Bioceres shares soared nearly 10% on Wall Street; the S&P Merval posted its fifth rise in a row

YPF’s shares, meanwhile, rose 1.8% before the oil company reported -the market closed- an increase in its net profit to US$341 million in the first quarter, which represents a rise of 27.7 % compared to the same period in 2022. YPF’s revenues stood at US$4,238 million, 12.7% more than those registered a year earlier.

The INDEC will release this Friday the retail price index (CPI) for April, a period in which private analysts forecast an average increase of 7.5%, after the surprise 7.7% in March, higher levels in just over two decades. “Higher-than-expected inflation, which cannot be ruled out, would trigger more purchases of dollars and there is fear of some currency run like we had last month, which is why the Government is closely monitoring the price instantly”explained a market agent.

On the other hand, from the IMF it was affirmed this Thursday that there are “positive” talks with Argentina to rediscuss goals of a last agreement, according to its official spokesperson, linked to the historic drought that affected the public coffers of the Government.

As regards the official exchange market, the most relevant was the significant improvement in the settlement under the agricultural dollar, which contributed US$163 million, that is, the third largest amount traded since the program began and the highest since 21 of April. Despite this improvement, the BCRA was able to obtain only US$11 million, since it sold US$152 million at the official exchange rate. This purchase, however small it may be, was the largest since last April 25 ($41 million). “The agricultural dollar is containing the drain on reserves rather than adding to the BCRA’s coffers as initially expected, although this is costing it,” they commented from PPI.

Argentine shares on Wall Street: Bioceres climbed almost 10%

In Wall StreetMeanwhile, the Argentine shares listed on that market closed with the majority of increases, highlighting the role of Bioceres, which climbed 9.1% after the presentation of its financial and operating results for the third fiscal quarter of 2023. The company reported Solid quarterly revenue of US$93.6 million, 33% more than the figures for the same period in 2022, a figure that regains value taking into account the adverse context of drought suffered by Argentina.

Bioceres revenue growth was primarily driven by the Crop Nutrition segment, i.e. revenue from the company’s partnership with Syngenta to expand the inoculants business internationally, more than offsetting the negative impact of the prolonged drought in Argentina, they told Ambit biotechnology sources.

In addition, the HB4 transgenic wheat initiatives in Brazil advanced favorably thanks to the regulatory approval of the cultivation and commercialization of the cereal in March. Brazil is the second country to approve the planting of HB4 wheat after Argentina. At the moment, Bioceres is collaborating with local institutions and seed developers, such as EMBRAPA and OR Sementes, to integrate the HB4 trait into varieties adapted to Brazil.

The recent approval of the consumption of HB4 wheat in Brazil (in addition to prior approval for the importation of flour) “allows us to diversify our go-to-market strategy in Argentina, where we are expanding original seed sales to a group of 45 seed multipliers, who can now develop their own inventories for future certified direct-to-farmer sales,” said the CEO of Bioceres, Federico Trucco. At the same time, Bioceres is allowing third parties (eg Buck Semillas) to develop HB4 varieties with their own genetics.

In addition to Bioceres, among the shares of Argentine firms, the papers of Transportadora Gas del Sur (+4%); BBVA (+3.4%); Galicia Financial Group (+3.2%); Pampa Energía (+3.1%); and take off (+2.2%). And the losses were noted by Irsa (-2.9%); Cresud (-2.5%); Ternium (-2.4%); Central Port (-1.4%); Tenaris (-1.3%).

On Wall Street, meanwhile, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices fell on Thursday, weighed on by Disney shares after the company reported slower subscriber growth and declines in regional bank and energy shares. Boosting the Nasdaq, stocks Alphabet rose nearly 5%, after Google unveiled more artificial intelligence products on Wednesday to deal with competition from Microsoft Corp. Microsoft shares fell and were among the biggest negative influences on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

As for the universe of CEDEARs, the roles with the best performance were those of Alibaba (+6.6%), Alphabet (+4.8%) and Petrobras (+3.8%).

Bonds and country risk

In the fixed income segment, the Argentine dollar bonds ended mixed, with gains led by LA30 (+2.5%), and LA29 (+1.7%). The sovereign titles “opened offered in the first operations of the morning, falling about 20 cents on average. But in the middle of the day purchase orders appeared, especially in the Bonar 2030, thus closing the Globals flat and the Bonares positive (+ 40 cts)”, commented an operator.

Thus, the weighted average price of debt in dollars ended the day at $26.48 vs. $26.52 on Wednesday. For his part, he risk country, that measures the JP.Morgan, rose 0.6%to 2,519 units.

In the peso market, dollar-linked sovereigns traded strongly at the close of trading and rose an average of 0.8%, with TV24 standing out, which gained 1%. The Duals, for their part, were generally takers and climbed an average 0.5%, except for the TDS23 which fell 0.6%.

Finally, the CER segment continues to be ordered, closing the short tranche with an increase of 0.7% and the long tranche with an increase of 0.5%, reported SBS.