Chile shares firmer led by retail gains, peso flat
By Alexia Vlahos
SANTIAGO, May 28 (Reuters) - Chilean stocks were firmer on Thursday, led higher by retail shares as retailer La Polar LAP.SN received a merger offer, while the peso closed flat, traders said.
The blue-chip IPSA index .IPSA was up 1.07 percent at 3,087 points, while the all-market IGPA index .IGPA was 0.74 percent firmer at 14,541 points.
Chile's bourse has risen sharply in the past few weeks, led by sectors such as construction, retail and commodities. The IPSA is up around 30 percent year-to-date.
"La Polar is rising the most after a press release stated they may merge with a supermarket," said Andres Roman, head of institutional investment at brokerage BICE.
La Polar LAP.SN said in a statement to Chile's market regulator that the proposed merger would be with a supermarket chain called Omega, which is controlled indirectly by the private equity fund Southern Cross Latin America, sending its shares surging over 12 percent.
Shares in retailer Falabella FAL.SN rose 0.85 percent to 2,160 pesos, while fellow retailer Ripley RIP.SN rose 5.8 percent to 392 pesos a share.
Shares of Cencosud CEN.SN, one of Latin America's largest retailers, rose 1.46 percent to 1,440 pesos.
Shares in steelmaker CAP CAP.SN were 2.91 percent firmer at 12,750 pesos, while Soquimich SQM_pb.SN, Chile's leading exporter of fertilizer and one of the world's biggest producers of iodine and lithium, rose 2.64 percent to 20,150 pesos.
The Chilean peso CLP=CL closed 0.04 percent firmer at 563.80/564.10 per dollar compared with Wednesday's close of 564.00/564.50.
The peso briefly fell in early trade on data that showed industrial production fell 11.1 percent in April compared with the same month a year earlier, before recovering.
The peso is up 13.7 percent against the dollar year-to-date after slumping 22.3 percent in 2008. (Additional reporting by Froilan Romero; Editing by Simon Gardner; Editing by Diane Craft)
