BLBG: Mexico’s Currency Climbs to One-Week High on U.S. Stimulus Plan
By Valerie Rota
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Mexico’s peso climbed to a one-week high after U.S. President-elect Barack Obama pledged the largest investment in infrastructure since the 1950s to revive growth in the economy that is the biggest buyer of Mexican exports.
The plan “supports the peso because of the closeness between Mexico and the U.S. economy,” said Gerardo Margolis, a vice president for emerging markets at TD Securities Inc. in Toronto. The U.S. buys about 80 percent of Mexico’s exports.
The peso advanced 1.2 percent to 13.4337 per U.S. dollar at 6 p.m. New York time, from 13.5968 on Dec. 5. Mexico’s peso, the biggest gainer among the six most-traded currencies in Latin America, earlier touched 13.3404, the strongest since Nov. 28. Margolis is forecasting the peso will rally to 13.2 by year-end.
Obama yesterday said state governors have projects that may be undertaken swiftly and have an immediate impact on jobs. His comments come after a report last week showed U.S. employers cut 533,000 workers last month, the biggest reduction in 34 years.
Mexican bonds rallied for a sixth day. Yields on the benchmark security have fallen 2.85 percentage points since reaching a 3 1/2-year high in October on speculation inflation will slow next year.
Inflation, which surged to a seven-year high of 6.2 percent in the first half of November, will peak this month or the next as the economy weakens, central bank Governor Guillermo Ortiz said today.
Yields on Mexico’s benchmark security fell nine basis points, or 0.09 percentage point, to 8.55 percent, the lowest since Oct. 3. The price of the 10 percent bond due December 2024 rose 0.82 centavo to 112.59 centavos per peso, according to Banco Santander SA.
Mexico plans to buy back as much as 18 billion pesos of bonds maturing between 2013 and 2024 at an auction on Dec. 10, the central bank said today.
To contact the reporter on this story: Valerie Rota in Mexico City at vrota1@bloomberg.net.