Mexican stocks fall Mexican stocks fall

Mexican stocks fall

Shares on the Mexican stock market fell 3 per cent after the authorities raised short-term interest rates to attract funds into buying pesos. The annual rate of return on the latest issue of 25-day Cetes, the peso-denominated short-term bills, rose from 40 per cent to 49.54 per cent.

Rates are being raised in the short-term to support the currency and pave the way for lower rates later, the authorities claimed. But the impact on share prices is bound to be bad, analysts claimed. Shares in Brazil also fell, with losses in excess of 1 per cent but the Argentine index rose 2 per cent.