Argentine stock market up 4.15 percent after IMF deal

Argentina's stock market rose 4.15 percent while its currency fell 1.68 percent against the dollar Friday, a day after Buenos Aires agreed to a $50 billion standby loan from the International Monetary Fund. During the week, the leading Merval index rose 10.5 percent while the peso lost 2.3 percent. The exchange rate closed at 25.98 pesos per dollar after the central bank announced it would let the currency float, removing the 25 pesos per dollar ceiling it had set. The Argentine economy climbed 2.8 percent in 2017, but growth slowed after a crisis of confidence that resulted in the loss of over $10 billion of central bank reserves and saw the peso plunge by nearly 20 percent. That led Latin America's third-largest economy to ask for IMF assistance to help it face mounting inflation, budget deficits and a weakening currency -- an unpopular move in a country in which many associate the financial institution with painful memories of past economic and social crises.