The index S&P Merval of the shares of the leading companies listed on the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange closed this Friday with a slight rise of 0.22%, to 165,109.56 points, for the second consecutive round.

For its part, the S&P BYMA General Index closed the day at 6,987,513.01 units with a small advance of 0.26%.

The volume of business traded in shares totaled 3,011 million pesos (about 16.8 million dollars), with a balance of 33 increases, 23 decreases and nine unchanged papers in the general panel.

Among the leaders, the stocks that lost the most were those of Transener (BA:TRAN) (-2.34%), Cablevision Holding (-1.40%) and Holcim (-1.40%).

Cresud (BA) led the gains:CRES) (3.98%), Transportadora de Gas del Sur (2.65%) and Pampa Energía (BA:PAMP) (2,07 %).

Meanwhile, Argentine government bonds yield 0.2% on average in their dollar prices, while Argentina’s country risk index fell 2.1%, to 2,175 basis points.

In the foreign exchange market, the price of the US dollar increased 50 cents in the state-owned Banco Nación, where it closed at 171 pesos for purchase and 179 for sale to the public, while in the wholesale market it advanced 31 cents, to 172.70 pesos per unit.

In the informal market, the price of the US currency increased one peso and exceeded a new historical record after reaching 321 pesos per unit, while the so-called financial dollars closed with a mixed trend.

The dollar “counted with settlement” (CCL, which consists of buying locally with Argentine pesos shares or bonds and selling them in dollars on Wall Street) fell 0.1% pesos, to 332.20 pesos per unit.

Meanwhile, the “stock exchange dollar” or “MEP dollar” (which is achieved by buying assets that are quoted both in pesos and in dollars, paid in pesos when acquired and sold in dollars on the Argentine stock market) remained stable at 320.10 pesos per unit.