Carlos Slim Helu that took place earlier Thursday afternoon. "We are waiting for further news on Telmex related to all this buzz about the WTO," said one broker in Mexico City. Slim was expected to comment on Telmex's problem with U.S. authorities after Washington initiated a World Trade Organisation case against Mexico last Friday. At the centre of the debate are allegations that Mexico failed to open its $12 billion telecommunications market, dominated by Telmex, to competition. U.S. telephone operators AT&T and WorldCom Inc. are Telmex's closest rivals through their respective local units, Alestra and Avantel. Trading in industrial conglomerate Alfa was given a boost minutes before the close after brokerage ABN Amro crossed 4.22 million of the firm's A shares according to bolsa records. According to preliminary data, Alfa ended 0.20 peso lower at 25.20 pesos per share. Bancomer, which just recently merged with Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argetaria to create Mexico's No. 1 bank, finished a touch firmer at 4.78 pesos per O share . Market watchers expected trading to remain dull. "Tomorrow we have the U.S. job data before the close. That's going to add noise. Depending what the figures show, we may recover a bit or just keep falling," said another trader in Mexico City. Friday's release of U.S. job data could help indicate the U.S. Federal Reserve's next rate move when its policy-setting arm meets on Aug. 22. U.S. employment figures are closely watched by the Fed. Further evidence of tightness in the labour market may give impetus to an increase in interest rates. Higher U.S. rates are not good news for Mexican companies because it makes it more difficult for them to access funding abroad. "Since there's nothing interesting in the equity market, investors are momentarily putting their money in Cetes," said another trader, referring to Mexico's T-bills, or government paper. Overnight rates on Cetes fell 245 basis points by the close Thursday. Higher demand for the paper pulls rates lower, while Cetes prices rise. The Mexican 48-hour peso contract MEX01 closed 4.0 centavos weaker at 9.3910/9.3950 per dollar, trimming intraday losses of as much as 6.4 centavos, peso traders said. Other helpful Mexican market information: * Main percentage gainers * Main percentage decliners * Most traded shares * Market statistics * Mexican ADRs * Mexican ADRs/Bolsa equivalent * Mexican futures (MexDer) * Mexican peso * Mexican peso bids * Mexican Cetes rates * Mexican indicators forecast * Indices display * Sector display * Warrants * Buyer/Seller IDs * Brokerage characters * Detailed information * Mexican market overview * Mexican oil prices * Domestic guide * Country news 1/8MX 3/8 Other Latin American markets: * Argentina's MerVal * Brazil's Bovespa * Chile's IPSA * Peru's IGRA * Venezuela's IBC